Learning Without Limits: Model Distance Education Programs in Community Colleges
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 401 969 JC 970 005 AUTHOR Lever-Duffy, Judy, Ed.; And Others TITLE Learning without Limits: Model Distance Education Programs in Community Colleges. INSTITUTION League for Innovation in the Community Coll.; Miami-Dade Community Coll. District, FL. PUB DATE 96 NOTE 89p. PUB TYPE Reports Descriptive (141) Collected Works General (020) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC04 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Community Colleges; *Distance Education; *Educational Innovation; *Educational Technology; Educational Television; *Models; *Nontraditional Education; Program Descriptions; Student Personnel Services; Two Year Colleges ABSTRACT Based on descriptions submitted to a national panel on exemplary Distance Education (DE) programs, this monograph describes state-of-the-art DE programs at 16 community colleges. First, an introduction reviews the history of DE systems and DE in community colleges, describes the importance of revising curricula for distance delivery, discusses materials and technologies associated with DE, and reviews characteristics of synchronous and asynchronous delivery systems. The subsequent chapters then describe programs at the following community colleges: Austin Community College (Texas), Chattanooga State Technical Community College (Tennessee), ChemeketaCommunity College (Oregon), Dallas County Community College District (Texas), Florida Community College at Jacksonville, Genesee Community College (New York), Kirkwood Community College (Trsum). Miami -Dade Community College District (Florida), Northern CoMmuriLy Cu11 3ge, Northwestern Michigan College, Rio Salado College (hrizona) ,,San Diego 7ity College (California), Sinclair Community College (Ohio), Tarrant County Junior College District (Texas), University College of The Cariboo's Learning Network (British Columbia), and Wdshtenaw Community College (Michigan). Each chapter provides an overview of the program, including a description of the students served, the program organization, instructional strategies utilized, technologies employed, student services provided, and student grading and program evaluation methods, as well as a discussion of the unique or exemplary practices involved. An annotated list of DE programs at 38 colleges is appended. Contains 15 references. 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BEST COPY AVAILABLE 4 League for Innovation in the Community College Miami-Dade Community College District LEARNING WITHOUT LIMITS Model Distance Education Programs in Community Colleges Judy Lever-Duffy Randal A. Lemke Larry Johnson Editors A jointpublicationof the League for Innovation in the Community College and the Miami-Dade Community College District 3 Copyright 1996 by the League for Innovation in the Community College 4 Table of Contents LEARNING WITHOUTLIMITS Model Distance Education Programs in Community Colleges Table of Contents Foreword v Introduction vii Austin Community College 1 Chattanooga State Technical Community College 7 Chemeketa Community College 11 Dallas County Community College District 15 Florida Community College at Jacksonville 19 Genesee Community College 25 Kirkwood Community College 31 Miami-Dade Community College District 35 Northern Virginia Community College 39 Northwestern Michigan College 43 Rio Salado College 49 San Diego City College 53 Sinclair Community College 55 Tarrant County Junior College District 61 University College of The Cariboo's Learning Network 65 Washtenaw Community College 69 AppendixAnnotated Listing of Distance Education Programs 73 Bismarck State College 73 Bossier Parish Community College 73 Brookdale Community College 73 Butte Community College 73 Calhoun Community College 74 Clovis Community College 74 Columbia State Community College 74 De Kalb College 74 Douglas College 75 Edison Community College 75 Herkimer County Community College 75 Indian Hills Community College 75 Iowa Valley Community College District 75 iii Table of Contents Appendix (continued) Lake Shore Technical College 76 Lethbridge Community College 76 Los Angeles Community College District 76 Mount Royal College 76 New Brunswick Community College 76 Northcentral Technical College 77 Open College, Open Learning Agency 77 Owens Community College 77 Piedmont Technical College 77 Pima Community College 78 Portland Community College 78 Raritan Valley Community College 78 Red Deer College 78 Red Rocks Community College 79 Rockland Community College 79 Sault College of Applied Arts and Technology 79 Sierra Community College 79 South Metropolitan Regional Higher Education Consortium 79 State Community College of East Saint Louis 80 University College of the Fraser Valley 80 University of Alaska Southeast 80 University of Cincinnati 80 Waubonsee Community College 81 Wayne County Community College 81 Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College 81 Selected Bibliography 83 6 iv Foreword FOREWORD Community colleges are the higher education institutions with the orientation and flexibility to respond to a changing economy and a changing work force. They are dedicated to providing comprehensive, quality programs to diverse populations. They focus on teaching and on learning. In the Information Age, they must also focus on the delivery of quality educational programs and instructional opportunities to a work force demanding flexibility and access. This is the role that distance education can play in the community college through the application of technology. The mission of Miami-Dade Community College is to provide accessible, affordable, high-quality education by keeping the learner's needs at the center of decision making and working in partnership with its dynamic, multicultural community. To achieve this mission now and as we look toward the twenty-first century, we must be prepared for a transformation in the way we teach, learn, and operate. We must reengineer ourselves so that we fully and effectively address the needs of our students, faculty, staff, and community. In the Information Age, this must be done through the appropriate application of technology to the teaching/learning process. Miami-Dade Community College is currently reinventing its distance delivery systems. We have explored, created, piloted, and implemented many quality distance learning programs. But we are not content to rest upon our extensive distance education history. As the technologies change, so must we change our delivery system and the curricula it serves. I have challenged our college community to reinvent our distance education environment and build a world-class delivery system that will serve our students well into the next century. This publication and our partnership in the joint Miami-Dade Community College/League for Innovation Distance Education Project is just one aspect of this collegewide effort. We are very proud to have been a part of this project and this publication which showcases the efforts of so many fine institutions. I look forward to seeing you on the Information Highway! Eduardo J. Padron District President Miami-Dade Community College 7 Introduction INTRODUCTION Judy Lever-Duffy, Miami-Dade Community College Randal A. Lemke, Northern Virginia Community College Distance education has recently achieved a level of critical has been influenced both by the sophistication of technology interest that signals a shift from the instructional periphery to and the demand for flexible access to instruction. mainstream instructional delivery. For years, distance Distance education began as an alternative to traditional education was considered experimental, even questionable, classroom instruction in the mid-1800s. These early delivery nontraditional instruction. It was often looked upon as an systems, though limited by that era's technology to inferior educational option offered for those who could not correspondence courses, demonstrated the same instruction participate in "real" classes. anytime, anywhere philosophy at the core of today's distance Some of these criticisms were valid. Technologically education movement. Americans isolated in rural areas used limited distance delivery programs piloted by the early these distance education opportunities to access education that adopters of distance education often offered flexibility at the would not have been available otherwise. Providing access to expense of sound instructional design. But the experience instructional opportunities has been the goal of every distance gained from the early innovators combined with the rampant education initiative since. technological advances of recent years has made it possible to While the goal has remained the same, the structure and expand the definition of distance education and provide a wide composition of distance education has changed significantly variety