-What contribution to the programme of study is to be made by specially prepared self-study learning materials, already available learning resources (including on the Internet), locally accessible resources (e.g. local library), local face-to-face teaching from travelling teachers and/or local tutors, teaching by correspondence or electronically mediated, student group activities?
-What training and staff development should we be providing on the preparation and enhancement of distance learning materials?
-In designing programmes of study what attention are we giving explicitly to reviewing what has been identified previously as good practice?
-What part of the teaching will be directed to students individually and what part to students as a group?
-What learning objectives/outcomes can be advanced best by any residential or non-residential group study schools?
-Are we exploiting the flexibility associated with distance learning in order to enhance learning opportunities?
-What use can we plan to make of problem-based learning related to students' own employment?
-What support materials will we be providing to those involved away from our own institution in organising and conducting teaching, student group activities and on the conduct of formative and summative assessment?
-In preparing material to support any local tutors, how will we ensure that the material takes into account the context in which particular students will be studying?
-Are there any legal restrictions either on the use of certain materials or on their transmission using the chosen means of communication (for example, can video cassettes be dispatched to a particular country without prior clearance)?
-Do we have a secure process for ensuring that copyright requirements are met?
-If part, or all, of the planned teaching is to be delivered in concentrated periods, how can we organise this so as not to put at risk any equivalence between a programme of study delivered by both distance learning and at the provider's location?
-In programmes of study using computer-based learning or other electronic technologies have we ensured that there is an explicit policy for dealing with changes and upgrading of hardware and software?
-What is the profile of our prospective students and what features of their situation need we take into account in planning and preparing the programme of study and component modules?
-Where an existing programme of study, offered within the institution, is to be delivered through distance learning, are we taking full account of differences in the skills, knowledge, experience, situation and culture of the projected distance learners from those studying the programme within the institution while, at the same time, maintaining equivalence of academic standards between the two programmes of study?