South Australian rural and remote schools have been using a variety of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to enhance curriculum opportunities for students whose teachers are at a different campus or different school, or who are out of the school for extended periods of time undertaking courses, such as, Vocational Education and…

In 2005 the Australian Council for Computers in Education (ACCE) was successful in obtaining a grant from National Centre of Science, Information and Communication Technology and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR) to undertake the Computing Studies Teachers Network Rural and Regional Focus Project. The project had five…

Describes historical background, organization, funding, and current course structure and accreditation in Australia's national system of Vocational Education and Training (VET). Discusses implications of recent VET changes for rural college libraries in terms of providing appropriate resources to training programs and flexible services to students…

Describes the development of a flexible learning center at the rural Kalgoorlie campus of Curtin University (Australia). Discusses the flexible delivery approach to providing training that is responsive to client needs, the center's physical resources, staff development for flexible delivery, practices at other flexible learning centers, staffing,…

The paper outlines how the principles of the "Thinking Actively in a Social Context" (TASC) model have been adopted to provide an extension program through Telematics, which delivers lessons to remote sites using teleconferencing equipment, fax machines, and computers linked by modems. Describes use of the TASC model for remote…

Sunraysia College of TAFE (Australia) offers courses via six alternative delivery systems (outreach, correspondence, extended campus, teleconferencing, satellite, and videoconferencing). Twelve program and delivery variables were rated by 110 students with regard to their contribution to program success. Similar success factors were found for both…

A survey in isolated areas of Australia examined education-related attitudes of 122 parents of children with mild or moderate disabilities. The survey covered demographic data on respondent and child, degree and type of disability, location and providers of educational program, distance from school, resources at home, support needed, impact of…

Interviews, program documents, progress reports supplied by the secondary itinerant teacher, and results of a questionnaire survey conducted by the itinerant teacher provided information for a brief, interim evaluation of the Secondary Itinerant Teacher Service. The service has endeavored to help all students (including adults) enrolled with the…

Produced by the Rural and Distance Education (RADE) database of the Queensland (Australia) Department of Education, this bibliography is designed to support research studies and to aid teachers, administrators, support personnel, and policy makers. The 1,965 citations, which include both monographs and journal articles (some of which are already…

The experimental Contact Teacher Centre at Winton State Primary School was established in March 1983 to expand the avenues of service delivery for 20 isolated Queensland primary school children from 14 families living within an 80 kilometer radius of Winton. The aims of the Centre were to: (1) assist correspondence pupils with their work; (2)…

A 1976-78 Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, Centre of Educational Research and Innovation, Sparsely-Populated Areas project produced 14 case studies from 11 member countries. Fifteen basic conclusions of international relevance were identified. Conclusions were as follows: there is no single definition of rural or sparsely…

Interviews, project documents, and parent responses provided information for an interim evaluation of the Primary Itinerant Teacher Service, a pilot project designed to improve educational opportunities of children in the South-West Priority Country Area. In 1978, 3 itinerant teams of 2 teachers each contacted 238 students in 164 families and…

This paper demonstrates how jointly planned activities can provide an integrated system in bridging the quality gap between urban and rural education in Australia. A national communications policy and delivery system would provide a cost-effective way of improving services to rural areas. Rural schools and colleges can be transformed by developing…

A research project called Support Services for Flexible Delivery was commissioned by the Australian organization TAFE (technical and further education) Frontiers. Since 1995, the project has been conducted by using a research approach called the Generalizations from Case Studies (GCS) research method. The GCS method was developed, tested, and…

This paper reviews and analyzes the research in rural education in Australia in recent decades. Research undertaken in other countries is examined where comparisons, differences, or explanations are useful in understanding the Australian context. Following an introduction to the Australian education system and summaries of demographic features of…