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Effective distance education must do more than inform and communicate. “Today’s online students need appropriate guidance for their assignments and relevant class discussions and activities” (Muirhead, 2004, ¶ 3). Further, “instructors can diminish student motivation by assigning an excessive number of assignments and having numerous discussion questions in their weekly dialogs” (2004, ¶ 3).
Distance education is popular and successful in the area of adult health promotion and disease management. Roughly 8 out of 10 Internet users have used the Internet to search for health information (Fox, 2006). “Many national groups, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Science Panel on Interactive Communication and Health, have repeatedly emphasized the need for more evaluation research in this area” (Evers, 2006, p. 3). Evers (2006) examined the research on the impact and efficacy of Internet programs on health behavior and the results were promising.
Further research is needed in the area of distance learning and health promotion. Recruitment and retention continue to be a problem. “Developers and researchers need to move beyond a narrow focus on early adopters and produce a population perspective on recruitment and retention of participants in programs” (Evers, 2006, p. 6). Until the field of eHealth engages a larger percentage of the at-risk population, “they will not be able to realize their potential to be the lowest cost modality for delivering tailored communications that can have the highest potential impacts on health promotion, disease prevention, and disease management” (p. 6).