2005-2006 Annual Report

Prepared by Travitt Hamilton

Telecommunications Cooperative for Colorado

2005-06 Annual Report

Organization Reports
Executive Report / 1
Conference Committee / 2
Telecoop 2005-06 Budget / 3
College Reports
Introduction and Summary / 4
Reports
Aims Community College / 6
Colorado Community College Online (CCCOnline) / 8
Colorado Mountain College / 10
Colorado State University / 12
Front Range Community College / 14
Metropolitan State College of Denver / 15
Morgan Community College / 17
Pikes Peak Community College / 19
Red Rocks Community College / 21
University of Denver / 23
Appendix
1 / Member Institutions / 26

Organization Reports

Executive Report

Randy Tatroe, Telecoop Chair

The Telecommunications Cooperative of Colorado (Telecoop) is a coalition of public and private colleges and universities, K-12 education, private sector businesses, and public television stations dedicated to the enhancement of educational opportunities through distance education. The organization is faculty oriented and promotes distance learning through seminars and conferences and by acting as a clearinghouse for distance education resources. Its members represent the majority of the institutions of higher education in Colorado and a number of K-12 districts.

Telecoop conducts training for faculty using distance learning technologies; introduces and showcases applications for new technologies, hardware and software; hosts a conference dedicated to distance learning and faculty development; provides a mechanism to reduce Telecourse and satellite videoconference costs; and provides a forum for discussion and response to distance education issues.

Highlights of the 2005-06 Academic Year include:

· Organizing and sponsoring the 17th Annual Telecoop Distance Learning Conference in Estes Park, Colorado.

· Organizing and sponsoring a faculty seminar with presentations on:

- Useful Websites for distance educators

- DU’s software for organizing and presenting art history and other courses (Visual Art Gallery Application, or VAGA)

- MSCD’s Adventure of the American Mind project for digitizing and retrieving documents

Telecoop action items for next year include:

· Organize and sponsor the 18th annual Telecoop Distance Learning Conference.

· Continue to work with the state legislature on issues important to higher education and distance learning.

· Develop responses to key legislative issues relative to higher education and distance education.

· Consider organization name change.

· Have a technology demonstration at each meeting.

· Organize and sponsor one faculty professional development seminar.

· Continue recruitment efforts, especially in the K-12 area.

Conference Committee

Kim Larson-Cooney, Telecoop Treasurer

On April 19-21, 2006, the 17th Annual Telecoop Distance Learning Conference was held at the Holiday Inn and Conference Center, Estes Park, Colorado. Over 150 people participated in the conference.

The conference keynote presentations were made by David A Longanecker, Executive Director of the Western Interstate Commission for higher Education in Boulder, Colorado and Dr. Chere Gibson, Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

During the awards luncheon, Andreas Polycarpou from the University of Denver was given the Distance Faculty of the Year Award and Joe Jones from Colorado Mountain College was presented with the Technology Support Person of the Year.

Hands-on sessions were combined with concurrent sessions reflecting the latest trends in e-learning for higher education, such as the use of digital primary sources in the classroom, effective meta-tagging, free and open source software, and the emergence of blogging, podcasting and other Web 2.0 applications as effective teaching and learning tools

Conference sponsors included Blackboard, Coast Learning Systems, Horizon Wimba, INTELECOM, and the Auraria Media Center.

Local colleges and universities continued to provide technical support and equipment to helped make the conference an exceptional value for attendees.

Telecoop 2005-06 Budget

Report Unavailable at Presstime

College Reports

Introduction and Summary

This year, rather than sending out questionnaires and getting and compiling numerical data, the editors of the report elected to conduct phone interviews with representatives of member institutions. This new methodology gave us the opportunity to mitigate several issues with the compilation of the report that had presented themselves over the last several years. Most notably, it was nearly impossible to get data from the same member institutions, or even from the same number of institutions, from one year to the next, rendering conclusions drawn from comparing the yearly data unreliable.

