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| Student Response | For example, a questionnaire survey of students may provide an indication of significant problem areas and lead to some follow-up interviews being undertaken with teachers and tutors to find what the problem really is and to work it out correctly.
But before these procedures it’s quite necessary to predicts to what extent the consequences will influence the teaching process and what changes are going to be maid if the problem is really serious. To a large extent, this means considering what information can be acted upon (and is therefore worth collecting), and when it should be collected.
It’s quite hard to alter teaching materials in their 'published' form due to their format (e.g. as printed booklets, audio- or video-tape, etc.) or a lack of resources (human or otherwise) to implement changes or lack of money to publish new ones. Especially, if it takes a lot of time. Even in case the evaluation has found a mistake to be corrected, it would be difficult to do more than change the sequence of presentation, omit a part or make it optional, provide additional study guidance, etc. However, in such cases there is little point in conducting a thorough evaluation of all aspects of the course or program of study - it would be better to concentrate on aspects that can be acted upon for future presentations, for example tutorial and assessment arrangements.
 The information evaluated needs more time to be not only estimated but also implemented. You should also choose the most appropriate time for its gathering. For example you can begin collecting info at the end of the calendar year and before the beginning of the other the results can already be carefully estimated and proved or not proved. Very often, evaluation studies are undertaken during the initial presentation of a course in order to inform changes for future presentations. However, there may be reasons to believe that the first cohort of students is not typical of the students who are likely to study the course, for example they may be more highly motivated to take that particular course. In such situation, a second or subsequent cohort may be considered more appropriate.
If the changes are not to be implemented during the current study session, the evaluated information must be acceptable to large groups of people who are interested in it. If in not changeable materials such as audio and video records the mistake has been found then these materials must be replaced for the next study year.
The main thing in distance courses is your time which can be spent on various types and kinds of tasks, learning materials and courses. Your task is not to get puzzled with great number of options and to choose the appropriate for you distant learning course.
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