FACILLITATOR(S):
Chris MacCrate (EMCC) & Brad Kincaid (MCC)

QUESTION 1:
What is the definition of Distance Learning ?

info from NCA -- The majority of instruction occurs when student and instructor are not in the same place;

• instruction may be synchronous or asynchronous
• many modes of instruction, but predominately internet.

Predominant modality -- telecourses, print, interactive TV

• Visual communication via Internet (seeing people on the other end) -- the issue may really be the level of sophistication of the student's technology
• Technology needs/costs
• Creating a social environment (don't have to really see them)
• People will participate if they don't have to be observed -- there's some freedom for expression with technology that doesn't always occur in the classroom
• Students' ability to effectively express themselves in the medium (communication)
• Subject matter can impact level of objectivity
• Faculty expressed need to see student (is this a teacher need or a student need?)
• Is seeing the student integral to teaching the material/content -- needs to be dealt with student by student and teacher by teacher
• I really got to know the students better than when I taught in person. People didn't have a need to see me as far as course content, they just wanted to see that I was a real person -- high tech/high touch.
• Where the student can be -- the issue is also where the instructor can be (home)
• Have to redefine what we mean by distance (related to previous statement) -- I have students from all over the country. We can't expect students to come into our office to see if we are real. Distance Ed. means you can have students anywhere/everywhere.
• The instructor needs to have support anywhere (if he/she is teaching anywhere)
• How can we convert browsers to FTSEs
• We need to upgrade our infrastructure to be able to adequately support students as well as the teaching and learning process
• Competition from outside Maricopa is an issue (e.g., Open University in England, Microsoft, other colleges). We need to look at partnering -- there are external global issues.
• How to strategically choose your market niche -- feeds planning process. What are strategic directions for distance?
• Markets
• anybody anywhere who has a computer connection and wants to take your course., Students are going to shop around.
• Quality issue. Are the courses appropriate for distance? What are the drawbacks?
• How can we make a distance program as rich as a campus experience?
• Accreditation is going to settle the quality issue. We need to figure out how to meet the accrediting criteria. Part of responsibility is on faculty, on dept. chair, on DI. There has to be a process that ensures quality.
• Many disagreed that accreditation will assure quality.
• Faculty need to learn how to teach a distance course.
• Student expectations are accelerated in distance learning (e.g., they want papers returned right away).
• Maintenance of courses is critical issue. Links to courses go down, etc. Having a course up is not the end of the process.
• Faculty may have wrong assumptions about teaching distance. Misconceptions about the investment required from the faculty member.
• What is the appropriate class size, loading formula, etc.? Are they all wholly different formulas?
• What is the appropriate mix of staff to support a course? Different category of support needs.
• Shopper is going to look for the quality, which includes the support components.
• Students are not necessarily looking for quality.
• Will the educational market create a K-Mart type of market?
• Do not dumb-down courses in order to "chase FTSE".
• How do you wrap-around a full set of student services? How to you create a feeling of campus life?
• Accrediting agency has to do a focus visit and they want to know how students access services.
• Rio uses "beep a tutor"; piloting "beep a prof". Depend a lot on the phone system.
• As faculty spend more time doing distance, they can become disconnected from their department.

• FAQ is sent out to students, so faculty doesn't have to handle
• testing center/A&R
• course development -- by team (that's support)
• helpdesk
• support has to been even greater for an adjunct (because they are off campus)
• training of adjunct is critical
• seems like most of us are trying to teach a new modality with the same old systems -- there are some infrastructure inhibitors
• students should be able to put grades on-line/ have on-line rosters
• there are some laws (confidentiality) that may have an impact on some of the things we do -- maybe grades could be posted on-line by using code names
• Run the data around, not the students -- has lowered costs by having data available for students to access directly
• snail mail can be a problem -- Rio has a courier service that takes student assignments to faculty homes so there can be faster turnaround for feedback

