Continuing and Innovative Education, The University of Texas at Austin

[Start]

Kevin Wier: Hello everyone. Welcome to our FCC press conference. I wanted to remind everyone to please turn off your cell phones when we get started. We’ll be underway shortly.

[02:31]

Kevin Wier: Okay everyone, we’re glad you’re here. We’re going to hear a lot of interesting stories about broadband use in distance education and with that I’ll open it up to Commissioner Baker.

Meredith Attwell Baker: Thank you so much. It is just a real pleasure to be here. I am so thrilled that the UT distance learning is being showcased as part of our first national broadband plan meeting. So we’re thrilled to be here. I want to particularly thank Dean Ashcroft, Dr. Pro, Dr. Glessner, Dr. Krohn, and Dr. Shea for having me here today. What I know about UT K-16 Education Center and The University of Texas’ online college program is impressive but I really can’t wait and look forward to learning more about what you have done in the innovative world of distance learning programs. The University of Texas Distance Learning Program is the perfect example of the benefits that broadband can bring to the American people. It provides educational opportunities from high school and college courses for credit to continue education, professional development, and personal enrichment for students of all ages and from all walks of life. This program, which provides cutting edge, high quality, award winning programs and courses to people outside the traditional classrooms allows its students to access classes at any location at any time. Through distance learning programs like the one here at UT, students in rural areas, and anywhere in the country, will be able to receive quality instruction providing them with necessary skills to succeed, compete, and prosper in today’s global economy. That said, I don’t want to take away time from this important presentation, and the students and the alumni that are gathered here today. So I’m very grateful to all of you and I’m looking forward to hearing.

Judy Ashcroft: Thank you Commissioner Baker. It is a great pleasure to welcome you to The University of Texas at Austin. And especially because I think you’ve got all the qualities of a great continuing educator. She was nominated by President Obama in June, she was appointed in July, and, already, she is building communities and lighting up discussions about broadband. We are glad that you’re here. Welcome to our valued students and you our guests. It’s a pleasure today to have you in the Thompson Conference Center which is the home of Continuing Education at The University of Texas at Austin. And today we’re going to focus on three innovative K-16 education programs. All of these are for high school students. In Texas, we are working to close the gap, and this puts more students in the pipeline who are ready to go on to higher education. The first program that you’ll hear about is The University of Texas at Austin Online High School. It offers a state-approved high school diploma to those students who need or prefer an educational alternative to a traditional education. Our student body is throughout Texas, the United States, and the world. The second program you’ll hear about is The Migrant Student Graduation Enhancement Program which provides online courses to Texas migrant students with the goal of increasing their participation in higher education. And the newest of these programs is the LUCHA program which is directly geared for students who are learning how to speak English. This program facilitates their learning by working in coordination with Mexico to access their transcript and then allowing them additional time to learn English so that they graduate more nearly on time and then have an opportunity to go on to higher education. You’re going to learn more details about these programs which so nicely fit with the university’s purpose of transforming lives for the benefit of society. Continuing Education is very proud to share information about our online education programs for high school students. And we believe that the success stories of our students who are with us today will reflect the skills of today’s students and the quality that online learning brings to them. These are a new group of digital natives who are much more comfortable online and with online interaction. The technology allows them freedom to access broadband and without it, these and many other students would have a very different story to tell. Our students in the online high school reflect the diversity of education. There are multi-taskers, non-traditional students, disadvantaged students, students who are highly mobile, students who are restricted in mobility, gifted students, accelerated students, disengaged students, and the temporarily displaced. And that’s only a small list because, for each, the instruction is individualized. Our program provides students with options—solutions that provide them with a solid educational opportunity that prepares them for stellar academic careers in colleges and universities across the United States.  Online courses are the catalyst for students to keep advancing. Continuing Education programs provide a link in the education continuum from student’s successful high school completion on to higher education. And now it is my great pleasure to introduce Dr. Amy Pro.  She is the principal of our Online High School and the supervisor of our Migrant Graduation Enhancement Program and the LUCHA program.  She will give you much greater detail about the programs and introduce our students who have experienced success in each of these programs. 

