Distant Voices: Distributed Learning at Royal Roads University
A personal touch and ongoing technical support yield high student retention for a school dedicated to distance learning
By Susan Chandler
ecelia David leads a team well versed in the intricacies of Ccomputer programs and net- working configurations, but her “to do” list won’t be found on any hard drive or Palm Pilot. Instead, when adding to her list, she selects a large piece of chalk and faces a blackboard covering one wall of the office she shares with the rest of the Computer Service team at Royal Roads Univer- sity in Victoria, British Columbia. Her computer is reserved for emergencies only — pastel Post-it notes form a halo around the monitor, with mes- sages like “Must do before noon today!!!” and “Check on this by 4 p.m. at the latest.” David’s many “notes to self” are part and parcel of her job as a systems analyst and coordinator of the help desk at Royal Roads. But where a typi- cal university help desk assists stu- dents as they work in an on-campus computer lab, her group deals with requests from Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, and as far afield as the Philip- pines and South America. That’s
30 EDUCAUSE QUARTERLY • Number 4 2001 because Royal Roads is a new breed of send and receive educational obvious interest in ensuring that we educational institution, one that states materials, keep our retention rate as high as pos- its goal of “increasing access to post- check in to the Web site designed sible. To date, it’s 90 percent — a cred- secondary education through distance for each course, ible achievement for a university that learning technology” in its mission communicate with fellow class- has distance learning at its core. (For statement. David and the other 5 full- mates and the instructor via news- background, see the sidebar entitled time and 2 part-time staff who keep groups, “The Royal Roads Story.”) the help desk running 13 hours a day run custom-designed software for serve as the “911” center whenever peer and self-test evaluations, A New Mandate emergencies flare up along the Infor- conduct research, and, Created on June 21, 1995, by the mation Highway. yes, type up assignments before Government of British Columbia “We have to make sure that students they are delivered into an instruc- through the Royal Roads University get the technical support they need tor’s electronic “drop box.” Act, our institution has an unusual both on campus and at home or work Of course, education has always mandate: to be a special-purpose uni- — wherever that may be,” said David. availed itself of the latest delivery versity offering market-driven applied Support in this case can mean any- mechanisms. When computer tech- and professional programs developed thing from helping students log in to a nology first began to be incorporated in partnership with industry and work- course or access an online discussion into distance learning programs, the place advisory boards. As such, our group to teaching them how to use assumption was more or less, “If we learning model was designed to hold applications like Microsoft Word and build it, they will come.” And come particular appeal for mid-career profes- Excel to installing Ethernet cards and they have. The proliferation of dis- sionals who want to advance their cables on their laptops. “We really try tance programs at the university skills through graduate studies while to go the extra mile,” she added, level has been nothing short of phe- balancing the demands of family, “because in a distance environment, nomenal in recent years. According work, and lifestyle. It certainly seems the ease with which technology can be to the International Centre for Dis- to be working — in a little over two used may mean the difference between tance Learning in the United King- years, our MBA program has become a student staying in a course or drop- dom
Number 4 2001 • EDUCAUSE QUARTERLY 31 the vitally important human connec- tion — one of the key reasons for our remarkable retention rate. The Royal Roads Story At the graduate level, students are From 1940 to 1995, the federal government operated Royal Roads as an introduced to their chosen field of study in the first of what will eventu- officer/cadet training establishment, later known as Royal Roads Military Col- ally be as many as three residencies on lege. The college was closed in 1995, only to reopen later in the year as the campus (typically, a residency lasts newly formed Royal Roads University. Created on June 21, 1995, by the from three to five weeks) over the Royal Roads University Act by the Government of British Columbia, the insti- course of a two-year degree program. tution’s mandate is to be a special-purpose university offering market-driven Even before students arrive, they are applied and professional programs developed in partnership with industry/ preselected into teams according to cri- teria such as location, gender, profes- workplace advisory boards. It grants degrees in a variety of undergraduate sional background, and so on. We gen- and graduate programs, and also offers shorter executive education pro- erally assign 5 students per team and grams. The university’s academic programs focus on four key themes: 30 to 50 students per cohort (the term entrepreneurial management, leadership and learning, conflict management used for a