The increasing use of instructional telecommunications by colleges and universities has created a fundamental challenge: how to simultaneously implement distance education programs and courses that are cost effective, increase student access to education, maintain standards of academic quality, and support the institution's long-term mission. Compressed video, fiber, and the Internet are providing us with many new options not only for traditional distance learning but for many strategies of instructional resource sharing. Just as industry has taken great advantage of network services to strengthen cooperation and resource sharing among decentralized units and affiliate organizations, universities can improve their efficiency by expanding their sharing of operations and resources.
Distance Education at UT Austin
The University of Texas at Austin has been involved in the delivery of courses off campus via telecommunications for almost two decades. This was preceded by the establishment and continued use of print-based and extension courses as a means to provide educational access.
Today, College of Pharmacy, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, School of Nursing, College of Communication, College of Education, Graduate School of Business, College of Engineering, School of Social Work, Division of Continuing Education, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and others have either delivered or expressed an interest in delivering courses at a distance. While it appears that video-based instruction (via the UT System Video Network) is the preferred distance education delivery method for graduate courses from the UT Austin campus, most involve other forms of multimedia as part of the course delivery. In addition, other types of distance education have been successfully designed and delivered regularly. Print-, audio-, and computer-based courses have been highly effective in meeting the needs of residential as well as distant students. Currently, departments on campus have reached high school, college and continuing education students around the world using these methods.
Distance Education Delivery Selection
Some distance education providers feel that the ideal distance learning classroom is one where instruction is delivered to a small number of students via live two-way video and audio using fiber optic technology. This viewpoint has been somewhat enhanced as a result of the decline in costs for compressed digital systems. However, if the focus is on the curriculum to be delivered, video-based technology may not be the only or even a partial answer. Distance education researchers have reported that successful distance learning programs in the future will be those that involve a "blending" of technology, where the delivery vehicle is selected based on its appropriateness for the content to be delivered. Successful programs will not be dependent upon one delivery system for an entire course or program. It is therefore important that discussions related to distance education are not limited to video-based delivery. Options, including the Internet and World Wide Web, present more cost-effective means to deliver courses and should be utilized on a regular basis.
Telecommunications and Distance Education
In addition to bringing students and teachers together, distance education and telecommunication support can bring instructional resources (e.g., speakers, video, site visits) to a course, can allow courses at different sites to be combined or cooperative, can bring instruction to the home, to the worksite and other alternatives (such as Education Service Centers), just as it can be used to deliver a course from an instructor to a remote class. The same telecommunications investment can serve all of these applications. Further, distance education programs involve much more than the delivery of instruction. In order for programs to be most effective, The University must have in place an infrastructure that will complement and support telecommunication activities at all levels. The integration of telecommunication capabilities should be central to planning of University resources (classrooms, libraries, laboratories, etc.), rather than seen as secondary to the mainstream curriculum.
Role of the Telecommunications/Distance Learning Committee
The role of this committee has been to raise and discuss important issues related to distance education at UT Austin, as well as the relationship to the UT System. It has become clear through our discussions that UT Austin is lacking in the infrastructure that would support distance education activities. Departments have either learned through experience or have turned to consultants to assist in course preparation and faculty development. In addition, The University does not provide a facility or staff for training faculty to teach at a distance. This has led to duplication of efforts by some colleges.
Needs Addressed
This committee has developed a set of recommendations that address the immediate needs of The University to use distance education as well as The University's long range goals. These recommendations are the result of a year of task force meetings and target the following concerns:
The need to provide distance education to UT System components and other educational customers is shared by many UT Austin schools, colleges and departments. By addressing the concerns listed above, UT Austin will be in a better position to form partnerships to help address this need. The recent passing of House Bill 2128 (Infrastructure Fund) will provide funding for telecommunications/distance education projects and programs across the state, and The University should be prepared to participate in such projects. In addition, there is a digital media initiative on campus for integrating and modernizing instructional and research technologies at UT Austin. This report complements the digital media initiative as well as The University's ambition to upgrade faculty computer access by recommending the establishment of an infrastructure designed to support telecommunications and distance education activities on the campus.