August 25, 2008 • The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education • Volume 18 • Number 23
	Distance-Learning Courses By Marilyn Gilroy Take a look at any college catalog and you probably will see an array of course options that includes traditional classes as well as some or all of the following: hybrid courses, accelerated courses, blended courses, Web-enhanced courses, and teleweb courses. Colleges often describe these courses with additional technical verbiage by explaining that they offer opportunities for "multi-modal interactive learning." What all of this means is that students have more choices than ever for completing their education off site, with limited visits to campus. This is especially true at community colleges, which outpace their four- year counterparts in distance education offerings, in part because two-year colleges have always attracted nontraditional students and offered unique learning opportunities. A recent study by the Sloan Consortium found that two-year colleges have the highest growth rates in distance education and account for more than one-half of all online enrollments in the past five years. Last year, there were approximately two million community college students enrolled in at least one online course, which is 54 percent of all online enrollments. The distance-learning (DL) program at Long Beach City College (LBCC), which includes several options, is typical of many of the nation's community colleges. At LBCC, "e-learning," as it is now called, started more than a decade ago with one course, English 1. According to Amit Schitai, LBCC's director of instructional technology and distance learning, the course was offered in fall 1997 with one instructor teaching 21 students. "No services were available to these students beyond snail mail methods used for supporting students in televised courses. The distance-learning program now includes 147 classes taught by 75 faculty," said Schitai.
Wendi Lopez, LBCC Distance Learning Specialist II

	Courses at Long Beach and at community colleges throughout the country usually are offered in several flexible formats, described as follows: Online Courses are taught on the Internet. Students use a computer with Web access to learn and complete the course material, as well as to interact with their professor and fellow students and take tests. Some online courses use video-based lectures and activities through streaming media or iPods. Online courses include instructor commentary (somewhat like a traditional lecture), articles to read, questions to answer and even small group discussions. Online courses may require on-campus meetings for orientation or tests. Hybrid Courses (also known as blended courses) meet on campus for 50 percent of their contact hours and include some online or televised instruction. For example, if a regular course meets twice per week, the hybrid version would meet face-to-face only once per week. The other meeting would be replaced by online activities. Televised Courses are taught through video broadcasts, using cable TV, PBS or videotapes. On- campus meetings are required (usually three to six), but the number varies from college to college. Students learn off-campus, where they watch the video courses and work with a textbook. For example, LBCC's History of Early America, dealing primarily with the colonial period requires students to watch videos on the LBCC cable station in the library or rent the programs on DVD. Teleweb Courses are similar to the televised version, but in addition to reading and writing assignments students engage in various online activities.
Amit Schitai, Director, Instructional Technology and Distance Learning

Accelerated Courses have students meeting in the classroom for an extended amount of time during a two-day period, often over the weekend. They then complete the remainder of the course at home using various methods such as working online or e-mail.                 

Web-Enhanced Courses are also taught on campus and use a Web site to enhance various class activities. The Web site includes information, learning assignments or collaborative features. Students access the course site before or after class to further learn what is taught and discussed in class. At LBCC, Elements of Cultural Geography is a Web-enhanced course in which the instructor uses a Web page for homework and other assignments. The page might also include links to various other Web sites. For example, a lesson on population asks students to visit the world population clock Web site and construct a population pyramid using the data for Kenya or Sweden. Web-enhanced classes are not considered distance learning, but they mark a substantial change from the traditional college lecture discussion format.

Finding the Right Mix The idea of developing alternative delivery methods is not new.  Many individuals in higher education remember the vast consortia of the 1970s devoted to courses by television in partnership with such heavy hitters as PBS and CBS.

According to Schitai, televised courses are not as popular as they once were because they have been eclipsed by computer courses, which are more interactive.

“When students take televised courses at LBCC, they are required to come to campus six times per semester," he said. "However, in between those sessions, there is no interaction with the professor or other students. The process of watching the videos is very passive."

Schitai is quick to add that even though video is diminishing as an independent format, it does play an important role in online courses.

“Video is an important component of online courses, but it is used differently. Instructors use 'chunks' of short videos but then relate the videos to activities or online discussion questions, which is very effective," he said.

One of the most recently developed courses at Long Beach is DANCE 1- Dance Forms Through the Ages, which Schitai says might be the first-ever online dance course. The course makes use of chunked video instruction and a variety of learning activities.

