THE PARADIGM SHIFT IN EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT: AN EVALUATION OF DISTRIBUTED LEARNING AS FUTURE APPROACH

The purpose of this article is to explore the evolution of the paradigm shift in educational management, to evaluate Distributed Learning (DL) as a future approach, to establish data of the perceptions of DL program members and to guide educational managers in improving DL programs. The current study is based on to build a conceptual framework of a holistic approach to DL programs. To investigate the program members' perceptions of DL, a rating scale questionnaire (O'Malley & McCraw, 1999) was implemented. The responses from 50 graduate program members of management education yielded a response rate of 80 % from the total sample of 62 program members. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The findings, as related by educational managers; suggest that program members see their job as one of facilitating program quality rather than owning responsibility for program success. The industry of DL should be more closely aligned with the profession of continuing education administration, where success, effectiveness, and quality have less to do with the formal actions of the office and more to do with the linkages and bridges that one can build with various academic units. In conclusion, the class and the DL each have their own strengths and weaknesses. By using a successful combination of both methods, more learning benefits can be attained than when using the traditional class or DL alone. According to the results of the survey, a holistic model -covering learning resource centre, instructors, learners and learning climate as a whole- is suggested in improving success in DL.