• space for students to have web-space, e-mail, etc.
• maybe Internet is not for everyone -- if they don't know how to turn their computer on, maybe they shouldn't be able to take an Internet course (is student being set up for failure?) Sometimes DL is the only choice
• the MCC orientation is to help transition the student into the Internet course
• it seems that computer literacy is quickly becoming a requisite for a college education
• a college is currently requiring all incoming freshmen to take at least one Internet course -- to make them proficient in the real world
• the people who don't finish doesn't always have anything to do with their Internet proficiency -- they simply never made the commitment to the class (never really started it)
• there's often a gap in student's independence level and what is required in an Internet class
• there are strategies that can be used (chat sessions, etc.)
• students expect almost immediate feedback from the instructor (very different from the turnaround that students put up with in an in person class)

• Should courses have to go through curriculum process? No, because that is content. There is no process for dealing with pedagogy, which is the distance issue.
• Peer review of courses can deal with content of courses before they go up.
• Students will give feedback about the lack of quality in a course. If it occurs, there is a process for following up with instructor. The evaluation of faculty can be used to monitor quality.
• Some courses cannot be taught effectively through distance. We need a screen for what is appropriate.
• For some people, the electronic world is the real world.
• How do we know if students are attaining the same course competencies? Through good assessment.
• Evaluation piece is important because distance is suspect by many people -- document whether it's effective and then improve upon it.
• There are many levels of effectiveness. Classroom level, environment that's created for learning).
• Learning styles need to be considered when looking at the market.
• Distance may not be right for every student and every faculty member.
• Distance allows us to get away from confines of seat time.
• Distance allows us to focus more on student learning outcomes and less on seat time.
• You can see a lot more of what's going on in the course that's distance delivered.
• Socialization is part of the educational experience. We are not just giving information to students. If a student can complete a course in 5 hours, then there is something wrong with the course.
• Declarative knowledge versus procedural knowledge.
• There are benefits that are difficult to document. (e.g., some students who would not ordinarily speak up are more likely to contribute).
• You have to incorporate good pedagogy into distance; the same principles apply.
• We have to look at issues of efficiency.
• We need to continuously be critical and be willing to stop doing something that is not working.
• Structure for pedagogical development structure that includes the faculty, the chair, feedback from other development people, etc. Peer review. Idea is a process that will ensure quality.
• Could the intranet help with this type of review process? But, this would not allow for the dynamic nature of how courses run over the course of time.
• We don't assess and evaluate our regular, traditional courses in terms of the quality of the pedagogy.
• Evaluator can "look over the faculty member's shoulder" and see the interaction that occurs during the course. (New School does this type of evaluation.)
• Faculty could "take the course" from other faculty members and be a "student" and give the faculty member feedback -- mentoring. There would have to be some boundaries on the observations.
• Preserving academic freedom.
• Assessment and evaluation has to be based upon the effectiveness of the course, not an evaluation of the instructor.
• Today, 85% of students in higher ed. commute. We have to change our mental models of who our students are. They are not having the same educational experience that we had.
• We have to maximize the socialization experience for distance as well as regular students.

• SCC, TV/cablecast initiative, money from a grant (one hour class) -- this year, combined with OE; doing a Rock music and cultural arts course -- TV course with a full crew--students get a real life experience (there's a lot of pre-production). Involved in VCN in a minimal way. Hooked up with ASU (rebroadcast a class or two over our channel).

• PC, not a whole lot of distance; starting to move into Internet via partnership with Rio, doing some pine-based courses. Social and Political philosophy taught on Channels 5,12 and 8 (TV) -- VCN delivery to a number of campuses; did metaphysics on the Internet -- a devastating experience (lost 25 of 30 students) -- support system is getting better now. Chemistry -- do a number of experiments with the Internet (most students know how to use it and access it) -- run several Q and A boards; there is a web-masters group of about 25 people producing materials or maintaining a server. Technology has been running a 90 hour training to encourage faculty to run web-CT course. Putting 3 full courses on-line with web-CT. Using "virtual world" for community outreach to elementary schools.

