ADEC IDEAL IRIC-D Committee Checklist
Draft
For Final Action by the Board
For Final Action by the Board
Chair - Daryl Lund
Sub-Chairs - Alan Moeller and Terry Gibson
Environmental forces are pushing higher educational institutions into the new age of information and consumer driven markets. A real issue is the transformation of the existing higher education environment over time into a new learning industry that will be global, span K-12 learning and involve a far greater range of learning enterprises. The following is a checklist higher education institutions can use in assessing where they stand in the development and delivery of distance education.
- Committed Institution and State
- It is important for action to happen, that the institution places a high priority on distance education and that the institution/state has sophisticated knowledge of the technological present and future.
- How knowledgeable are your legislators, members of Board of Governors and university administrators about distance education?
- What are the attitudes of the institutions' administrators toward distance education?
- Are senior administrators and the governing board supportive and committed to distance education? How can you tell?
- Does your institution have a strategic plan for distance education?
- Has your institution conducted a knowledgeable and sophisticated cost analysis for its spending on technology to support distance education?
- How sophisticated is your technology migration plan?
- Is your institution open systems compliant?
- What is the stage of technological connectivity to reach learners today? What about tomorrow?
- Too many institutions are implementing older solutions. What consideration has been given to the most appropriate mix of home and workplace delivery and learning centers?
- What financial resources are dedicated to developing distance learning awareness, training and development among faculty and staff?
- What resources are invested in "smart" marketing and reciprocal relationship formation?
- Has the institution identified policy and practice barriers to distance education?
- Are plans in place to shift funds from traditional bricks, mortar, daytime meeting approaches to program development for 21st Century Outreach?
- Does the institution cost accounting system allow you to amortize income and expenses over a 3-5 year period? Many courses may provide a return on investment only after two or three years.
- Does the university registration system permit students to register
on-line or via a touch-tone system?
- Can students pay their fees with a credit card via telephone or
via an on-line system that is secure?
- Can the registration system accommodate different fee structures
required by some distance education programs?
- Do off-campus distance education students have to pay a fee for
health care and recreational facilities on campus?
- Do distance education students have additional fees for technology
support or computer services?
- Does the registration system permit cross-enrollment of students
at multiple institutions?
- Can students enroll at your institution and take a distance learning
course from another institution?
- How does the institution providing the distance education course
receive payment for the instructional services provided?
- Distance education delivery raises the question of what rate of
tuition and fee rate should be charged. Should the institution set
tuition at the instate rate, out-of-state rate or at a rate unique
for distance?
- Should a fee or distance education charge be assessed in addition
to the tuition rate?
- What are the pros and cons for each of the rate options in your
institution/state?
- How much does your legislature subsidize instate and out-of-state
students?
As a nonprofit organization, how will your legislature handle equity issues?
How will your tuition and fees match with offerings from other institutions in terms of comparable value?
- Recognizing that distance education and utilizing information technology
to enhance learning is important, how does an institution get faculty
to invest the time and energy necessary to make it happen?
- How does one focus on the human dimension of bringing about change?
- What financial resources (i.e. seed money funds) are available to
faculty and staff to design and develop their initial distance education
programming?
- What production facilities and technical consultation/assistance
for faculty is available to help them design and develop distance
education programming?
- Faculty may not be that knowledgeable of the appropriate technology
or how to apply technology or the right pedagogy to use in instructional
design. What recognition and rewards are in place for faculty and
staff who have successfully developed and delivered programming by
distance or are contributing to developing a systematic approach to
extended education using technology?
- Are release time and special considerations in place to allow faculty
and staff the ability to prepare a course or program by distance?
- Are faculty teams rewarded with all or a portion of financial intake through distance education to support continued development and sustainability of offerings?
- What assessment and marketing efforts exist to determine the programmatic
needs and to let learners know the availability of distance education
programs?
- Has the institution identified its unique capabilities in terms
of content, packaging and delivery?
- Has the institution costed out "doing its own" program versus taking
from another institution?
- Has the institution bench marked its offering with that of others?
- How well does your institution understand the relationship among partnering, reciprocal agreements and market development?
- Can the student records system easily transfer records to and from
other institutions that are required for enrollment or transfer of
credits?
- Does the institution provide a credit bank that fully recognizes
the credits that have been earned at other higher education institutions?
- Do student transcripts note credit that has been earned at other institutions?