[08:33]

Amy Pro: Thank you. The University of Texas at Austin High School was authorized by the State Board of Education in 1998 and is fully accredited by the Texas Education Agency. The school began as a distance education program and has evolved into a rigorous, online school offering students the opportunity to earn a high school diploma while preparing them for college and the future. All of our courses are aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and are taught by experienced, Texas certified instructors. Students in The University of Texas Online High School can earn their diploma from any place in the world – working at home, on the run, on the go, wherever at any time of the day, at their own pace – meeting each student’s individual needs. Students in The Online High School come from all walks of life. We have students who just want more flexibility, students who want an alternative to traditional schooling, we have students who have been home-schooled and want a structured, accredited diploma we have students who want to accelerate their learning, we have professional athletes and students with professional careers like tennis players, ballerinas, gymnasts, actors, actresses. We have students who have health issues that preclude them from going to public schools. We have students who have moved and prefer not to enroll in a new school. We have students who have dropped out and are now ready to return, and we have students from foreign countries. Our students are from Texas, 24 other states, and 11 foreign countries. We have schools in Vietnam and Morocco whose students are enrolled in our high school, are taking our courses online, and when they complete all of their requirements, will receive a diploma from The University of Texas at Austin High School. The University High School currently has 250 students ranging in age from 13- 20 and over. Each year, we have 25 to 30 students graduate from our program. Students must successfully complete all Texas graduation requirements which include the required number of credits, the required courses, and successfully passing the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (or TAKS) exit level exam. The University of Texas Online High School is proud to say that our graduates are attending major colleges and universities throughout the United States.

[10:58]

Today, we have Colleen Wells who is currently a junior in the Online High School here to tell you a little about herself and why she chose to pursue her high school education through The University of Texas at Austin. Colleen?

Colleen Wells: Thank you very much for the introduction. Before I moved to the Austin area, I lived in well developed suburb of Houston where I went to public high school. I really enjoyed it and I was involved with sports and that kind of thing but when I moved to Austin, we also moved to a suburb of Austin that did not have as impressive of a high school. I tried to go there but it just really didn’t work for me. So my mom and I started looking for other options. We looked at private schools, and even boarding schools in other countries, but we decided that online school would be best for me. Because I go to online school, I’m able to be more independent and make a lot of decisions for myself. I also have a full time job as a personal assistant and I’m able to do that during the day and then have school at night. Since my parents are divorced, online schooling really helps me out to be able to spend the same amount of time with my family in Austin as I can with my family in Houston. Also, going to the University of Texas Online High School has taught me a lot of life skills like self motivation and time management. And I think those skills are going to be really useful whenever I start going to a university, which hopefully will be soon. But anyway, thank you.

[12:41]

The next program we want to talk about is the Migrant Student Graduation Enhancement Program which was created to help migrant students earn credits through distance learning courses that are aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and can be completed at any time and any place. The program provides tools, services, courses, computer equipment, and software applications that enable migrant students to meet and often exceed the requirements for high school graduation. Texas migrant students, who are the children of farm workers, travel to 47 different states to harvest crops with their families. Migrant students usually leave Texas schools in the spring before the school year has ended and they return in the fall after the school year has already started. Their migrations result in frequent disruptions to their education as they transfer from school to school. Because of these disruptions, migrant students have difficulty earning the credits needed to graduate from high school. Migrant students have a lower high school graduation rate than the general population and have lower scores on the state-mandated Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills examination. Through the Migrant Program, students can work on portable courses at their own pace at their Texas schools, at their receiving schools when they migrate to other states, and at their homes. The program offers three course formats—print, CD-ROM, and online—so that students are able to work on the courses with or without computers and Internet connection. The program helps students earn credit outside of the regular school schedule and setting through distance learning courses. The computer-based delivery system is a uniquely powerful tool for serving migrant students because of its ability to bridge time and distance. Since its inception in 1987, the Migrant Program has provided services to the migrant students of Texas. Each year, approximately 1,500 students enroll in the program’s distance learning courses. The program is funded by a grant from the Texas Education Agency and gifts from corporations and foundations including the Beaumont Foundation of America, the Exxon Mobil Foundation, the John G. Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation, and the Microsoft Corporation. There is no cost to the students or the schools for this program. The program has received a number of awards including the Significant Achievement in Independent Study Award by the University Continuing Education Association and, most recently, the Outstanding Services to an Underserved Population Award from the Association of Continuing Higher Education.  Each year for the past six years, the program has been the recipient of a University Continuing Education Association award for its Exemplary Migrant Student Recognition Ceremony. One student who benefited greatly from the migrant program is Erick Sanchez. He is with us today to tell us his story.

