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Executive Summary: Recommendations from the University Committee on Distance Learning

It is the Committee’s conclusion that distance learning techniques represent a large and important challenge to the position of any university among its peer institutions and in society generally. No discipline represented at CWRU will be untouched by the features we associate with distance learning, and some will become intensely dependent on them to retain and strengthen their positions of leadership.

Goal for Distance Learning

The goal of distance learning at CWRU is to serve the educational needs of students both on and off the campus through the use of information technology as well as face-to-face interaction with faculty and with other learners.

Objectives, Recommendations, and Action Steps

The following recommendations, organized under eight objectives, represent the Committee’s advice to the University community about how best to develop an effective program of distance learning.

Objective A. Establishing a Program: Initiate a coherent pattern of activity across the campus that addresses the opportunities and challenges of reaching new student populations as well as improving the learning experience of traditional student groups.

A.1. Refine institutional statements of purpose and strategic and operating plans to include considerations of off-campus student populations, use of information technology and related materials to enhance learning by on-campus students, and development of learning materials for broad markets.
A.2. Establish necessary and effective mechanisms centrally and in each major academic unit to manage interactions with extended student populations and educational markets.

Objective B. Enhancing Learning at CWRU: Improve the learning experience of both traditional (residential and commuting) and off-campus students through greater use of remote, network-based, and other mediated resources to supplement traditional teaching methods and materials.

B.1.Review criteria for faculty appointment, promotion, and tenure throughout the University to ensure that appropriate consideration is given to learner-centered activity.
B.2.Design and implement a stronger role for the University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education (UCITE) in working with faculty members throughout the University.
B.3. Ensure that all faculty, students, and related staff have access to CWRUnet and other technological resources appropriate for the level of engagement in distance learning selected by their academic units.
B.4. Promulgate institutional expectations for the use of — and for the support of — remote and network-based resources in education at CWRU. Ease of use, reliability, and immediate access to needed decisions and advice should be among the primary expectations for users.

Objective C. Reaching New Student Populations: Increase access to CWRU educational offerings — both for-credit and non-credit — for students for whom location or scheduling constraints present major barriers, including development of new offerings designed specifically to address the needs and interests of these prospective students.

C.1. Identify existing educational offerings with potential to meet the needs and interests of this extended market.
C.2. Incorporate consideration of extended student markets in planning for new academic offerings, including educational materials such as courseware and data resources
C.3. Develop, test, and implement a financial model for offerings designed to serve extended student markets, taking into consideration the additional investments needed to initiate and sustain such an effort, the relative efficiencies of these offerings to student groups of various sizes and in alternate formats (e.g., synchronous vs. asynchronous), and the cost/price patterns emerging in the national effort to serve these markets.

Objective D. Investing in Content: Improve the University’s systems for nurturing and rewarding learner-centered behavior on the part of faculty and staff members, and for marshaling infrastructure resources to support distance learning activities.

D.1. Develop and support incentives to encourage faculty participation in efforts to enhance and extend the University’s educational impact.
D.2. Provide training, assistance, and guidance for faculty members seeking to improve their teaching effectiveness or to develop distance learning programs.

Objective E. Investing in Infrastructure: Provide a stable, predictable, and useful environment for distance learning, taking advantage of CWRUnet and other vehicles with the capacity to link virtually every area of the campus with any other location, local or remote.

E.1. Refine CWRUnet to function both as a stable environment for delivering media-rich offerings to local and remote students as well as a forward-looking, dynamic environment for helping CWRU remain at the forefront of the emerging field of advanced communication applications.
E.2. Develop formal and accessible procedures to use alternative suppliers of information resources to meet specific needs of distance learning offerings when CWRUnet or other on-campus services cannot do so.
E.3. Ensure that appropriate staffing — either central or distributed — is available at any time that distance learning activities are under way. The instructor should never be unable to get support in case of a problem during a synchronous instructional session; this policy has implications for setting minimum enrollments for synchronous offerings.
E.4. Identify additional classrooms and related areas (laboratories, seminar rooms) to be equipped for distance learning, including interactive connections to remote student groups and remote resources.

Objective F. Supporting an Extended Student Population: Ensure that students pursuing CWRU-based learning at remote sites have appropriate advice, support, and assistance to be successful in their programs. Activity in support of this objective will largely be school-based, consistent with the University’s approach to assigning responsibility for academic functions, but will involve coordination with university-level policies and procedures.

F.1. Develop policies and procedures for admitting, assessing, advising, and grading remote students enrolled for academic credit.
F.2. Develop administrative policies and procedures for supporting remote students, whether enrolled in for-credit or non-credit offerings, that are commensurate with policies and procedures in place for students participating on campus.
F.3. Establish procedures for remote student access to library materials, software libraries, and other on-campus holdings related to their programs.

Objective G. Attracting Other Investors: Ensure success for this initiative by raising special philanthropic support to underwrite key elements of the program, and by recruiting partners in the venture.

G.1. Present plans for a distance learning program to potential donors, recognizing that this effort represents a significant and forward-looking step in advanced education.
G.2. The University should seek one or more appropriate partners for its initiatives in distance learning.

Objective H. Protecting the Investment: Safeguard the intellectual property and other institutional resources involved in designing and operating a distance learning program, including use of the University’s name and identifying materials, ownership of rights, etc.

H.1. Develop security procedures to determine appropriate access to for-credit offerings for enrolled students.
H.2. Refine institutional policies on copyright and trade protection to ensure that courseware and other media-based materials produced for distribution in this effort are protected against unlicensed use.
H.3. Schedule periodic reviews of program achievements by — and student and faculty satisfaction with — the distance learning program.

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