the studio of |
e-learning |
ideas and |
By Saul Carliner
When she learned that I would be teaching a course in her department, the department secretary made a mailbox for me and made sure that I received a copy of every memo and announcement distributed to the rest of the faculty. Other part-time faculty appreciated this service, so it became a part of the secretary's standard operating procedures. But I never received the mail because the mailbox was in Crookston, Minnesota and I taught the course by instructional television (ITV) from St. Paul, Minnesota, approximately 350 miles away.
To fill a gap in its curriculum, the University of Minnesota at Crookston school contracted with the University of Minnesota---Twin Cities to receive a series of courses for majors in scientific technical communication. The program is called a partnership program because several schools in the state university system partner to provide programs they might not otherwise be able to provide. The home schools provide all general academic requirements (made possible because the university system has a standard set of requirements for all B.A. and B.S. students in the system). The partner schools provide some or all of the major courses using technology for distance education. Some of the courses are offered by a closed-circuit, instructional television system. Others are offered by Internet.
This scenario is increasingly common as universities increase their use of instructional television. Most instructors focus on the immediate challenges of re-designing classroom courses for instructional television. Distant from the classroom, many administrators are not aware of the administrative issues that arise in managing a course taught by instructional television.
Because the arrangements for teaching courses by instructional television are as almost varied as the number of channels on satellite television these days, the specific issues vary widely among institutions. They vary by instructor, by institution, and by arrangements among institutions participating in the course.
To help instructors identify the types of issues they might face when teaching by instructional television, this article identifies 10 general issues in managing an instructional television course. These issues were identified by the author when preparing to teach his first instructional television course at the University of Minnesota. Some of the information was learned through conversations with administrators, consultants, professors and students at the university; others through first-hand experience.
These issues include:
Note that the descriptions of each issue assumes that more than one educational institution participates in offering an instructional television course, but instructors still need to consider most of these issues if all of the locations receiving the course are branches of the same institution.
Before considering specific administrative issues associated with a distance education course, instructors need to identify the model under which the distance education program operates. The administrative issues that the educator needs to consider vary based on the model of operation.
Three models are among the most common. Under the first, all of the locations involved are administered by the same school and, therefore, operate under the same administrative policies procedures. This is called a remote classroom arrangement. For example, if University A broadcasts its courses to corporate classrooms so workers can take credit courses without leaving their work locations, then all of the locations are merely extensions of the same classroom. Renssalear Polytechnic Institute has such an arrangement with IBM Corporation; Southern Polytechnic State University is establishing such an arrangement with the Savannah River Plant. Similarly, many colleges and community colleges broadcast courses on local Public Broadcasting Stations.
Under the second model, students from University C can take courses at University D (and for which there are no similar courses taught at University C) and the courses transfer back to University C. Although students usually enroll through their home institution (University C), the course operates under the policies and procedures of the teaching institution (University D). This is called cross enrollment; several universities in Pittsburgh offer this arrangement, as do Georgia State, Georgia Tech, and the University of Georgia.
Under the last model, a course taught by University E is broadcast to University F. Students in each university enroll through their own institutions, and are governed by the policies and procedures for their home institutions. This is called a joint offering. My school, the University of Minnesota--Twin Cities, offers such a degree program in technical communication with 3 other institutions: University of Minnesota--Crookston, Southwestern State University, and the University of Minnesota, Rochester Center.
Because of the distance between instructors and students, and because of the potential for equipment failures when transmitting information, administration always presents a challenge to distance instructors. For example, what happens when a thunder storm knocks out the equipment at one of the receiving locations (Vogt, 1990)?
Joint offerings add a level of complexity because the instructors must simultaneously operate under the policies and procedures of several institutions. For example, should an instructor schedule class for a day when 1 of the 4 institutions is on break, but the other 3 schools are not? The next several issues are ones that must be considered for administering joint offerings; many are also issues for administering cross-enrollment and remote classrooms.
If students at the home institution regularly contact an instructor for permission before turning in late assignments, imagine how that instructor might react when a student at a remote location turns in a late assignment--without asking permission to be late and with no explanation for the lateness. If the practice is common in the remote institution, however, both the instructor is likely to be surprised by the behavior and student is likely to be surprised by a resulting failing grade.
