Quality enhancing practices in distance education, volume 1: Teaching and learning (2000).  Jacquelyn B. Tulloch & John R. Sneed (Eds.).  Washington, DC: Instructional Telecommunicaitons Council.

Introduction

The project began with a literature review of quality standards in distance education.  Standards were compiled, assigned to five broad categories, and duplicative items were combined.

The Categories

1. Learning goals, content presentation, learning activities
2. Interactions
3. Assessment/Measurement
4. Tools and media
5. Faculty and faculty support

THE STANDARDS

Learning goals, content presentation, learning activities

• Clear, explicit, and public learning goals and outcomes
• High expectations, stated explicitly
• Objectives include both content and skills
• Materials are current
• Structured, sequenced specific learning activities related to the objectives
• Use of effective instructional techniques
• Learners control time, place, and pace
• Use of active learning techniques
• Respect for diverse talents and ways of knowing

Interactions

• Frequent and meaningful interactions among:
  • Learners
  • Learners and content
  • Learners and instructor
• Students have opportunities for cooperation and reciprocation
• Learners’ sense of community enhanced by social interaction, academic support and advising

Assessment/Measurement

• Performance measured relative to learning goals and objectives
• Use of relevant assessment instruments and activities
• Assessment activities integrated into learning process
• Allows for student self-assessment and goal setting
• Assessment accommodates learners’ needs and situations
• Students given opportunities to provide feedback about program and process
• Assessment includes “time on task” measures
• Students get prompt feedback

Tools and Media

• Appropriateness of technology reviewed and approved
• Media and tools chosen based on their ability to support learning goals and objectives
• Choices are appropriate to target audience
• Choices are accessible
• Design reflects the diversity of potential learners
• Instructional design drives choice of tools and media
• Technology plan instituted (including regular monitoring and enhancement)
• Instructional design is dynamic (e.g., positive relationships among methods, content, and technologies)
• Delivery methods approved by faculty curriculum committees

Faculty and Faculty Support

• Faculty are qualified
• Faculty properly trained
• Faculty responsible for oversight and quality
• Clear policies regarding ownership, copyright, compensation, etc.
• Faculty supervised by same personnel responsible for on-campus programs
• Faculty appropriately recognized and rewarded
• Faculty receive services and support in applied instructional technology
• Faculty receive services and support in distance education methodologies
• Institutional policy is adjusted to respond to needs of distance instructors

 Notes

• These best practices should not become hard and fast “rules”
• It is a mistake to only compare distance education classes to traditional classes.
• Chickering and Gamson’s “Seven Principles” can be a useful framework, as is that of a student-centered (learner-centered) model. 
• A transactional model (i.e., one that analyzes distance education by the transactions that make up the educational experience rather than in terms of time or space) may also be useful.

 (overview of book chapters)

 Chapter 1: Faculty Training and Development for Distance Learning at Northwestern Michigan College  

• Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) uses telecourses, interactive television (ITV) courses, and online courses.  The college first offered an online CMS (Imbanet’s FirstClass software) in 1998 and within a year there were over 300 students in 17 online classes.
• Edwards and Minich (1998) delivered a survey and found that only 28% of institutions required training (and only 8% required instructional design support).

 NMC’s distance learning instructors receive support from 3 sources:

1. Distance education team (trainer, instructional designer, and admin assistant): instruction and technical support.
2. Media resources team (3 full-time techs plus part-time assistants): technical assistance
3. Instructional Design and Technology Center: help with web pages, digital imaging, presentations, and computer-assisted instruction.

 Training and development is a team activity. The team uses a consultative approach.

 Training

• Telecourse instructors receive an orientation session, complete with examples of good practices. Telecourse instructors may also get help from the instructional designer.
• ITV instructors leads two-and-a-half days of training in an ITV lab. Examples of effective practice are modeled, pedagogical concerns are addressed, and there are opportunities for discussion and reflection. Follow-up one-on-one sessions are available, as is a “tape and review” feedback process.
• Online instructors is delivered completely online. The two major phases are (1) planning and design (wherein the course takes shape on paper) and (2) learning to use the online software environment (which incorporates some pedagogical issues in addition to practice of basic skills in the software environment).

 Measuring the Results of Training

• Self-reports (via anonymous surveys) of how well it works for instructors
• Informal get-togethers (e.g., lunches)
• Student surveys: every student in every distance education class is surveyed every semester.

Chapter 2: Assessing the Distance Learning Program at Anne Arundel Community College

Background: The Distance Learning Center at Anne Arundel Community College oversees over 3,500 students in more than 150 distance learning class sections per year. Sixty-eight faculty members participate, and 3 FT and 4 PT staff support students and faculty.  Distance learning enrollments are increasing 10% per semester.

 Three Levels of Assessment

1)      The Micro Level: student satisfaction, student performance on learning outcomes, student services, faculty qualifications, support and policy. Includes student entrance and exit essays plus pre- and post-tests for each instructional module in WebCT. Subjective data include quantitative analysis of class email, discussion board postings, and chat sessions.

2)      The Meso Level: uses the Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence  to assess whether goals and objectives in the distance learning plan are being met. Each of the seven Baldrige Criteria is measured in terms of Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle that strives for continuous quality improvement.  Measures included a structured faculty focus group and a rating questionnaire. 

3)      The Macro Level: at this level, the program is assessed as to whether it meets the standards of the Principles for Good Practice for Electronically Offered Academic and Certificate Programs (set forth by a regional body, the Commission on Higher Education of Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools)

Chapter 3: Enhancing Competency and Collaboration in an Interactive Video Course at Sinclair Community College

·         Social presence is defined as “the degree to which as person is perceived to be a ‘real person.’”  Interacting with someone helps make that person “real” to us. 

·         Fulford and Zhang (reported in Moore and Thompson 1997) assert that interaction is a critical predictor of student satisfaction in DE courses. 

·         Of course, such interaction is of even more importance when the DE class being considered is “Interpersonal Communication”!  Interaction in this course was complicated in that it used one-way video---i.e., while students could see the instructor, the instructor couldn’t see off-site students.

Off-site students need to be integrated into the learning process to keep them from feeling isolated.  Tips:

• ask specific questions of off-site participants
• use exercises that fully involve off-site participants
• create an “in-class” illusion for remote students by using a variety of camera shots, including class members on camera, and treating the camera as if it were a student.

Chapter 4: Using the Internet to Enhance the Relevance of Government Courses at Tyler Junior College

• For too long technology in teaching has been driven by what’s available rather than what makes pedagogical sense.
• Most training in how to use technology for teaching is informal, with faculty members teaching themselves via trial and error.
• Distance Learning students may be different from the student body at large, so we should get to know them and tailor classes to their needs.

Chapter 5: Involving Students in Government at Tarrant County Community College

• Students were permitted to turn in assignments early; about half did.
• The Internet proved a useful tool for active learning in applying government to students’ lives: e.g., contacting legislators, tracking legislation, and accessing web sites for various political groups.
• They strove to maintain a positive relationship among methods, content and technologies.

Chapter 6: Delivering Web-Supported Physical Education at Tarrant Community College

• The format included interactive web pages, interactive software, a text, and videos.
• The computer-based course proved much less costly than a paper-based independent study course.
• Students earn points by submitting assignments from a large list of activities.

Chapter 7:  Online Assessment and Evaluation at North Lake College

Three Types of Traditional Classroom Assessment

• Type I: ongoing assessments with little scoring or grading
• Type II: assessments that give right/wrong feedback and count toward the grade, but marginally
• Type III: Major assignments that constitute a large percentage of the course grade.

 (Case Studies of Spanish, Mathematics, and Office Technology classes)