Do you teach DL courses? We need your input!

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Anthony Pina, Nov 30, 2004.

Loading...
  1. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member

    We are in the midst of developing a new online learning program at Northeastern Illinois University and are conducting research into strategies that colleges and universities can employ to strengthen and institutionalize distance learning. We are seeking input from those who are on the “front lines”--those who teach distance learning courses and those who direct or coordinate distance learning programs.

    Realizing that you have probably been inundated with surveys, we have tried to make this questionnaire as quick and painless as possible. It should take no more than 15 minutes of your time. The responses to the questionnaire will only be used in aggregate--your answers and identity will remain anonymous and no will try to contact you, spam you or sell you anything.

    If you are interested in the results of the study, please leave a message on this thread and I will be happy to send you a copy of the results as soon as they are complete.

    If you know other distance learning faculty or directors/coordinators that would be willing to complete a questionnaire, please forward this message or the URL below to them.

    http://www.neiu.edu/~aapina/survey/

    Thanks so much,

    Anthony Piña
    Coordinator of Learning Technologies
    Center for Teaching and Learning
    Northeastern Illinois University
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 30, 2004
  2. Mary A

    Mary A Member

    Hi Tony! I'll be happy to fill out your survey and would be interested in the results. I am doing (or trying to do) some interesting things to support/encourage greater adjunct faculty involvement in our program so am very interested in what others are doing also.

    Mary
     
  3. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member

    Thanks much, Mary. I'll Make certain that you get a copy.

    Tony
     
  4. Mary A

    Mary A Member

    I just completed the survey and you've done a great job of capturing the essential issues. As I indicated in my comments, I should probably be eliminated from the total respondents since I do not fit the category from whom you are looking for results. i.e. I am not developing a program in a traditional institution. However, we grew out of a traditional environment (Vanderbilt) and work with more traditional faculty than the type of adjunct we used at Aspen so I think my comments are worth noting, although I found myself wanting to comment on each of the sections. Those who know me would not find that too surprising. Good luck - from the questions you've asked you have a good handle on things.

    Best, Mary
     
  5. agilham

    agilham New Member

    Tony, do you just want people doing this currently? It's been a few years now since I did any development work in the field. But my employer at the time definitely counts as traditional, in fact they were the people who invented most of the traditions!

    Angela
     
  6. adireynolds

    adireynolds New Member

    re: survey

    Hi Tony,

    I think perhaps I shouldn't fill this out, since I'm no longer in education in a teaching sense, but I'll pass on the link to the survey to our faculty when I get to work this morning.

    Cheers,
    Adrienne
     
  7. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member

    I am looking for input from individuals with experience teaching DL course or coordinating DL programs. There are many who teach DL courses that are only offered occasionally (e.g. once a year or once every few semesters). So, I do not believe that one would necessarily need to be teaching an online or videoconferenced course this semester to be qualified to fill out the survey.

    The institutional information (public vs. private, rural vs. suburban vs urban, student enrollment, higest degree awarded) would be based on the last institution for which the person taught a DL course.

    Tony
     
  8. Professor Kennedy

    Professor Kennedy New Member

    Hi Anthony

    I responded to the questionnaire but I am not sure about its usefulness to you. Are you having a battle to get it through the institution? My own view, based on many years at the centre of a DL operation (now about the same size as the campus university itself) is that the main interest of the institution is in siphoning off the income and not in the mode of DL learning.

    Hence, your questionnaire is somewhat idealistic. If you make money you will be treated as the proverbial cash cow; if you don't you will be closed won.

    However, my retirement is imminent and these will be problems for others. The nuts and bolts of DL (and DT) is another matter entirely. These are another set of issues entirely. Any questions you or your colleagues have about managing a DL operation on a global scale, please ask.
     
  9. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member

    Hello Professor Kennedy,

    I appreciate your observations and I have witnessed situations similar to those that you have descirbed at several institutions, especially those whose operations are influenced heavily by distance learning.

    The administration at my university are, actually, quite supportive of my study and are very interested in the results. In fact, my research in this area was one of the reasons that I was offered the job at Northeastern. We are an urban state university whose student body commutes to and from school (there are no campus dorms). Distance learning has consisted primarily of two-way synchronous telvision (videonferenced) courses to our oulying centers and a suburban community college.

    The development of our online program is primarily to introduce the option of asynchronous instruction to our students. Our administration and faculty are not planning for DL to be a "cash cow" source of revenue, since state regulations, faculty union contracts and the like limit the amount of revenue that a DL program in an institution like ours can generate. At this point, we have no plans to compete directly with U of Phoenix, Capella, Walden or the like.

    We have a large non-traditional degree program (the Board of Governors BA and the University Without Walls) that enrolls over 1,000 students each year. The good news is that students can fulfill their 15-unit residency requirement by taking course at any of five Illinois State Universities. The bad news is that since we currently offer no fully online courses, many of our students in the non-traditional programs are taking online courses at the other colleges (so we are currently losing some revenue).

    The 30 institutionalization items in my questionnaire were taken both from the literature and from colleges and universities that have successfully implemented and institutionalized educational innovations. Since we have the unique opportunity to establish this program from the ground-up, we are trying to do so based on the best information that we can access. If we establish and run the program well, we should do OK in the revenue department.

    Thank you for completeing the questionnaire and for your informed views.

    Tony Pina
    Coordinator of Learning Technologies
    Northeastern Illinois Unviersity
     
  10. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member

    Re: re: survey

    Thanks, Adrienne!

    By the way, AECT 2005 is going to be in Orlando. Any chance that you might be able to attend?

    Tony
     

Share This Page