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Unit
9: Toward Hybrid-Solution Distance Education:
Developing Programs
that Enable Small Universities, Colleges, Departments and Units
to Build their Own Distance Education Programs in an Affordable,
Technologically-Appropriate Manner
By
Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
Online Education - the
Capacity Challenge:
Smaller institutions of higher
learning have long recognized the need for distance education
programs utilizing the Internet and other technologies, primarily
because it is widely recognized that universities utilizing traditional
methods are failing to provide up-to-date courses which are relevant
to the needs of a rapidly growing, non-traditional and traditional
student base.
Although adult learners, many of whom hold full-time jobs with
family obligations and complicated logistics, are eager to enroll
in courses that will help them participate in a rapidly evolving
economy, there are not enough up-to-date, affordable, and accessible
distance degree and training programs to meet rapidly increasing
demand. Further, there is a severe shortage of programs
to train the trainers, or to provide necessary skills to educators
so that they can design, implement, and administer technology
appropriate, needs-tailored programs.
Further complicating the matter is the fact that online and distance
education programs in small universities and units have been hampered
by
a) technologically inappropriate solutions that require an over-reliance
on unavailable hardware and software;
b) a lack of qualified distance learning program coordinators
and curriculum design directors who can respond to specific education
needs and develop cooperative, modified programs rather than trying
to implement a program "as is" as purchased off-the-shelf, with
an emphasis on individual courses, rather than the program as
a whole;
c) a tendency to focus only on the technology and delivery method
rather than the course content;
d) a lack of understanding of "blended solutions" that find ideal
balances of onsite and online delivery;
e) an over-reliance on the "one size fits all" approach to online
and distance learning, without taking into consideration that
each field of study will require a unique approach in order to
achieve learning goals, and to allow instructors to present material
in the most effective way possible;
f) a lack of opportunities to be guided by educational counterparts
at a university which is currently implementing a successful solution,
and becoming dependent, instead, on the advice of commercial software
vendors; and finally,
g) a lack of experience in developing a strategic plan for online
courses and "blended-solution" degree or certificate programs,
which include clearly-defined tasks, clearly-defined key personnel,
and a defined critical path containing tasks, sequencing, and
milestones.
This section addresses these development challenges by suggesting
that universities develop an appropriate "blended-solution" onsite-online
"needs-tailored" approach in-house, which incorporates instructional
and professional technical training. Thus the unit
will build capacity by transferring knowledge and technological
know-how. This will enable smaller units within a university
or other universities to build and implement their own programs,
while maintaining mutually sustaining ties between units and institutions.
In addition, the unit's mission would focus on providing faculty,
technical support, and administrators with the skill sets and
equipment needed to develop additional tailored and customized
programs to achieve human resource development requirements of
our rapidly-evolving technological, communications-based society.
This program is ground-breaking, and yet it draws from first-hand
personal experience from years of successful development and implementation
at The University of Oklahoma, and other institutions of higher
learning. There is significant technology and knowledge
transfer because there is onsite instruction in a traditional
classroom in conjunction with online instruction and resources,
which tracks with an apprenticeship "train-the-trainer" approach
to faculty training, strategic planning, curriculum design, and
technical implementation.
Strategy & Rationale:
Hybrid-Solution, or Blended-Solution
Approach: To meet the
needs of traditional and non-traditional students, universities
urgently need the know-how required to develop cost-effective
and technologically-appropriate onsite-online blended-solution
advanced degree and/or certificate programs. A "blended
solution" incorporates the best possible combination of onsite,
online, video and other distance methods of delivery in order
to meet the needs of the students and to provide the best possible
support and library resources. The breakdown of onsite,
online, and distance delivery is not a formal or absolute percentage,
but is flexible, based on the particular needs of students and
instructors, as well as the technological capabilities and infrastructure.
Usually, the program is an adaptation of a 100%-onsite delivery,
with the distance (including online) learning components developed
the following order.
Steps:
1. Develop expanded syllabi
for onsite courses. Include course notes, expanded learning
objectives, course texts.
2. Build companion websites for all onsite courses. Companion
websites emphasize learning objectives, clarify concepts, provide
links to online readings, provide links to online library resources
and readings housed on local server, incorporate online activities.
3. Tape onsite lectures, then make available either through videos,
broadcast on educational channel, or available via streaming media.
This does not substitute for the lecture or an online interface,
but can function as an excellent supplement, and a way for the
professor to explain material in a more informal manner than in
written discourse.
4. Set up asynchronous interactivity for learners to interact
as guided by their professor or the teaching assistant.
Guided discussion forums are bulletin boards, not synchronous,
so that students in different time zones or with different work
schedules are not penalized.
5. Live, synchronous chat, available either via NetMeeting or
through the courseware licensed by the institution (for its course
management features) - Blackboard, WebCT, Prometheus are a few.
6. Course management software can be utilized for building listserves,
mailboxes, automated record-keeping, announcements, bulletin boards.
This is not strictly necessary, but can be cost-effective when
large numbers of sections require integration with the enrollment
and records database.
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