Greg Kearsley (gkearsley@sprynet.com)

It is also important to note that composition of the student population taking courses offered at a distance is in the process of significant change. Historically, distance education at the graduate level mostly involved students with full-time jobs who were pursing their studies on a part-time basis. Now, however, online courses are being offered to regular full-time students in addition to (or as substitutes for) on-campus classes. This means that the number of students engaged in distance learning is increasing dramatically. It also means that the characteristics and motivations of students learning at a distance are different as well.

This needs to be taken into account in the design and administration of the new doctoral programs being delivered via distance education.

A few words of explanation about NSU are in order. NSU is a private university established in 1969 that has pioneered field-based graduate education. The basic model (at least as far as the school of education is concerned) is that students are enrolled in cohorts (called clusters) which meet as a group for 3-8 day periods once per semester (i.e., at least three times a year). In most of the programs, there are a number of regional clusters which meet at a location somewhere in that region, usually at a hotel or conference facility. In the smaller programs (such as ITDE), there is a single "national" cluster that meets in Fort Lauderdale where the main campus is located. However, even in this latter case, the meetings are held at a hotel -- since there are no classroom facilities on the campus. [Note 2] Instructors travel to the site of the meetings to teach.

The idea behind this field-based model is that students spend most of their time learning on their own with minimal requirements for face-to-face sessions that require travel and time away from work/home. In this sense the NSU model encompasses the key element of distance education -- which is that learning takes place at the convenience of the students. Furthermore, by not conducting classes on campus, NSU eliminates the need to have classroom facilities, which are an expensive to build and maintain. This is a typical characteristic of a distance education institution -- no students on campus and hence no need for classrooms and other student facilities (e.g., auditoriums, gyms, cafeterias, dorms, parking lots, etc.) Instead, a distance education institution just consists of offices for teaching, administrative, and support staff.

Incidentally, these two aspects of distance education as practiced by NSU and other distance teaching institutions often result in scorn and disrepute from the rest of the educational community. The fact that students spend little (or no time) on the campus and that the institution lacks the usual trappings of a university leads them to be branded as second-rate institutions (e.g., "diploma mills") -- regardless of the quality of the teaching or instruction. NSU and other institutions using alternative delivery models experience much more scrutiny from accreditation agencies and the press. NSU in particular has spent much money and time in litigation defending its reputation and right to offer programs around the country [Note 3]

In the ITDE program all courses were required (i.e., there were no electives) and students took one course per semester (three per year). Concurrent with their course work, students were expected to complete their dissertation (called a practicum in the ITDE program). Completion of the program takes three years (without extensions).

The face-to-face meeting component of a course could be scheduled at the beginning, middle or end of the semester, depending upon arbitrary administrative schedules. Before and after this meeting, students were expected to prepare and complete assignments and participate in class discussions via email, web conferences, and audioconferences. So in terms of time available over the semester, the majority of learning activities should take place at a distance via online or audio interaction.

Alas, this is where a significant problem occurs with faculty who are not familiar/comfortable with distance education methods. Instead of distributing their teaching activities over the entire semester and engaging students in an ongoing series of learning events, some instructors would try to cram their entire teaching effort into the face-to-face session, using the time before and after as preparation or follow-up. Students would be asked to read material before the session, which would be discussed in person, and then expected to write up and hand in something afterwards. While this is not a bad model, it does not make effective use of the time when students are not together and it tries to compress too much into the relatively short-time period of the face-to-face session.

I would argue that it is better to completely eliminate the face-to-face component from a course so the instructor (and student) are forced to plan the learning activities and interaction over the entire semester. With a face-to-face component, there is too much temptation to leave the bulk of the teaching/learning to these sessions. More importantly, doing the entire course at a distance allows for much more extensive interaction between students and instructors through email, web conferences and audio/videoconferences. In face to face sessions there is always insufficient time for such interactions and discussions tend to be dominated by the instructor and more vocal students.

Another important benefit of eliminating the face-to-face session is the time and costs associated with attending it (for both students and faculty). The requirement of the IDTE program to physically meet each semester (i.e., three times per year) made the program too expensive for many students and not viable for those with certain job, family or health limitations. Furthermore, it significantly limits the program participants to individuals living in the continental U.S. considering the costs and time associated with overseas travel. Given that the IDTE program was being marketed to Latin America, this was a significant issue.