Academic cultures vary among institutions. For example, consider the differences between commuter and residential institutions. Students at commuter schools tend to spend less time on campus. Similarly, consider the difference between research and teaching institutions. In research institutions, faculty have smaller teaching loads, but are more focused on research. Therefore, many courses are taught by graduate students. In contrast, faculty at teaching institutions primarily teach and administer programs. Students are often more likely to work take courses from a full faculty member than at a research institution.
These differences in academic cultures also result in differences in approaches to academics and in expectations among students. For example, students in some institutions regularly attend class without the instructor requiring attendance. In others, students rarely attend without the requirement. Similarly, in some institutions, students regularly turn in late work and professors regularly accept it. In others, professors won't accept it.
Generally, the prevailing academic culture in the home institution guides the educator in classroom management. But the culture at the home institution might significantly vary from that in other institutions; and those other cultures guide students in their work.
The better the instructor understands the culture guiding students at each of their institutions and incorporates that culture into the classroom, the better expectations at the other locations match those of the instructor. For example, if the culture at just one of the institutions is to avoid class attendance unless required, an instructor might explicitly require attendance of all students to establish a new culture for the classroom.
To understand the culture at another institution, instructors might ask these questions:
Instructors can learn about the culture of the other institutions from other instructors and administrators, by interviewing students, and by reading literature about the institution, such as catalogs (bulletins) and student and faculty newspapers.
Imagine scheduling the first class of a term a week before the term begins. Or scheduling the last clas a week after grades are due. Although this is not likely to happen at the home institution (instructors are usually aware of the academic calendars at their home institutions), it could easily happen at the remote locations, unless the academic calendars for the other institutions are considered when scheduling courses.
Three scheduling issues arise when planning courses for instructional television. One pertains to scheduling for the academic calendar, the second pertains to scheduling classroom facilities and the the last pertains to enrollment limits.
When scheduling for the academic calendar, instructors should specifically consider the following issues:
That class goes on when one of the institutions is closed admittedly creates a problem for that one institution, but cancelling class is unfair to the otherw--and in many cases, this is a significant number of students. To make students aware of this potential learning barrier, instructors should include a section in their syllabi informing them of this policy.
Coordinating academic calendars requires that instructors and administrators plan far in advance for their courses--often a year or more. This can actually create a helpful for students, because the advance scheduling helps students plan their schedules long in advance. For example, when students know that they can only take a certain course during a certain term (for example, senior seminar is only offered in the spring term of even-numbered years), they can plan their schedules accordingly.
But that raises the second issue in scheduling courses: although instructors must schedule courses well in advance, the participating institutions often schedule instructional television facilities on a shorter lead time. That is, an instructor might schedule a course a year in advance, but the school only schedules instructional television rooms 6 months in advance. As a result, classroom facilities might not be available for the course.
One way to ensure that facilities are available is to work with the room scheduling staff to change their scheduling procedures. If that is not possible, make them aware of the intention to teach a course so that, when the rooms become available for scheduling, that the request to schedule a course is more likely to be honored.
The last issue in scheduling courses is setting and communicating enrollment limits. Because the capacities of some distance classrooms are the same as for a traditional class, an instructor could face an unmanageable class load unless limits are set and enforced. The best way to do involves setting enrollment limits early and making sure that partner institutions are aware of, and comfortable with, those limits. If an institution is not comfortable with the limit, then the instructor and administrators at the other institution should negotiate mutually acceptable limits.
Then, the instructor or a designated administrator should carefully enrollments during the registration process to make sure that enrollment caps are observed. This is is a labor-intensive task, because it might involve separately checking enrollments at each of the institutions.
Imagine sending the promotional materials for a course a week after the quarterly bulletin went to press. Although this is not likely to happen at an instructor's home institution, it could easily happen in the remote locations unless the instructor becomes aware of the registration and course promotion process at each institution--and makes sure that materials are available when administrators at the remote institutions need them.
Enrollments are one measurement of success in courses, and one way to ensure sufficient enrollments is by providing sufficient promotion. Typically, promotion for a college- or university-level course includes:
If a course is not mentioned in these promotional materials, degree-bound students generally are not aware of it and do not include it in their program. Special students (that is, ones who are only enrolling for an individual course and are not yet part of a degree program) might not realize the course is available.
The deadlines for various promotional materials are often not widely announced within an institution. Furthermore, the information needed for different promotional vehicles also varies by institutions. For example, some institutions only publish a course description; others include an estimate of the student workload and types of assignments.