The new methodology does not attempt to capture the same data, but rather to assess trends and to open a conversation among member institutions regarding the trends, issues and challenges we all face, and the courses we might take to meet these challenges. Thanks to all of you who participated in the interviewing process.

Member institutions offer a wide-ranging menu of course delivery options. While CCCOnline offers courses exclusively over the Internet, the remaining institutions offered a variety of choices for students wishing to pursue distance education in Colorado. Delivery options reported for 2005-06 include the following: Online, Hybrid, IVS (Interactive Video System), Polycom Systems (see Aims Community College’s report for definition), TeleWeb, Correspondence, Video/DVD, Web-Enhanced Face-to-Face, and Telecourses.

Definitions of Hybrid courses (also called “Blended” at Front Range Community College, and “Flex” at Red Rocks Community College) vary widely from institution to institution. The baseline understanding of the term is that a Hybrid course consists of a combination of in-person and distance delivery. The most common iteration of this is the online/in-person Hybrid. Some institutions, (see Colorado Mountain College) allow for Hybridization of any of their distance courses with a face-to-face component. Red Rocks offers a classroom/computer lab Hybrid course.

The most common breakdown of seat time versus distance time is around 50/50, but no hard, fast rule or trend emerged from the interviews: Metropolitan State College of Denver offers a course delivery option, called “Mostly Online,” in which there is no regularly scheduled classroom time, but students may be required to attend sessions for testing. At the other end of the spectrum, several institutions offer Web enhancement to traditional classroom courses, usually through the WebCT or Blackboard course management system.

Significant variation in levels and methods of training exist across the System, ranging from the relatively comprehensive to the mostly voluntary. The most common method for delivery training is loosely based on the Hybrid model, with institutions offering a mixture of online and face-to-face options. Online training (or the online portion of Hybrid training) is generally delivered using the WebCT/Blackboard course management platform. Most training programs touch on both technical and pedagogical issues.

There is no consistent, System-wide consensus on faculty compensation for course development, or for how course delivery is, or should be compensated. As a rule, full time instructors are compensated for both course development and delivery as part of their standard load or as an overload. Some institutions compensate adjunct faculty at the standard contract rate, while others have a specific pay rate for distance educators.

Orientations for students enrolled in distance courses are conducted online or in-person, with varying degrees of responsibility on the part of instructors. Online instructors are often encouraged to meet face-to-face with their classes at the beginning of each semester and devote a part of that meeting to orientation issues. Some orientation is conducted via snail mail, specifically orientation for Correspondence courses.

Email and phone-based help desk support is widespread, with all institutions offering one or the other of these support options. These help desk options are offered during standard business hours generally, with some institutions offering after hours or weekend support as well. Aims Community College is in the early planning phase of implementing chat-based or Instant Messaging-based help desk support as well. The University of Denver offers online help desk support on a college-by-college basis.

Several institutions also offer walk-in support during office hours, usually provided by that member institution’s Telecoop representative themselves. There is a move afoot at the System level to contract with an outside vendor (Presidium Learning) for support, although nothing has been finalized at this point.

In the course of collecting data for this report, a variety of themes emerged as we began discussing the challenges distance educators, particularly those working in higher education, face in Colorado. Convincing instructors that distance education is pedagogically sound was a common concern, as was the need to improve the marketing of distance education to students. Many of the rural schools report infrastructure issues related to poor levels of broadband penetration in rural communities.

System-wide challenges were also reported, specifically the conversion from Blackboard to WebCT/Vista for course management and the implementation of the Banner Student Information System.

These challenges were met across the board with enthusiasm, ingenuity and a sense of gratitude for the distance education community as a clearing house for ideas, and a source of moral support. Please see each responding institution’s narrative for details on the specific strategies they have put in place to address their respective challenges.

Distance education administrators appear to be fairly well integrated into the colleges at which they serve, with many reporting to academic deans, strategic planning committees, or high-ranking member of the executive such as Vice Presidents or Deans of Instruction, or Provosts.