Another side to this issue concerns faculty involvement. Like most graduate programs, many of the ITDE courses were taught by adjuncts who had full-time positions at other institutions or organizations. However, to the extent that the courses are offered at a distance and most of the interaction takes place electronically, it is possible to have faculty from any location in the world without incurring travel costs or time away from their primary job. This makes it possible to have the best qualified faculty teach and advise in the program, regardless of their geographical location, subject to their interest and availability. [Note 4]

But this does raise the question of whether face-to-face meetings are needed for doctoral education and what effects their presence/absence makes on the quality of learning. Based upon my experience, I would say that what students need/want most is lots of interaction with their instructors and each other and that it doesn't matter if this occurs in person or at a distance. Historically, the only way to get interaction was through face-to-face meetings, so it came to be accepted that this was a necessary aspect of learning. However, we now have many powerful means of interacting at a distance, much more powerful than classroom discussion, and we ought to abandon this old concept and rationale for face-to-face meetings.

The only good argument for face-to-face meetings is to permit the kind of social activities that are difficult/impossible to do at a distance (e.g., having lunch, playing games, sightseeing, etc.). While these kinds of activities are enjoyable and a pleasant part of the overall learning experience, they do not seem to me to be vital to graduate study and worth the cost/inconvenience of conducting face-to-face meetings. If students do feel compelled to have this kind of social exchange, it can be obtained by attending a professional conference which also has the virtue of providing exposure to the latest research and developments in the field. Indeed, I would recommend that all doctoral programs offer an elective course that requires participation and evaluation of a professional conference to address this kind of need.

Course work is the simpler aspect of doctoral programs, whether done at a distance or via traditional classes. The really difficult part is the dissertation, which by its nature is ill-defined and open-ended. This is one aspect of the doctoral process that was well organized in the ITDE program. The dissertation in the ITDE program takes the form of a practicum which involves an action research study in the context of the student's work environment. By using the action research model instead of the more traditional academic paradigm, the nature of the research projects are more concrete and clearer to define/assess. Furthermore, the practicum process is well defined at each step with deadlines and deliverables. Failure to complete one of these steps in a timely and satisfactory way is grounds for dismissal from the program -- thereby eliminating the tendency of doctoral students to procrastinate on their dissertation work.

But an even more important element of the practicum process is the assignment of a practicum advisor (i.e., thesis supervisor) to each student. Unlike traditional programs, practicum advisors are a separate group of faculty (mostly adjuncts) from those who teach courses and have only a small number of students (2-4) to advise. Their job is to get students through the practicum process successfully and they are paid for doing so. This addresses a typical weakness of most doctoral programs -- students not getting enough time with their advisors to discuss their work, usually because their advisors are too overloaded with students and teaching responsibilities. Furthermore, since almost all of the interaction between student and advisor is done via email or audio/online conferencing, it can be continuous and ongoing regardless of the whereabouts of either.

In order to do a high quality practicum or dissertation, the student needs access to good library resources. In the context of distance education, this means electronic access to catalogs and a means to get copies of books and articles in a timely manner. NSU, as well as most universities today, have online library catalogs and provide off-campus lending services for this purpose. While these library capabilities may not be as easy to use or comprehensive as on-campus facilities, they meet the needs of distance learners. In addition, a great deal of resources are available directly to students via the web, particularly recent technical literature such as conference proceedings and online journal articles.

Another important resource are fellow graduate students. In a cohort program like ITDE, this is especially effective since students know each other well and are not hesitant to ask for help or share their problems. However, I feel that having students interact with each other in the context of their dissertation work should be a regular and well structured component of a doctoral program. Students should have plenty of opportunity to examine each others work in progress and offer suggestions as part of course assignments. To the extent that a student's dissertation work is easily accessible to others on their web site, this kind of peer evaluation is easy to implement (something not usually true in a traditional classroom context).

For many prospective students, as well as the faculty and administration of traditional universities, there is a concern about the quality of a doctoral program done at a distance, especially one that involves little or no face-to-face sessions. Given that there are relatively few institutions and faculty with distance education experience, this is a legitimate concern.

