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 I 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- I 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 I 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 I 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- I conduct research, and, Created on June 21, 1995, by the mation Highway. I 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 <http://www-icdl.open.ac.uk>, one of the largest in Canada. ping out.” 96 institutions across Canada now The university offers two undergrad- To ensure that staff provide the offer a distance learning component uate degrees (in commerce and envi- right sort of help at the right time, the towards a university degree. More are ronmental science) and a variety of Computer Service team regularly sure to follow. While the trend still graduate programs, including master’s monitors both usage and rates of satis- provokes controversy in some quar- degrees in environment and manage- faction with the services provided. ters, there can be little doubt that ment, leadership and training, conflict Requests for assistance come in as university distance education is here analysis and management, business about 550 e-mails each month, with to stay. Indeed, the line between dis- administration, and distributed learn- an equivalent number of telephone tance and traditional instruction is ing (a program focused on learning calls and walk-ins. Students express becoming somewhat blurred as class- systems and training technologies). In their appreciation through glowing room instructors discover that edu- addition, myriad executive programs reviews: a recent in-house survey cational technologies can greatly that run throughout the year can pro- showed a score of 4.8 out of 5 when it enhance their teaching, too. vide credit toward degree programs. came to the level of satisfaction with Today, the question is how to deliver Because of its mandate, the univer- the help desk. online education effectively. One mea- sity focused on technical infrastructure The very fact that Royal Roads has a sure of effectiveness is an educational right from the start. This has enabled centralized, technical help desk under- program’s success or completion rate; us to develop courses that maintain a lines one of the key differences but distance learning has frequently practical level of conformity to certain between it and a more traditional uni- fallen short of traditional classroom standards. (In other words, we don’t versity environment: our learners and instruction in this area. While univer- reinvent the wheel every time a new faculty rely heavily on technology. A sity distance programs tend to do bet- distance course is developed.) We use a Royal Roads student depends on the ter than those for K–12 students, the centralized project management Internet and his or her personal com- drop-out rate remains higher on aver- approach involving an instructional puter for more than the occasional age than for their counterparts in the designer, a Web support person, a research-oriented Web surfing and classroom. librarian, a copyright expert, and a word-processing functions. Here, stu- As the coordinator of distributed content expert (usually a faculty mem- dents use the technology to learning at Royal Roads, I have an ber). Developing a course is very much 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.