From the Chronicle: In Arizona, Lawmakers Want to Sell Computers From Failed Distance Program. Snippet: Arizona lawmakers are considering how to use several hundred thousand dollars' worth of computer equipment left over from a failed distance-education program run by community colleges. The equipment was purchased for Arizona Learning Systems, created in 1996 to let community colleges offer online education to Arizona students. The Legislature closed the program last month. ... Ms. Knaperek says she expects other states to go through some of the same problems as state-funded distance-education projects start to fall flat. She's grateful that problems arose early before more was spent. "We're taking our losses early before we sunk a lot more money into it," she says.
It's good to see a not-for-proft school with a keen eye towards the bottom line. I'm glad they got out before too many losses, even if it stranded some students mid-program. (To be fair, the article didn't say one way or another, but it's not too far a stretch to infer that the program shut down without clearing every student through the pipeline.)
It is an interesting story but many important details are missing. The State Legislator calls it a failure for distance learning and predicts failures in other states. She states in a year and a half they only attracted 118 students. That amounts to roughly 4 classes. Portland Community College runs about 92 classes each term and has no problem filling them. Chemekta Community College has a similiar program. In fact, Oregon has two smaller Community Colleges that are almost completely distance learning. In the entire State of Arizona they can only fill 4 classes? My guess is that the Colleges involved let this program die on purpose. It would be interesting to see interviews with the director of the program and others to se what the real story is
This article leaves out some critical information, not the least of which are the names of the participating community colleges. The Maricopa Community College District (Phoenix area) is the second largest district in the country. One of its colleges, Rio Salado College, has been offering a large number of distance education courses for well over a decade (very successfully, I might add). They fill far more than four courses each semester. With the success in distance learning in so many differerent arenas (including over 250 degree programs), I have a hard time taking seriously a legislator who thinks that one failed government intervention spells the "failure of distance learning" Tony
These were the participating institutions: Arizona Western College: Yuma Campus Central Arizona College: Signal Peak Campus Cochise College: Sierra Vista Campus Coconino Community College: Flagstaff Campus Mohave Community College: Bullhead City, Kingman, and Lake Havasu campuses Northland Pioneer College: Painted Desert Campus Pima Community College: Community Campus Rio Salado College: Tempe Campus Yavapai College: Prescott Campus The web site is still up: Arizona Learning Systems.
Thank you, Gert. It appears that the failure of the Arizona Learning Systems consortium has not affected Rio Salado's distance learning program. I do not know how it will affect the other colleges, but I suspect that it will be minimal. Tony Pina (former adjunct faculty at Rio Salado before I moved to California)
