Present: Ann Adams, Marti Ayers, Al Barrios, John Berg, Beth Camp, Russ Gregory, Mike Holland, Elizabeth Lundy, Christina Salter, Ron Sharman, Joe Sherlock, Ann Smart, Paul Snyder, Sue Trautwein, Diane Watson, Ed Watson, Peggy Weems

Paul Snyder handed out an agenda and the LBCC Distance Education Spring Schedule. He said we have been adding 5 to 6 new Web classes every term. The classes are well balanced among the departments with a good variety of classes. New ones are being developed all the time.

Ann Smart requested each chair to provide her with their plan by March 10 so that the DEIT plan can be published.

SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS:

Training & Assessment - Ed Watson reported the subcommittee has been working informally and getting assessment information on distance education classes from Paul. The subcommittee will meet to formalize their work. They will get data from Beth Camp regarding her linked WR123 course which is both an on-campus and on-line Internet course and other statistical data comparing traditional classes with their distance education counterpart.

Ed said the subcommittee feels their goals are still realistic:

1. Students will have the prerequisite skills and the ability to succeed in a distance education environment. The subcommittee is working on a student self-evaluation to measure readiness and ability to succeed in distance education courses. Paul said this will be driven by how we plan what direction we are going.

2. Students will experience comparable or greater satisfaction with distance education courses as with traditional courses. The subcommittee will get data from the Calculus Internet course and others to compare distance education classes with similar on-campus instruction.

3. Retention of distance education students will be comparable with college-wide retention success rates. The subcommittee is struggling in how to collect the data. The planned timeline will be spring term. Right now we don't have college-wide retention rates. It is important to find out why students immediately drop the class before it begins or withdraw later in the term.

4. Faculty satisfaction with distance education courses will be comparable with traditional courses. The subcommittee will develop a survey.

5. Students will achieve comparable learning outcomes from distance education courses as with traditional courses. Working with the Professional Development office, an inventory will be developed of technology related skills and knowledge faculty need to have to be successful. It is important that this be comprehensive.

Marti said only one person from LBCC is attending the conference "Teaching with Technology," to be held March 16-18 in Pullman, Washington. Paul said this was a good one for faculty to attend. Marti said there is a dual purpose: to benefit faculty attending and also to get good ideas for our own summer institute. Every month the Staff and Organizational Development Office offers classes. They are listed on the Training and Learning Calendar sent to all staff. Paul said the Media Services Department offers topics of interest to staff. Their multimedia lab can hold 5 to 15 people. If you want a departmental workshop, let Paul know. Marti said it is important to include support staff in departmental workshops.

Fostering Innovation - Mike Holland invited everyone to attend an informal Brown Bag lunch on February 20, 12:00 - 1:00 p.m., in the Board Rooms, which will feature presenters Jim Crotts (Internet), Lin Spain (Telecourses) and Chuck Wert (Preparing for a Web class). There will be more Brown Bags if staff indicate they think it is worthwhile.

A discussion was held about the Summer Institute. It will be a hands-on opportunity for faculty interested in teaching a distance ed course. Beth and Paul will be working with Ed and Marti on this. Beth said the first goal is to get dates set as early as possible. Ed said it could be the week after spring term finals or the week before inservice this fall. Beth took a vote and more people wanted it at the end of summer term. Russ said faculty want a break after spring term. Sue said she went to a workshop right before inservice, then went to work and never used the information she received. Paul suggested a quick survey could be done of "distance education" faculty as to which dates they prefer. Mike suggested making the institute over a two week period. Paul suggested one day at the end of spring term and two days later on. Marti said we can set dates but the important question is whether presenters will be available then.

Technical Delivery - Ann Adams reported that the subcommittee has not met. Ann Adams attended a workshop at Chemeketa regarding a course authoring tool called Colts which was very easy to use. You just fill in a box and click. It can develop lecture notes, quizzes, tests, chat rooms and graphics. She felt it was a good tool to get people to use the Web. It was no more difficult than using a word processing program. Chemeketa plans to sell it. Paul pointed out that you do not have to be proficient in HTML, that there is help available to develop a Web course. Currently we are using a variety of tools - Web Board and Inquisit. Paul will preview Colts.

