The management team with the Distance Institute came together in the fall of 2008. They come from a variety backgrounds including educational technology, instructional design, marketing and research. We represent more than 30 years experience of project management, design, instructional systems, educational software, research and production.

We specialize in instructional design online courseware, assessment, evaluation and production. Our executive team represents more than 50 years of experience in the design, development and placement of instructional content.

Anchalee Ngampornchai, Ph.D. President

Dr. Ngampornchai earned her doctoral degree in Intercultural Communication from the University of New Mexico. Her experience with teaching across cultures and working with diversity issues give her a keen interest in improving the way we learn about others. Cultural sensitivity is central to her vision of a successful educational environment. Anchalee sees the potential of technology but is fully aware of its limitations. She views online course development as a way to utilize technologies to improve online learning, and to create responsive learning environment that accommodates different learning styles and cultures.

Jonathan Adams, Ed.D. Instructional developer

Dr. Adams has a doctoral degree in educational technology from Boston University and a master's in instructional design from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Over the past 16 years, Dr. Adams has designed, developed and programmed more than 100 commercial, educational, marketing, and interactive game projects. He led projects that have been recognized with numerous awards including the Golden Lamp, The Parents Choice Award, and top awards from the Broadcast Education Association. His research into the acceptability of online degrees has been recognized by The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education and Newsweek Currents. He is in the process of writing a book about distance learning. Dr. Adams is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

E Shen, Ph.D. Instructional technologist

Originally from China, Dr. Shen is a graduate from the School of Educational Psychology and Learning System, Florida State University. He has M.S. in Computer Science and Instructional Systems Design. E's varied research interests include emotional support and learner motivation in agent-based learning environment. E has 8+ years working experience as learning environment designer and developer for university, National Science Foundation funded research institutes, and the State of Florida government agencies. E is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Khawaja Zain-ul-Abdin, M.B.A. Partner / Business development

Originally from Pakistan, Zain has an M.B.A and a background in computer programming. He has extensive experience in marketing, international business and developing creative works ( he has extensive experience as a professional photographer). DI is fortunate to have an individual like Zain heading up our business development. He is in the process of completing the the required coursework and prepping for the Project Management Certificate examination.

The Company

The Distance Institute was started to offer organizations cost-effective instructional design services, usability analysis, and new technology consulting. If that sounds vague, think production. We work with subject matter experts to translate their expertise into dynamic instructional content. We research the right solution, weigh the costs and produce the Web-based materials using a project plan. We're careful about our work - we make sure what we do will represent a marked improvement in enrollments, feedback, and satisfaction.

What do we do?

We work in several different vertical markets. We partner with academic institutions, publishers, small businesses and government agencies. Our clients have come to us for a number of reasons including;

	their organization wants to migrate or create courseware using research-based e-learning methods, enhance existing training programs/workshops or employ new technologies.
	their organization is interested in producing interactive and dynamic online courses using the latest technologies or methods.
	their organization is interested in the cost-effectiveness of Moodle as their learning management system.
	their organization requires production services for their SCORM compliant online courses.
	their organization is in need of assessment and evaluation, including audience analysis and usability testing.
	their organization is in need of production expertise.

Why Moodle?

The Distance Institute uses Moodle as a learning management system. While we have a substantial amount of experience with Blackboard, we became interested in what was happening with the open-source community. We discovered Moodle and began to imagine the possibilities. When Moodle captured more than 10% of the academic market in 2007, it was clear that we weren't alone. Moodle is stable, robust and cost-effective solution - but that does not limit our work. Everything we build is SCORM compliant. To learn more about Moodle, visit Moodle org.

We follow PMI project management guidelines

Our team believes in the value that project management brings to the table. Our technologists are PMI certified and have 25 years of combined experience developing instructional systems. Our clients are given documentation that shows where their project is going, how much it costs and what is included. We don't waste time or money.