Reports

Aims Community College

Jean Otte

Program Director of Education Technology

Aims Community College offers a variety of options for distance education, including Interactive Video System (IVS), Polycom Systems (where two IVS classrooms are connected using Voice over IP, or VOIP, technology), as well as standard Online classes.

IVS instructors receive eight hours of hands-on training, while online teachers are offered, but not required to take, ten hours of hands-on WebCT training. The WebCT training is an online class that includes eight modules delivered over ten weeks, and includes support in building online courses, pedagogy, sample syllabi and assignments, content communication tools, and a variety of evaluation tools.

Distance instructors at Aims are compensated for both course development and course instruction. The compensation for course development in particular is handled in a variety of ways, from direct compensation through grants, to course releases or “reassign time.” Some funding comes from so-called special project moneys, some of which is becoming institutionalized. Distance course delivery is considered and compensated as part of the standard teaching load for full-time instructors, while adjunct instructors are paid fifteen dollars an hour for up to 10 hours.

At Aims, all distance classes are taught on the academic side; there are no distance courses associated with Continuing Education at present, nor are there currently plans for this. Students are required to attend one face-to-face session at the beginning of the semester, at which the syllabus, course tools, the instructor’s expectations, etc. are discussed. Although it is early in the process, a fully online degree path is in the planning phase for next fall. For the online degree program, no face-to-face orientation will be required, although we expect to require an online orientation.

Help desk support is provided by phone or email to distance students Monday through Thursday, from 7:00am until 10:00pm. We are in the early planning phases of implementing text or instant messaging for the help desk as well.

Aims Community College faces two primary challenges when it comes to distance education. We serve a predominantly rural population, and so face some unique delivery challenges beyond the typical ones faced by all of higher education in the current environment. Many of these challenges are related to the rural infrastructure. The predominant issue in distance course delivery for our population is slow Internet connection speed. Most of our students enrolled in distance education programs are saddled with dial-up, so large file transfers can be a problem. Aims has purchased a streaming server to speed the transfer of larger files. The server is not fully deployed at this time, but we feel this is a step down the right path.

Another issue has been student support. This year, however, has seen the decision to appoint a Director of Online Learning. He or she will bring together the major players at Aims and next semester we anticipate coordinating for our distance students’ access to services like financial aid and the library.

The new Director will also oversee our communication to the college Administration. He or she will report to an academic dean, and will be involved in director and dean meetings. Currently, some reporting comes from Institutional Research and Effectiveness (IRE), and a student survey is given to faculty and the Administration on a semesterly basis.

Colorado Community Colleges Online (CCCOnline)

Donna Welshmeyer

Director of Program Development

CCCOnline, as indicated by our name, delivers distance courses in a purely online format.

CCCOnline trains instructors in an ongoing series of online workshops, which are set up as online courses, augmented with one face-to-face meeting. The training courses consist of policy, procedures and WebCT/Vista instruction. This training course is required of all instructors before they can begin teaching. Additionally, there are mandatory follow-up workshops, also delivered over the Internet, which must be completed within one semester of beginning to teach at CCCOnline. After one semester, another workshop, on running online discussions, is required. There are also a variety of options for mandatory continuing professional development, including annual online workshops, or attendance at the annual fall conference.

Course development is compensated based on a 20 hour block of development time, typically 600 to 2000 dollars. If development takes more than 20 hours, the compensation may be renegotiated. Small course revisions are regarded as part of class load.

Faculty pay for course instruction is based on a two-tier (Matrix) system. Matrix 1 is paid 515 dollars per credit hour, plus 20 dollars per credit hour, per student for each student over 20 who is enrolled on the census date. Compensation for Matrix 2 is 592 dollars per credit hour, plus 25 dollars per credit hour, per student for each student over 20 who is enrolled on the census date.

There is a quality assurance element to determining faculty pay as well. Matrix 1 instructors are evaluated by students and their discipline chair on a regular basis to determine if they are qualified to move to Matrix 2. All of our instructors are adjunct; many of them teach elsewhere, are partially retired, or work in private industry in addition to teaching at CCCOnline.

2005-2006 Annual Report