<i>Trends and Issues in Distance Education: International Perspectives (2nd ed.)</i> , by Lya Visser, Yusra L. Visser, Ray Amirault, and Michael Simonson (Eds.)

Visser, L., Visser, Y, L., Amirault, R., & Simonson, M. (Eds.). (2012). Trends and issues in distance education: International perspectives (2nd ed.). (Charlotte, NC: Information Age, 2012, 356 pages, $45.99)Distance education scholars may recognize the combination of the authors and the title of this book. The first edition (Visser, Visser, Simonson, & Amirault, 2005) was recognized with the Brown Book Award from the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) in 2006. The editors have returned, though in a slightly different order, with a second edition that also has been recognized by AECT. This new edition of the book received the outstanding book award from the AECT Division of Design and Development in 2013. If you are not familiar with this particular title, know that the editors bring a vast amount of experience in distance education to the book through their work in distance education as consultants, professors, and members of professional organizations focused on this topic.The authors of the chapters are 27 individuals representing Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. The distance education expertise represented by the contributing authors includes international development, professor, researcher, consultant, and evaluator. The varied experiences of the authors bring many different perspectives to the book.The book is organized into four sections consisting of 21 chapters, with chapters averaging just over 15 pages each. The first section sets the stage for the rest of the book by providing a snapshot of global trends and issues in distance education. Authors address areas of current research, obstacles, and opportunities for distance education. In chapter 2, Jan Visser breaks from what most would consider traditional definitions of distance education and argues for a more broad definition. I found this chapter the most interesting in this section because of the history of terms like e-learning becoming useless over time. A good argument for this new definition of distance education is provided.The second section is somewhat cryptically titled “Applied Distance Education Initiatives in Diverse Settings.” This section is the shortest in the book consisting of only four chapters. The topics covered in this chapter, as the title indicates, are diverse; they range from trends in virtual schooling in the United States, to the history of distance education in Mozambique. In my opinion, the most important topic introduced in this section is virtual schooling, what some refer to as k-12 online learning. In this section, Clark and Berge (2012) define a virtual school to be “any K-12 online learning program offered by an educational organization in which students can earn credit toward graduation or toward promotion to the next grade” (p. 98). Clark and Berge focus on trends in virtual schooling in the United States. Readers who are new to this area should find their treatment of this topic to be a good brief introduction, especially their discussion of misconceptions. It would have been interesting to see virtual schooling addressed in the contexts of other countries where it has been studied, such as Canada, to give the topic the international perspective indicated by the book’s title. Virtual schooling should probably have its own section in future editions of this book, similar to how higher education is highlighted.Section three addresses distance education in higher education contexts. The topic is addressed from historical perspectives, student support, quality of online programs, and the current state of distance education research. Anglin, Morrison, and Maddrell’s chapter on distance education research is a must read for anyone already working in this area, or for someone interested in beginning distance education research. Their conclusion that distance education practice has outpaced distance education research indicates that there are many open questions in this area that need investigating.Distance education in informal and workplace settings is the focus of the fourth, and final, section. Corporate training, the aircraft industry, refugee camps, and prisons are all highlighted in this section. Many readers probably will not be familiar with distance education in these contexts, so their presence will serve as an introduction to new applications of distance education. The section also includes a chapter on the use of wikis in education. For many readers this topic may seem like old news, but the examples provided are unique, including business and government applications of the technology.Glennie (2006) reviewed the first edition of this book and suggested that a conclusion by the editors would have been a useful addition for the reader. This is partially addressed in the current edition by J. Michael Spector and Yusra Visser. They provide a critical review of the other chapters in that section and provide some context for the remaining sections of the book. Similar chapters at the conclusion of each section would be a nice addition to future editions of the book.By the end of the book, I was left with many questions about the issues surrounding the globalization of online distance education materials and programs. The need for adaptations and consideration of different cultures, contexts, languages, etc. appears to be great. This is mentioned in chapters 1 and 4, but I believe most readers, especially instructional designers, would like to see more on these issues.This book would be an excellent addition to the professional library of any researcher who is concerned with distance education topics.Though researchers have access to everincreasing quantities of published research via the Internet, it appears to this reviewer that published research from western, industrialized countries dominates most literature reviews unless the focus is specifically on certain international topics. This book will help guide distance education researchers to how global issues might inform their work, and how their work might be relevant on a larger scale. The book would be appropriate as a text for graduate-level courses on the topic of distance education. Each section ends with a collection of comprehension and application questions, as well as resources for further exploration. These sections will aid any reader, but would be especially useful to students in a distance education course.

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