Convergence or Transformation: Options for Distance Education

1. Convergence or Transformation: Options for Distance Education Gary E. Miller Executive Director Emeritus Penn State World Campus

2. 1992 Long-Term Trends • Diversification and Convergence of Technologies • Changing Relationship with Students • Changing Relationships among Institutions • Emergence of a New Mainstream

3. Diversification and Convergence of Technologies • Development and Delivery of Print, Audio, Video • 1992: “Organizational structures that do not facilitate a mixing of technologies will find it difficult to reach their full potential in this new environment.” • Today: New infrastructure, new communities on campus

4. Relationship with Students • Learning Communities • Empowered Students • 1992: “…will require that we rethink our definition of instruction.” • Today: • Web 2.0 Collaboration Tools • Moving Goalposts

5. Relationships among Institutions • 1992 Examples: IUC, MEU, NUDC • Today: • Great Plains IDEA • CIC CourseShare • WUN GIS • OER Movement

6. Cape Town Declaration • …we call on educators, authors and institutions to release their resources openly. These open educational resources should be licensed to facilitate use, revision, translation, improvement and sharing by anyone, ideally imposing no legal constraints other than a requirement by the creator for appropriate attribution or the sharing of derivative works. Resources should be published in formats that facilitate both use and editing, and that accommodate a diversity of technical platforms. Whenever possible, they should also be available in formats that are accessible to people with disabilities and people who do not yet have access to the Internet.

7. A New Mainstream • 1992: Response to “currents of social change.” • Today: • Penn State Online as an example • National Center for Academic Transformation • CIC CourseShare • Blended Programs • Growth in the Number of DE Institutions

8. Evidence of Convergence • 44% of institutions offering F-2-F Master’s degree programs also offer Master’s programs online. • 65% of higher education institutions use primarily core faculty to teach their online courses. • 3.48 students take at least one online course. • Impact greatest at community colleges and public universities. • 59% of academic officers see online as “critical to the long-term strategy” of their institutions. --Online Nation, 2007

9. Drivers of Convergence • Rising Importance of Continuing Education • Competition for Commuter Students • Net Generation Student Interests • Efficiency on Campus • New Revenue Streams

10. Challenge of Transformation • Service Economy to “Conversation Economy” • Knowledge Society to “Skills Society” • Access, flexibility, convenience, cost-effectiveness remain as goals.

11. Challenge to Higher Education: Help individuals build and sustain new communities around collaboration and sharing of knowledge to solve local and global problems.

12. Challenge to Distance Education: How can we help our institutions make this transformation?

13. A Broader Strategic Horizon for Transformation • Fully Online Courses • Distance Education • On Campus • Hybrid Courses • Blended Programs • E-Learning as a Utility

14. Institutional Strategy Dimensions • Access • Distance Education • Serving New Constituencies • Efficiency • On Campus Innovations • Blending • Pedagogy • Response to Societal Need

15. Re-perceivingCommunity in a New Work and Social Environment • Communities as “Local” • The Problem of Globalization • Defining New Communities • Civic • Civil • Social • Professional • Educational • Online Both a Stimulus and a Solution

16. Redefining Communities within Higher Education • Institution/Community • Faculty • Student/Institution • Institution/Institution

17. Institution/Community • Re-articulate Our Mission • Aggregate Students for Specialized Programs • Serve Dispersed Professional Groups • Enhance Service to Commuting Students • Tailor Programs to Community Needs • Develop Relationships with K-12

18. Faculty Communities • Multi-Institution Academic Communities • Research Symposia • Shared Content/OERs • Faculty/Faculty Collaboration • Faculty Member • Co-Creator • Co-Adaptor • A New “Old” Academic Community

19. New Student Communities • Preparing Students to Live in the • Conversation Economy • Age of Cognition • Knowledge Society • Global Information Society . . . today’s work, civic, and social world

20. New Learning Community • How we learn should reflect how we live. • Knowledge Society Requirements • Understanding information • Working in teams to create solutions to problems • The e-learning Pedagogy • Resource-Centered • Inquiry-Based Knowledge Creation • Collaborative Problem-Solving • Active Learning

21. Institution/Institution Relationships • Curriculum-based Consortia • OER-based Partnerships • International Collaborations • Collaborative Doctorates • Cross-Border Distance Education

22. Conclusion • Online Learning in a Transformed Institution will be . . . • More blended and diverse. • More concerned with creating and sustaining learning and change communities. • Focused on use of technology for collaboration and inquiry rather than publishing. • Focused on access for lifelong engagement.

23. Discussion Gary E. Miller gem7@psu.edu