To make sure that each institution has the information it needs to promote the course in a manner that is timely for that institution, instructors might develop a format for preparing promotional information about courses that meets the needs of all institutions, although not all institutions will use all of the information in their promotional materials. Instructors should review the format with the participating institutions to make sure that it provides the information they need. They might also review the format with the faculty at their home institutions; the home institutions might choose to adopt the format to promote all of its courses, even those not scheduled for instructional television.
Instructors should also work closely with the remote institutions to learn about the deadlines for their promotional materials. Because instructors must meet so many different schedules, administrators at the remote schools should also make a special effort to make sure that instructors are aware of upcoming deadlines.
Imagine coming to class one day prepared to discuss a reading, and none of the students at one of the remote locations can do so, because the school bookstore does not have the book. The instructor can be forewarned of the problem at the home institution by checking the bookstore before the first class begins, and can work with the local bookstore staff so the missing book arrives as soon as possible. But the instructor cannot make these in-person inspections at the remote school.
Books present two key challenges to instructors. One pertains to missing books at the remote institutions. The other pertains to packets of additional readings.
The easiest way to avoid the problem of missing books at remote institutions is by placing book orders early. Because the ordering deadline for each school varies, instructors must become aware of the book ordering cycle for the remote institutions and make sure that they receive book ordering information ona timely basis. Sometimes, however, even when an instructor orders books well in advance of the first class, books do not arrive. Situations like these become especially frustrating for students and instructors. The missing books only highlight the fact that their instructor works remotely; indeed the instructor is not even aware whether or not books have arrived. An instructor also feels similarly remote. To limit exposure to such a problem, an instructor can contact the bookstores at the remote locations before class to find out whether the textbooks have arrived. If the books have not arrived, the instructor can announce this in the first class. This gives students the good feeling that the instructor is indeed on top of their needs. Similarly, the instructor should find out when the bookstore staff expects the book to arrive and contact the store on that date to verify that it has arrived. In some instances, an administrator at the remote school can handle this task for the instructor.
Packets of additional readings pose a different set of problems. One is multiple requests for permission to reproduce copyrighted material. The requests can create unnecessary work for copy centers. But a coordinated approach requires extra work at the home institution. Permission requests must indicate that the course is taught at several institutions. Similarly, copies of permissions must be sent to the remote institutions so they are aware that they already have permission to copy the material.
Imagine assigning a research project whose intention is familiarizing students with the journals, magazines, and books in the field. But the library at the other institution has none of the journals.
The situation is likely to happen. One of the reasons that remote institutions like distance courses is that they extend the teaching capabilities of the school. The school can augment its catalog of courses with ones it might not typically teach because it lacks qualified staff or accreditation to teach.
If the institution has not taught courses nor had staff specializing in the topic area of a particular course, the likelihood is slim that its library has materials to support outside research on the topic. That library probably relies on interlibrary loan for materials. This, too, is a problem, because the library that is most likely to loan the materials is the one at the home institution--and students at the home institution often need the same materials to complete their assignments.
Before teaching at the remote school, instructors should check with the librarians at those schools to find out which periodicals and books they carry in the subject area. If the school does not carry the resources needed, the instructor should consider these options. If the instructor has sufficient lead time, funds are available, and a long-term need established, work with the remote institutions to purchase the missing books and subscribe to the missing periodicals. If the previous option is not viable, reconsider library assignments. The instructor might compile a course reading packet in lieu of a library research assignment or might design projects so that they use resources that students would have access to locally.
Imagine placing handouts and lecture materials on the World Wide Web and relying on e-mail as a primary means of communication with students between classes, then learning that many students have limited or no e-mail access. If the home institution is a relatively wired one, an instructor can be lulled into a false belief that all students have easy access to the Internet.
Even in classroom courses, instructors increasingly rely on the Internet to communicate with classes and provide them with course materials. Some of the many uses include:
Because distributing handouts in an instructional television class often involves calling administrators at several locations, faxing originals, and calling back to make sure that the materials were distributed in class, the Internet provides a time-saving alternative. When students do not have access to the Internet, that puts a dam in the distribution channel.
In some instances, some students do not have Internet access. In such instances, an instructor might be able to continue using the Internet but make special arrangements for the students who do not have access.
In other instances, students have access to the Internet, but have not yet developed the habit of regularly using it. In such instances, instructors need to work with students to develop the habit. Instructors might require students to send them e-mail messages between the first and second class and at certain intervals during the course as a means of developing this habit. Similarly, instructors might only distribute certain key assignments electronically, providing students with an additional incentive to check the system.
