Since its origin at WBSI in 1981, online distance education has developed on the Internet into a major educational technology serving millions of learners, and promises to revolutionize education. As a voice independent of commercial bias, and highly respected for its part in creating the field, WBSI can play a critical and facilitating role, helping to narrow the troublesome gaps in understanding between the various actors in this new field.

WBSI will establish a center for research and advanced study in distance education, evaluating programs and educational communication software, and work directly with teachers, administrators and software designers on problems in online learning at all levels. WBSI will circulate its research findings through various media to a wide audience in the field, develop training materials, and sponsor conferences at which administrators will meet with leading practitioners to gain a better understanding of how to facilitate and support the growth of distance learning in their institutions. At this critical juncture in the development of online distance learning, an independent institute can have a major impact on the future of education.

• Center for Distance Education Proposal