IDEAL: Distance Education Program Development Checklist

This checklist can be used to develop a new distance education program or those looking to refine an existing distance education program. It doesn't follow the order learners typically participate in the program (recruitment, orientation, instruction), rather, it starts with a focus on the learners and their goals. Then can be used to plan instruction based on the target audience and develop orientation and recruitment strategies once the specifics of the skills and technology needed to succeed in the instruction are more clearly known.