Closely related to the online course format is the hybrid, some-times called a "partially online" or "blended course," which has been increasing in popularity at LBCC and other community colleges. Hybrids usually have a hands-on component such as a lab, or an essential classroom function, such as giving a speech, so the professor meets with students in person for one meeting per week. The theory and concepts parts of the course are completed online. The format offers the convenience of flexibility and less travel for students.

Schitai says these advantages are exactly what students want from alternative format courses. Therefore, distance-learning modes are primarily targeted to students who need to reduce their time on campus.

"LBCC's first distance-learning courses were originally marketed to students whose personal or work obligations or physical disabilities kept them from coming to campus," he said. "We are not trying to replace on campus classes. These classes were designed for students who can't take classes in a face-to-face mode for whatever reason.

"However, all of our distance-learning courses are equivalent and comparable to their on-campus version, so that the quality of education and the integrity of the courses are the same as you expect in our on-campus courses."

At LBCC, DL courses currently enroll approximately 3,900 students, some of whom are beginning to combine traditional classroom instruction with distance-learning formats. Many community colleges are encouraging this trend and moving toward offering complete degrees online. LBCC has not mounted such an effort, however; Schitai says that if a student chooses courses carefully, he or she can probably complete a degree by taking only online courses.

The faculty also is jumping on the distance-learning bandwagon with an increasing number of LBCC professors requesting training on how to create online versions of their courses. Wendy Lopez, LBCC's distance-learning program specialist, works with faculty, offering workshops and consultation on content production for e-learning courses.

"We try to make the course development process a student-centered one," said Lopez. "The faculty works with us as part of the team, and we train them to be independent in terms of developing and changing their courses and Web sites in response to feedback from students."

When problems in e-learning courses occur, Lopez and her colleagues help faculty determine whether there are issues related to content, course design or communication that might not be clear. Above all, the goal is to enhance multimedia instruction and to increase student success.

Getting students through these courses is not always a smooth ride. While e-learning offers convenience and a high degree of interactivity, there are some downsides to this mode of instruction, including technological glitches and student misperceptions about the process. Historically, the rate of attrition is high, sometimes as much as 50 percent, because students fail to grasp the amount of discipline and self-motivation these courses require. Maintaining focus in an online environment can be more difficult because there are so many distractions at home or on the Web.

"Students are often excited about e-learning opportunities, but they run into time-management problems. The courses are self-paced, but they have weekly requirements and assignments that must be met. Some students fail to meet the deadlines and think they can catch up, but they fall hopelessly behind," said Schitai.

Schitai and his staff have just finished an intensive planning session to chart the growth and development of additional distance-learning opportunities for the next three years.

Recently, the DL curriculum process at LBCC was recognized by the California State Academic Senate as an exemplary process; the Instructional Technology Development Center was recognized by the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office for its team approach to integrating e-learning into the curriculum and for its development and implementation of a faculty Web-based training program on accommodating students with disabilities.

"We are excited about the future," said Schitai. "Our students continue to ask for more distance-learning courses so they can accomplish their general education and other academic goals. In addition, we have set several benchmarks for increasing accessibility for nontraditional populations, such as senior citizens, who want to return to college."

New Formats on the Horizon

As colleges and universities seek new ways to deliver courses via technology, it is likely that more students will earn degrees without ever sitting in a classroom. Dallas TeleCollege, the online campus of the Dallas Community Colleges, is experimenting with portable technologies such as iPods and PDAs, especially for military personnel who might not have constant access to computers. The courses have been used at various military installations around the world and even on U.S. Navy submarines.

The need for mobile learning, as it has been dubbed, is being embraced by four-year institutions as well. The University of West Florida refers to its mobile distance learning as "Campus in a Pocket." Marc Churchwell, student support specialist at the University of West Florida, gave a presentation earlier this year to the Council of College and Military Educators explaining both undergraduate and graduate courses available via mobile technology. He called it an "end-to-end solution for supporting military students who require maximum flexibility to meet educational goals."

According to Churchwell, the academic performance of students in the program is similar to students taking non-PDA versions of courses, although trends are still being studied.

Duquesne University in Pittsburgh calls its mobile program "Learning on the Go" because adult students can download study guides and listen to them on an MP3 player or other portable devices while sitting in traffic on the way to work or even "walking the dog," according to promotional materials.

EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance education through technologies, and the New Media Consortium recently released their annual Horizon Report describing emerging technologies likely to have an impact on teaching and learning in the next five years. Mobile technologies were high on the list.

"Higher education is facing a growing expectation to deliver services, content and media to mobile and personal devices, such as iPhones. This is an opportunity for higher education to reach its constituents, wherever they may be," states the report.