[15:50]

Erick Sanchez: Good afternoon. As a child growing up, my family was very low on money. Since I was about four years old, we traveled to North Dakota, Minnesota, and Michigan to work in the fields. We were in the need of money so my parents suffered a lot for us. But after a while it turned out we weren’t going for the money, we were going for the education my parents wanted for us. Traveling back and forth during the summer benefited us because we were able to apply for UT classes. First it was my brothers that started taking the classes and I saw it was pretty cool. I liked it. They’re getting a jump start on school because when we would go to school, we would stay behind a lot and it was really hard to catch up so we worried about it. My parents worried about it. We heard about the courses and we applied for them. I didn’t take them until I was in my eighth grade year. But when it came to my eighth grade year, I took a health course. And it was pretty difficult finding an Internet connection because they provided us with a laptop but it didn’t come with Internet. [Laughter] So we had to get our own Internet. We had difficulties paying for Internet and finding the time to do the courses because we would work about twelve hours a day, morning until night. When we would get home, it would be late and the only place I could go to use the Internet would be the library and at the library you have to sign up and they only let you use it for thirty minutes which really didn’t help me out a lot. Where we lived, it was about thirty minutes away from the town where my friend lived. So, whenever I could, I would try to spend the night over there, but I would have to wake up early and come back over here to where I lived so I could go work. I took Spanish 1A and B during the summer after my freshmen year. It was pretty hard to still find Internet. Sometimes I had to use the mail. That way I have to send my lessons through mail. Whenever I had time, I would just go to the lobby of the motel we were living in during the summer and it was pretty difficult. But after a while sometimes they would hire a tutor to help me out. They would try to give me a computer place to work on in the time I could. After a year or two, it was my junior year and I was already on the edge of graduating early and then I found out that I need my English 4A. It was a month until school was over so I was in need of help. So UT helped me out. They gave me English 4A for a course and somehow the migrant program managed to hire me a tutor. Every day after school, I would stay about three hours and managed to finish the English 4A and 4B in about a month. That was a good feeling because now I’m a seventeen year old going to St. Edward’s University. It’s a great feeling. The hardest part about the courses was pretty much finding the time and finding the Internet. I would like to think UT a lot. They gave me a lot of help and if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here. Thank you. [Applause]

[19:58]

Dr. Amy Pro: The last program we’re going to talk about today is the LUCHA program. This is an innovative K-16 Education Center initiative designed to help secondary Spanish speaking English language learners transition into public schools; thereby, helping them to achieve success in school, college, and life. Children immigrating to Texas from Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries face many challenges. These students face academic failure not only because of a language barrier but also because most schools do not have the resources to determine appropriate grade placement, to diagnose content area mastery, or to train personnel to recognize and address the challenges faced by the influenced students. The goal of the LUCHA program is to provide resources to assist school districts with the placement of Spanish speaking language learners primarily from Mexico in the appropriate grade and courses and to assist the Spanish speaking students as they transition into public schools so they do not lose instructional time and credits while they’re learning English. The LUCHA program provides four services. One service is the analysis of transcripts. With over 360 school districts in Mexico, each with its own curriculum, just translating course titles is not sufficient. Therefore the LUCHA program requests the curriculum from each student’s school in Mexico and does an in depth analysis including a comparison to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. After this analysis, credit recommendations are made to the district. For the Mexican immigrant students who are unable to provide transcripts from their home schools, the LUCHA program works directly with a Ministry of Public Education in Mexico and the Mexican Educational Institutions to locate and provide the missing transcripts. LUCHA also provides online diagnostics to the districts to access a student’s content area knowledge in math and science. An accurate assessment of student knowledge is critical to ensuring student success and preventing English language learners from dropping out of school. LUCHA diagnostic assessments are in Spanish. They are online. And the results serve as a guide to districts in placing students in the proper learning environment and in determining the appropriate instructional support. For Spanish speaking students, LUCHA also offers online courses in Spanish. These courses are from Mexico and have been aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Teachers can use these content courses to teach specific subjects to students in their native language while transitioning them into English using ESL instructional methodologies. These courses allow students to continue earning credit while they’re learning English. We offer 15 semester courses that are aligned to the TEKS and can be counted for credit, and we offer 5 additional courses that can be used as support for students. LUCHA students may also have access to the K-16 Education Center English courses that are online. The math and science courses, which include video tutorials, are served as an excellent support and provide a smooth transition from online courses in Spanish to courses in English. The LUCHA program began providing services to Texas public schools 3 years ago. The program is currently being implemented by 24 districts in Texas, has recommended over 7,000 credits based on the transcript analysis, and has provided over 5,000 courses to more than 1,200 students. Through this program, districts are able to provide avenues for success to their recent immigrant Spanish speaking students. Donna Independent School District was one of the first districts to implement the LUCHA program.  Sheila de la Rosa Alvarado, a graduate of Donna High School, is joining us through the marvels of broadband technology from Donna, Texas, 300 miles south of Austin to share her story. If I may direct your attention to the big monitor to my right, you’ll see Sheila. Sheila, can you hear me? Hi Sheila, can you go ahead and tell your story?