• RSC, important to Rio (a mission area); 12,000 enrollments, 220 courses with 120 over the Internet, 2-week starts; modalities vary; most courses are asynchronous; students come in for a midterm and final; looking at interactive video for some of the businesses we work with; we take it very seriously at Rio; all of our services support DL (student services, etc.). Full time faculty develop and teach in all 3 modalities (print, Internet, Mixed Media); faculty focus on teaching and learning because the college provides the infrastructure/support. "Distance learning is the most objective teaching I do." comment from PV -- Rio's approach is to work at making the student succeed rather than saying "You shouldn't be taking DL." Looking at tools so they can make internet classes more interactive. Use phone system a lot (e.g., teaching Spanish). In web courses, giving students option of some face-to-face interaction with faculty.

• PV, don't call it DL, call it choices (anything that's alternative). Distance is integrated. Still dealing with a lot of issues -- like support for the Internet, etc. Students still have to come in to get packets.

• SMCC, kind of late into all of this; have done a lot with the VCN; have a new uplink/downlink capability through HETS--a lot of the partners are 4 year institutions--looking at Puerto Rico and Mexico. Interested in what Rio is doing -- doing supermarket management with Rio.

• CGCC, we are doing nothing other than VCN. We do things with staffing and flex positions. We had plans to field some courses in the fall.

• EMCC, lots of opportunities for support (tutoring/training). Using Web-based in a box through Virginia; looking at doing more with Rio. Using web-supported materials for augmentation of regular courses.

• MCC, Distance learning committee was in chaos 3 years ago. In the last year, some things were done to help -- hired Don Sutton, the round table discussions have helped, there was a grant process, help through the teaching and learning center, Brook Esterbrook has provided some impetus. One goal was to get some curriculum on-line. Administrative support is under discussion (advising, registration). There's a CD-ROM pilot; helpdesk is 7 x 24. Now looking at doing a student orientation where student works with helpdesk even before they can take an on-line course. The committee meetings have grown from 5 to a full house in a year. Goal has been to create models without being overly prescriptive -- new one is web-CT. There are other DL courses as well: VCN, streaming audio/video. Exploring kit-based course. 45 courses planned to be on line by fall. MILO is independent learning option but not distance per se. AT MCC Red Mountain, one of their planning directions is to be "Smart campus" for the community. Planning an assessment & evaluation component.

• GCC, traditional courses with support component delivered via Internet. Perception was that DL was "given birth" at Rio with a primary target population of the disabled. Also VCN.

• GWCC- NovaNet classes-some medical terminology classes. Students come to campus twice during the semester. They need a computer and modem-direct dial or through internet; preparing to deliver distance by building capacity through faculty development; looking at support issues.

• student web skill classes and web space
• as faculty to add one student to their role -- and to have that one student be on the Internet (helps take fear away for some of the faculty)
• money for upgrades of advances in technology (unique to each campus) -money for development
• the future is going to be impacted heavily on what is going on commercially/externally
• Research and development needs to be heightened
• we have to think beyond what we normally do -- collaboration -- think about the different ways students are going to learn -- how to create effective learning environments
• we need to be cognizant of what our competition is doing
• we have to look at the way we fund our FTSE (currently, we are competing with ourselves)
• there needs to be incentive to share very costly resources
• support should be tied to FTSE (currently it is not)
• maybe there should be a ratio of support dollars to new initiatives
• we need to maintain a sense of balance in where we put our resources -- DL is not for everyone
• Internet instruction may diminish the importance of the classroom instructor -- see previous statement -- students want options -- it may be the Internet, it may be the classroom
• we are extremely infant with regard to Internet
• why are we meeting in this room instead of in our offices via TV/computer
• there's a socialization process within education that will likely never disappear -- technology just provides options and choices
• technology-based instruction is getting a disproportionate share of resource dollars right now
• maybe classroom support doesn't get the dollars/support because it's at its peak
• glitz will never replace the substance of teaching and learning