Student Support - Diane Watson told about a presentation Ann Smart and she made at Student Success entitled "Enrollment Management in Cyberspace." Paul Snyder also helped her. Benchmarks have been developed in the areas of Enrollment Services (Admissions, Registration, Bookstore, Financial Aid and Advising) and Instruction and Instructional Support Services (Access/Instructors/Course Material, Interactive Instructional Approach, Services for Students with Disabilities, Computer Labs, Library, Student Information and Policies, Student Life & Leadership and Technical Support). The subcommittee will meet next month to see what new progress has been made. The subcommittee's goal is to make sure distance education students receive the same support as regular students. Ann Smart said everytime there is an update more of the benchmarks have been completed. At the Student Success Conference someone asked if visually impaired students can read the Web Pages and were we in compliance with ADA. Beth said she has a blind student in her Web class and his computer can read aloud the LBCC Web Page template. He has learned by listening in class but has now moved entirely to the Web. He sends his homework to Beth by e-mail. Because of his limitation he is going to take two terms to complete the course.

Ann Adams said the voice response system has been ordered and will be ready for early fall registration beginning in June. It will also be used for admissions, grades and Financial Aid.

Diane mentioned that Paul is heading a disaster committee working on what to do if our Internet system goes down on a weekend and how to fix it so that the effect on distance education students is minimized. Paul said the committee is not concerned so much with alerting responsible people as it is if a backup system will take over.

Marketing and Needs Assessment - Joe Sherlock reported that the subcommittee is looking into who we are now serving through distance education, what the needs are out in the community for business, industry and individuals. They will also look at our competition, how they are doing and their strengths and weaknesses. Joe said he will talk to TBDC and see what info they have. Dagmar Johnson is a member of the subcommittee. Right now the committee is in a data gathering period. Then the data will be analyzed and a plan developed for next year.

GUIDELINES FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION CLASSES - WHERE DOES IT FIT?

Paul requested comments concerning how people felt about where we are going with distance education in light of reorganization and the transition from an experimental development phase to institutionalization of distance education. Faculty are asking questions concerning how we handle such issues as: If an instructor creates a class and it is offered beyond the beta mode, then does the college put it in a program and market it? Should there be written guidelines for this next phase? For example, in a linked class taught by a part-time instructor, what assurance is there that it will be offered again or that he/she will teach the class? Where and when will these discussions take place? Paul asked if there were comments on similar situations.

Marti said in the DEIT grant process, many issues that Paul just outlined are involved. If changes occur, the grant no longer makes sense and it would be wasting money to pay for 20 to 50 hours of curriculum development. Department chairs and deans sometimes feel out of the loop. A faculty member files for a grant but her office doesn't control faculty workloads. Whose courses are they? The consensus is that they are the college's if the faculty members got paid to develop them. Particularly for part-time faculty, what happens if money is spent and it is never developed into a course?

Beth said it is important to look at it from the student's view. What will we offer the student next term? Where is consistency/continuity? Sometimes a department chair will cancel a class due to low enrollments.

Paul asked at what point is it FTE driven. Maybe the class was not marketed well. It is probably best to not have a lot of students while instructors are teaching the class the first time. Mike asked those who have worked with distance ed classes, are they fragile and in danger of dying? Paul said no, but there is a new set of standards and expectations emerging that need to be identified. We have allowed this development to be well supported and it's been a hands off effort. Getting faculty involved and getting as much done as we have accomplished is really astounding. Mike felt these are serious questions, but most will take care of themselves as we work on them. DEIT created an environment where distance education can flourish and thrive. Paul said this was talked about at the Student Success Conference, that new techniques transform old institutions and then more can be done for all students.

Elizabeth said it is the individual instructor who is fragile. An instructor puts a lot of personal energy into developing a new course but feels there can be a lack of support and permanence. They fear the returns may not be worth the investment. One group does the pioneering but it is often another group that completes the project.

Russ said the frustrating thing is that you can spend a lot of time on things that don't work out, particularly in the beta phase of experimentation. We need to make good decisions about what we do.

Future Days - Committee plans due to Ann Smart by March 10.