In addition to the differences in computing and communication facilities among institutions, their availability also creates problems for classroom management. For example, if students submit their assignments by electronic mail and the server at their institution crashes, the instructor should be prepared to make accommodations for the students. But how does the instructor know that the server at the other instutition is experiencing problems? An instructors might require students at the remote institutions to report a system problem through a telephone call before automatically excusing late assignments.
>
Imagine sharing a favorite comic strip with class, only to be arrested a week later for violating copyright law. Because they are broadcast, instructional
than traditional classroom courses that place further restrictions on instructors.
The first restriction pertains to using printed images. Although instructors often share comics and news articles with classes, they cannot do so on an instructional television system without first receiving permission. This usually destroys plans for items found at the last minute.
The second restriction pertains to using video and computer images. Most video rentals and purchases assume that the video will only be shown in a classroom, not broadcast over television (even a closed circuit system). Before using these resources, an instructor must make sure that they have rights to broadcast the videos and computer images.
The last restriction pertains to videotaping the class. Because the images of students might appear in these videotapes, instructors need a signed release form from each student saying that they have given permission to use their image before videotaping a class. These releases are standard practice for video productions (other than news), but usually not thought of for instructional television.
Imagine an A student flunking a course because the instructor forgot to submit a grade. This is not likely to happen at the instructor's home institution; administrators usually provide instructors with grade sheets well in advance of the deadline and also post signs saying "Grades due by…" throughout the department office.
Remote institutions often have different deadlines and may or may not actually deliver the grade sheet to the instructor on a timely basis. If an instructor works with 4 institutions, the instructor likely faces 4 different grade deadlines. Close collaboration between administrators at the remote locations and the instructor among institutions can help remind instructors of the deadline for submitting grades and make sure that instructors have grade sheets in advance of the deadline, and backup procedures if the grade sheets do not arrive.
In addition, some of the institutions have interim grade reports. For example, some schools report mid-term grades, others request reports of students in danger of failing, and others request performance data on minority students. Instructors should find out whether any of the participating institutions requires such interim reports and when they are due.
Imagine awaiting feedback on a course, then realizing that the students at each of the participating institutions complete a different evaluation form. In such instances, instructors have no consistent means of assessing their performance. At the least, the evaluation scales might differ among the evaluation forms. At the most, the different evaluations might ask different questions. And the evaluation might not address issues specific to the experience of instructional television.
Generally, each institution uses its own standard evaluation form, if any, to evaluate instructional television courses. Yet even when participating schools are part of the same university system, the evaluation forms differ. And most evaluation forms are geared towards traditional classroom courses; they do not ask questions about the instructional television experience.
On the one hand, the practice of using the evaluation form of the institution has merit for the institution, because it allows administrators at that institution to compare all of their courses. On the other hand, this practice does not have merit for the instructor, because the evaluations are not likely to have an internal consistency.
To address this situation, instructors might consider developing and administering a second evaluation. The second evaluation might address these issues:
Administering the evaluation requires special coordination by the instructor. The instructor must contact an administrator at each location, send the master form to each site, and make arrangements for administering and returning the evaluation. Admittedly, the instructor could also send the second evaluation directly to students and ask them to return them to the instructor. But most institutions stress the anonymity of course evaluations. Arrangements that involve sending materials directly to the instructor might detract from the perceived anonymity and inhibit students from responding honestly. The instructor should also let students know in advance when evaluations are scheduled to make sure that students attend that class session.
Moving into the Future
Some people posit that instructional television is a temporary technology that will be replaced by synchronous teaching on the Internet (that is, a course that is broadcast over the Internet rather than a closed circuit television network). In fact, software already exists that lets institutions broadcast instructional television courses over the Internet and, at some point, will let students take instructional television courses in the convenience of their dorm rooms or homes.
As long as the instructors work for one institution and many of the students enroll through another, however, distance instructors will still need to consider the issues raised in this article.
Although instructional television is ultimately about teaching, the quality of classroom management ultimately affects the quality of the learning experience for students. By addressing these issues in addition to teaching issues, instructors can ensure that students in all locations have a rewarding and relaxing learning experience.
other resource websites by saul carliner
models, processes, and techniques
of information design
| the commerce
of content |
(c) Copyright. 2001, 2002. Saul Carliner. All rights reserved.