Sheila Alvarado: Hi, my name is Sheila. I’m here to talk to you about my experience with the LUCHA program and the online courses. I would like to identify myself with each and every student that comes to school with their first language being Spanish and trying to take English as a second language. The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of the word LUCHA are 2 Mexican wrestlers in colorful clothes which has nothing to do with the program but the definition is similar and acceptable for us because we have to “luchar”—fight in what we are doing in order to obtain a better education and improve our future. Language learners at the UT Center for Hispanic Achievement offers courses from the very basic skills to the necessities that we have to learn. This course was the medium and I think that helped me to be able to continue with my journey that contained many obstacles and one of them was the English language. The first course I took with LUCHA was biology and I was given the option to take it in Spanish which was a very extensive course but I was able to complete it in my 2 years through the high school. I would also like to mention that it gave me the opportunity to refresh my knowledge which I have acquired in the times that I was in the Mexican public schools I attended. I feel that this is one of the benefits of this program. In my second year in the US schools, I decided to repeat my experience with the LUCHA program. But this time, as one of my goals, my courses were going to be completely English. I challenged myself to prove my English. I was never told I had to do it. This is another option for students through other UT courses. These online courses are for students who want to work. It lets the students work with their pace without the pressure to master the content at a given time and moving on whether you understood or not. Another advantage of LUCHA is the credits. This has kept me from having to repeat courses which I have already taken in Mexico and received credit for. When I came from Mexico, I was a senior and had been placed as a ninth grader in the school when I came here. What helped me continue was the idea of giving my family a better future. Keeping in mind the sacrifices my mother made leaving her life in Mexico gave me the motivation and determination to fulfill my goal. My first goal here, when I came here, was becoming a teacher. In doing so, I would be able to contribute to the luchar – the fight - which helped me overcome my fear of not completely dominating the English language. Going to college, having a career, cementing my goal—it’s a dream to me, but seeing the long road ahead, winding, which I’m just beginning brings to my appreciation I have to this program which cut my years from 4 years to 2 years of high school. I think without the support of this program it would have been difficult getting to the place where I am currently at. I know that I am at the beginning and that the first goal I have set has been met: finish high school. I feel grateful that LUCHA gave me that first push I needed to accomplish this goal. Today, I am currently a student of SDC College and my future goal, as I have already told you, is to become a teacher and not only a teacher but a good teacher that helps students, newcomers to this country because I know what they are fighting for. We came here to search for opportunity and sometimes we don’t have it. Sometimes we have people over there outside that worry about us. I think if I made that goal I know I’m going to be a great help for them as this program was a great help for me. Thank you. [Applause]

[29:15]

Meredith Baker: Okay well, I’m just dumb founded. I’m almost speechless. But I’m from Washington so I have a little bit to say. [Laughter] I want to thank you all for demonstrating these wonderful programs and sharing your stories with me. Colleen:  what a great story on UT Online High School. It was truly touching. Erick: I think you are really demonstrating everything that is great to offer about the migrant program. Congratulations and I hope St. Edward’s is great for you. And Sheila: good luck being a teacher and I’m glad you got through that biology course. I think LUCHA was probably essential. All of these distance learning programs really show that the Internet is a critical educational tool. I should probably take a step back and say what we’re really doing with bringing the FCC to The University of Texas. As part of the Recovery Act that Congress passed, we have to write a National Broadband Plan for Congress that’s due on February 17th 2009 and we thought it was important not just to stay in Washington D.C. and have workshops there, but to actually reach out and see what critical tools were being used in different communities and so luckily we chose Austin first and I think we obviously chose a winner. This program is incredible and we’re very grateful. I think this distance learning program that is provided by The University of Texas is really a model for education benefits that can be achieved over the Internet. I’m grateful for your energy and your effort. This is an amazing team and obviously a very strong student body that is really inspirational. We look to get the policies right at the FCC so that we can see this program grow, so that we can see more educational tools over the Internet because it’ critical for the next generation of our education and the next generation of our children. So thank you for what you are doing. Thank you for bringing me here today. And thank you for taking the time to demonstrate these wonderful programs. We’re really grateful. [Applause] If anyone has any question, we have a great panel here to answer questions if anyone has any.

