Date: Tuesday, 8/03/10
Time: 12:00-1:30 PM Central Daylight Time
Cost: $289 ($314 after 7/27/10)
Three easy ways to register!
Phone: 800-433-0499 / 608-246-3590
Email: support@magnapubs.com
The controversial new study of distance education effectiveness released this week by the National Bureau of Economic Research once again shows how crucial it is for distance educators to be prepared to make the most compelling case possible for online learning.
Join us on August 3 for Online Effectiveness: Making Your Case, a Magna Online Seminar that features a distinguished panel of distance education leaders sharing ideas on how to effectively enter the dialog about distance education that is taking place among students, employers, faculty, and educational administrators. In an interview with Distance Education Report, the panelists share some different ways to help shape attitudes toward distance education.
DER: What messages are employers hearing about distance education?
Orlando: Unfortunately, the press carries messages about the troubles of online, or predominantly online, institutions. These include illegal recruiting or diploma mill operations. Employers who read these slip from a message about an institution to a message about online education itself. In other words, the troubles of certain for-profit online institutions are putting online education itself in a bad light.
DER: How can we help employers become advocates for distance education and its part in employees’ professional development?
Orlando: We need to provide employers with information proving that online education can be just as good as face-to-face education. The best way is to approach employers who have employees with online degrees. They will see that the online/face-to-face distinction does not correlate to the quality of employees.
DER: How can you affect the perception of distance education among prospective students?
Anderson: The best way to ensure that students neither see for themselves, nor observe others involved in online work, or get any exposure to the quality of your online programming is to hide that work behind passwords and buried deep inside Learning Management Systems. The move to Open Access programming allows institutions to widely distribute the content and design of their programming, while retaining the value added counseling, group work, interaction and credentialing for enrolled students.
DER: Where do prospective online students get their information about distance education? What are the most important messages they are hearing?
Anderson: As in all major purchases and investments, word of mouth from friends, relatives and co-workers influence student behavior. Information gleaned from websites has become the most used and valued source of comparative information. More recently social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter create the buzz and the imitator behavior that drives students to make that initial search for, and final commitment to, an institution.
DER: What can we do to help academic administrators see distance education as part of the core mission of the institution?
Shearer: It is an education process to make them fully aware of what they are about to embark upon and the timing of the strategic initiative. Too many institutions have jumped into distance education thinking there were immediate gains only to find out that the initiative was underfunded and they didn't have the faculty buy-in.
They cannot assume that just because there is online learning taking place on campus that they have a distance education initiative. To move from an uncoordinated craft industry approach to a core strategic mission takes both political will at the top and faculty buy-in. There is no doubt that faculty will continue to experiment and integrate Web-based tools into their courses, but to move to the core needs a faculty and an administrative champion.
DER: What factors or experiences most significantly shape faculty attitudes toward distance education?
Boettcher: In order of importance, I think the most important factor is the culture of the institution first, and the culture of the discipline probably runs a close second. The attitudes prevalent in the culture can be influenced positively by some of the following types of experiences:
• Experience in some online learning or professional events such as conferences and research collaboration using the tools of distance learning, such as synchronous meetings or webcasts.
• Experience with some of the face-to-face tools such as Skype with far-flung friends and associates. I understand that the new iPad will support Skype "telephoning" and with a promised new camera will make conversing face-to-face via technology something that is broadly accepted and no big deal.
• Stories from colleagues who have explored and developed online learning and discovered its power, effectiveness and reach.
Our distance education leaders' round table consists of:
• Terry Anderson, Ph.D., Canada research chair in distance education at Athabasca University and director of the Canadian Institute for Distance Education Research
• Judith Boettcher, Ph.D., well-known distance education consultant, author of The Online Teaching Survival Guide, and editor of the four-volume Encyclopedia of Distance Learning
• Rick Shearer, Ph.D., assistant director of instructional design and development at the Pennsylvania State University’s World Campus
• John Orlando, Ph.D., instructional resource manager at the Norwich University School of Graduate Studies Online.
Who should attend
• general university administration
• distance education program administrators
• presidents
• vice-presidents
• governing board members
• provosts
• deans
• department chairs
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