| Richard Felnagle | Let me start by saying that I believe we are standing on the threshold of some very big changes in the way we do business in this district. And the nature of those changes can be summed up in two words: distance learning.
I do not believe, nor do I think anyone else in the district believes, that distance learning is going to eclipse classroom-based instruction completely...but I do think that within the next couple of years that all of us who are faculty are going to be doing some form of distance learning, or it's going to impact on all of us to some extent... It's coming for three reasons: The first one is technology...What technology makes possible has a way of happening. The second reason has to do with the market...When students, particularly adult students--and they are our primary market--are given an opportunity to do distance learning, they seem to be reaching toward it. There's no reason to think they really want to come and sit in a classroom if they can possibly work at home or something else of that sort. But there's a third reason why distance learning is coming, and this is the one we as faculty don't like to talk about all that much...the realization that the classroom really isn't all that great anyway! Research suggests that when we seat students in rows and we preach at them for an hour, they actually may get very little out of it...Many faculty are dissatisfied with the classroom and looking for alternatives....And yet, we're worried about what those alternatives may mean for us. We have anxieties. We know these changes are coming, but we didn't ask for them, so we fear they're going to be forced on us... Under the circumstances, we need to get our fears out of the closet, bring them into the middle of the room, put some light on them, and talk about them...You all know how you've worried about something, but then you talk about it, and suddenly it doesn't seem quite so frightening anymore. Well, a lot of people are worried about distance learning, and we'd like to get the questions out in the open and talk about them to see if we can't get those fears under control. Today, we plan to talk about logistics, the nuts and bolts of actually running a distance learning program. Sticky questions like who should teach these courses? Should they be full-time faculty, should they be part-time faculty, or should they be a combination of both? How are these faculty going to be selected for these courses? Aare they going to select themselves? What courses should be offered by distance learning? How are the faculty to be trained, and how are they to be supported this endeavor? How are students to be advised? What kind of support is going to be offered to students? How are course materials to be moved around? ...That's the end of my opening, and I'm ready to pass the tape recorder. This is a Quaker meeting: When the spirit moves you, speak. |
The Internet Connection at MCLI is
Alan Levine --}
Comments to alan.levine@domail.maricopa.edu
URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/ocotillo/cwoc/forum1a.html