However, in my opinion, this concern has little to do with distance learning per se, and everything to do with how well the doctoral program is designed and staffed. I think the single most important element of a good doctoral program are talented faculty who are passionate about their discipline and have a strong interest in teaching about it and conducting research studies. Such enthusiasm for a subject transfers to students and encourages them to do excellent coursework or dissertations. Furthermore, faculty members who are very committed to their work are likely to spend a lot of time with students helping them with questions or problems. This is even more important in distance education programs which make routine use of email and web conferencing since the degree of interaction between students and faculty can be very extensive/intensive. This assumes, of course, that faculty are comfortable using electronic technology at this level.

Good administration matters a lot too, especially given the additional complexity that distance education usually involves. A high level of support is needed, which means timely responses to all student questions and problems. Procedures for everything from course registration to graduation requirements must be outlined in detail. Ideally all such details are available on a web site so students can easily access this information as needed. In an online program, most (if not all) administrative matters can be done via web-based forms or email, improving the reliability and turn-around time for processing data. [Note 5] Indeed, it is my belief that handling all administrative matters online (including those pertaining to faculty and staff) improves the cost-effectiveness of a program allowing it to be run more effectively with a smaller staff.

For example, I like to have students pre-register for my courses by completing a brief online form (available from the course web site) and sending it to me. This gives me basic background information about students in a class including their backgrounds, previous coursework, or their thesis project, which I can use to tailor the course to their interests. I can also forward these pre-registrations to the person handling course registration eliminating the need for students to do anything further. Assuming that students are enrolled in our program, we already have all the necessary billing information in our database and there is no reason for them to re-enter it. Once students have pre-registered, their email addresses are added to the distribution list for a course which ensures that all students immediately get any course information disseminated. Provided that students sign on regularly and read their email and relevant conferences, they will know exactly what is going on.

Based upon my experience with the ITDE program and other online efforts, my conclusions about the design and implementation of an distance education doctoral program are:

- Students can have a significantly better graduate learning experience at a distance compared to traditional on-campus programs because of the high level of interaction that is possible. While there are many excellent on-campus doctoral programs, I think there is an opportunity to create new online programs that give students a richer and more intensive learning experience.

- On-campus sessions are not really necessary and may interfere with the implementation of good distance learning experiences. On the other hand, I do think that regular face-to-face interaction, through the use of desktop videoconferencing, is a good idea.

- Asynchronus interaction via email and web conferences should provide the backbone for communication among students, faculty and staff. However, realtime audio and videoconferences should be used to supplement/augment interaction.

- The web should be used for all course/program materials as well as student work (i.e., assignments and dissertation) since it simplifies access and revisions.

- Organizing students into cohorts for the duration of their program is a good idea, although it is not necessary to have a lock-step schedule (i.e., students can have electives).

- An effective doctoral program depends upon strong faculty and good administration, particularly when it is to delivered in distance education format.

- It is highly desirable in an online program to handle all administrative matters electronically via email and the web, including those having to do with faculty and staff.

All of the above conclusions are offered in a speculative fashion, subject to research and evaluation studies in a given program and institution. I should also add that the above conclusions assume that the program is designed and run by faculty and staff with considerable distance education experience; otherwise such a program in not likely to be successful or capable of achieving the potential of graduate study. Furthermore, since distance education is an innovative enterprise, it requires an institutional environment that supports and encourages innovation and change.

[2] I am just referring to graduate study in education, NSU does have undergraduate and graduate programs that involve traditional on-campus study and hence has all of the usual facilities for these programs.

[3] Another complicating factor is that NSU offers courses nationally which means that it transcends regional and state-based accreditation and credentialing stipulations. This also has led to a lot of conflict with other institutions and agencies.

[4] In fact it is so easy for faculty to teach at a distance, that many institutions are becoming concerned that their faculty are not giving their full attention to their "home" institution and some have begun to place significant restrictions on distance teaching activities.

[5] The most difficult obstacle to online administrative processing seems to be the many documents that require signatures in order to be legally binding. There are a number of ways around this obstacle including having people click on a consent box (the way online software licenses are handled), having people paste in a graphic with their signature, or just accepting their typed name as a signature. This is something that needs to be worked out with the legal counsel of the institution.