group of learners moving and resolution, and environmental sustainability. toward the same degree at the same Royal Roads currently has the equivalent of about 1,600 full-time stu- time). A team lasts throughout the life of the program and completes a sizable dents enrolled in its programs. More than 2,100 credit and noncredit stu- number of assignments together — dents were served in the past year alone, and the university has graduated much as most work-related projects in close to 1,400 students since its first convocation in 1998. Master’s degree “real life” involve team participation. programs are delivered through a combination of Internet-based distance When a cohort arrives on campus, learning and short, on-campus residencies. Undergraduate programs are students attend a two-day bridging ses- also available online. sion with David and her team on how to use the software and communica- Although a public university, Royal Roads is dedicated to the goal of self- tions systems required to complete the funding. It has made important progress toward that end, halving the per- program. Typically, a student will centage of revenue derived from government funding (from 80 percent of access a Web site for each course and revenue in 1996–97 to 37 percent of budget in 2001–02). Royal Roads is use discussion groups to communicate well below the Canadian university average of 55 percent of revenue from with other team members. government grants. Students will also meet many of the department’s faculty members, includ- Royal Roads’ Web site is
32 EDUCAUSE QUARTERLY • Number 4 2001 packages, which might include text- receive from their instructors, and ported by staff and faculty, enables books and other materials such as their satisfaction with individual learners to engage in debates and dis- videos and CD-ROMs. The demands courses, for example. From this input cussions, work collaboratively in on the learners’ time during the dis- we know that the team structure is crit- teams, and recognize and use the tance sessions will vary depending on ical to keeping students focused and expertise and experience of their fel- an individual’s familiarity with the motivated. low learners. “In this, they mirror the subject matter, but most students “Studying alone day after day can be reality of the new global marketplace,” spend about 10 to 15 hours per course an isolating and mundane experi- he said, “one in which colleagues — each week. ence,” noted Gerry Kelly, president of from far-flung national and regional Student feedback is necessarily more Royal Roads. “Our vision was to build offices — come together initially to comprehensive at Royal Roads, with a learning community in ‘real time’ — identify complex challenges and later, much of it done online. We ask for stu- one that could operate both on and dent input on what they like and dis- away from campus.” like about the structure of their pro- Kelly believes that the toolbox of grams, the quality of feedback they online instructional strategies, sup-
What It Takes to Tune In To keep technical systems running delivering courses that are too “beta.” as smoothly as possible, Royal Roads One person in the department is dedi- itemizes the computer hardware and cated to innovation, and we have reg- software configurations required to ular discussions concerning the pros participate in the university’s distance and cons of when to bring a new learning programs. This list forms an technology on board. This year, for important component of each stu- example, we looked at using video Internet Explorer 4 as a Web browser dent’s “contract” with the university streaming, which has great instruc- and a connection to an Internet Ser- — in effect, the learner guarantees tional value. For the time being, how- vice Provider that includes that he or she has the equipment nec- ever, we’ve decided to hold off HTTP protocol for Web access essary to meet course obligations and because the technology remains NNTP protocol for news access obtain the degree. beyond the bandwidth capacity of Pop/SMTP protocols for e-mail For its part, the university provides many students’ equipment. access technical support to faculty and stu- According to the 2001–2002 calen- Telnet protocol for telnet sessions dents through the help desk (which dar, a student must have the following FTP protocol for file transfers runs 13 hours a day), but only for con- minimum computer hardware and Ability to send and receive these five figurations specified in the list of mini- software configurations: protocols to and from Royal Roads mum requirements. Royal Roads does Pentium 200 processor University servers not, for example, support Macintosh 32 megabytes of RAM A variable number of hours of con- computers (as several learners have 3.5-inch HD diskette drive nect time per week, depending on discovered to their detriment after Super VGA monitor course content and the preferred assuming that they could work around Mouse method of study the specifications). Sound card, microphone, and Unlimited e-mail and newsgroup The list of requirements is amended speakers posting capability (that is, no post- annually in the university calendar (for 8X CD-ROM drive ing size restrictions) new students only). The Information 56K or cable modem See the university’s Web site at Services and Resources department at 100 megabytes of free disk space