Audience member 1: I have a question. The FCC chairman has never mentioned privacy, at least not very much and for courses like this where you have educational records or tele medicine, investment, economic development all really depend on privacy. Here in Texas, we’re required to waive privacy as a condition for getting broadband service here and just want to get a sense from you on whether you think the FCC is going to support privacy online right of consumers here in America.

Meredith Baker: Well I can’t speak to the specifics of that. I think privacy is critical. As you look at supply and demand of broadband, one of the things that could really go wrong is if we have something go wrong with privacy. Privacy and cyber security, both of those I think are critical. Where we are currently in this phase is gathering data. What we want to do is have the most fact based data plan that has ever come about so we’re looking at a strategic plan that’s going to be really data driven and I think privacy is an important part of that. As I understand, you’ve already submitted comments and those will certainly be an important part of our record.

Audience member 2: Is one of the things you’re looking at -expanding broadband? Since a little over 30 percent of the country doesn’t even have access to broadband and these types of programs don’t work very well without broadband.

Meredith Baker: Great question. I think we’re doing a couple different things. Number 1: We’re looking to map where broadband exists and where it doesn’t because I think we’ve seen now that broadband is critical. It’s critical infrastructure and as more government programs actually run over broadband we have to make sure that everyone has access to it. So I think that’s one thing that we are doing. What was the other part of your question? I’m sorry.

Audience member 2: How critical is it to get the little over 30 percent of the country who doesn’t have broadband, broadband now, so these kinds of programs can be available to them?

Meredith Baker: We don’t know exactly what the number is of the amount of the nation that doesn’t have broadband so that’s why we’re looking for mapping but because we think it’s critical, we think it’s also important to have some “How can we get people onto the Internet?”. Penetration is one thing, adoption is another so we need to make sure that we have adoption policies that encourage people to actually use broadband which will increase also the use of it. So I think we’re kind of looking at it from both perspectives. Yes…you might want to announce your name before you ask your question—[Laughter]—not that everyone doesn’t know who you are.

Audience member 3: For the record, Madame Commissioner, my name is Gene Fick and I have a question about the online education programs. And that is, what are the eligibility criteria, if any, for participation? In other words, let’s say that a student wants to- or is interested in the program. What determines whether he or she is eligible?

Amy Pro: Anyone who has passed the eighth grade is actually eligible to enroll in The University of Texas Online High School. It meets the needs of many students and some students will find it’s just not what they are looking for but they’re welcome to try our program. We also can take over-aged students, students who are beyond high school age- over 18, 19, and we allow those students to enter our high school, too. So anybody past eighth grade is welcome to enroll in our online high school.

Gene Fick: Okay so I just want to confirm: anyone who’s interested in education can come and join that program.

Amy Pro: Yes sir.

Gene Fick: That’s great. This is sort of a follow up because there was a wonderful mention of K-16 or in the case of some of us, K-22 [laughter]. What other programs are available and similar? I know you can’t list the syllabus and this sort of thing here but this is fascinating stuff and it fits right in with what Commissioner Baker said about reasons to adopt broadband. I can’t think of anything more compelling. What else? Can we get college degrees online?

Judy Ashcroft: You might be interested in two other programs that are available for students. One is a credit by examination program and this is an opportunity to work with school districts and with individual students. One of my favorite recollections from teaching in college one time was that the first snow fall came the night before their exam so they were all out playing in the snow. The final exams then were impacted by that. Well the same thing happens with high school students where something happens and they may need an opportunity to demonstrate that they have indeed mastered those skills and that’s credit by exam.

Amy Pro: Our courses are available to any student that would like to take a course to either advance or recover credit. They don’t have to enroll in our UT high school to do that. They can stay in their public school or be home schooled and just use our courses as a tool to move towards graduation.

Judy Ashcroft: Thank you, Gene.

Gene Fick: Where do I find that information?

Judy Ashcroft: Oh, thank you for asking. The Web site is very robust with information about these programs, www.utexas.edu/cie.

Meredith Baker: And just in that vein, you can also learn an awful lot more about the FCC, what we’re doing in broadband at www.fcc.gov.  You can click on the broadband part. You can look at the 23 workshops that we’ve done all summer on the different parts of the broadband issue, whether it’s tele-medicine, tele-education or adoption or middle mile—the spectrum. We have tried to hit an awful lot of the sides of this issue so that we can gather as much information as we can. Alright without any further questions I am going to say a huge, heartfelt thanks one more time to you all for having us here. It been wonderful to meet you, great to hear your stories, and congratulations to you [applause]