Special Assistant to the Vice President for Planning and Policy, University of Hawaii

Transcription

1 DISTANCE LEARNING PARTNERSHIPS: GLOBALIZATION AND LOCALIZATION P. MOCHIDA Special Assistant to the Vice President for Planning and Policy, University of Hawaii Abstract The globalization of modern society and of higher education programs delivered via distance has been made possible by the rapid development and integration of information and communication technologies. There are distance delivered programs offered by thousands of traditional institutions of higher education. They now compete with hybrids of for-profit institutions that have entered a marketplace the U.S. Department of Education predicts will have 33 million students enrolled worldwide and be a $7 billion dollar industry by the year 2003 in the United States alone. (Carr, 2000). What must we take into consideration in this rapid development of distance learning in what Manuel Castells (University of California, Berkeley, Professor of Sociology) calls the age of global and local? (Castells, 1998). As networks of institutions and networks of people increase, what must the 21 st century techno-society keep in sight? In the area of distance learning specific identity as source of meaning as coined by Castells, and student-centered services and the delivery of quality programs as espoused by educators pro and con distance learning, are as important as globalizing access to the courses and programs. The University of Hawaii System is comprised of ten campuses:

2 seven community colleges (TAFE) a bachelor s and selected master s degree granting campus an upper division bachelor s degree granting campus a Research I university campus that offers 87 master s degrees and 55 doctoral degrees as well as professional degrees in law and medicine. The University of Hawaii has a long history of distance learning extending back to the 1970s. Delivery was primarily off-site until the advent of public access, educational cable television in the 1980s.The 1990s saw the installation of interactive television studios on campuses that enabled the simultaneous delivery of classes to multiple sites throughout this island state. By the end of the 1990s web-based, online courses were in development. Today, over 160 online courses are offered, some officially a course within a distance learning program, others offered to traditional students. System-wide there are over 600 courses in a variety of distance delivery modes offered by the University of Hawaii with almost 6,000 registrations each semester. Distance learning is no longer a simple matter of one campus offering its courses and degrees to another. The entire spectrum of academic and student services of a campus must somehow be available to the distance learner. Adding to this complexity is the current trend to develop partnered programs between multi-type campuses that globalize program offerings and increase networks of participants students, faculty, and services. For example, community colleges offer lower division pre-requisite courses that are transferred and articulated to the upper division baccalaureate degree program for a four-year campus. Or, a four-year campus offers one or more courses that are transferred and articulated to another four-year campus degree program. Distance education is forcing institutions to redefine themselves. (Heeger, 2000). It requires looking at administrative, academic, and student services across campuses: globally. Many of these services must become standardized, or at least coordinated. How, after the standardization do

3 campuses maintain their own localized uniqueness and quality programs for students? This paper describes three distance learning programs at the University of Hawai i and how they have partnered to globalize and capitalized on unique local missions and areas of excellence: The seven community college campuses distance delivered Associate in Arts degree. A partnership between a community college and a four year campus to award a baccalaureate degree. A Sloan Foundation Project to develop an online bachelor s and master s degree with participation from community colleges and all of the universities. Because globalization of distance learning partnerships cannot be addressed without considering quality issues and self-identity that come with localization, the University has an approved Executive Policy for Distance Learning Plans, Policies and Procedures for the ten campuses. The community college system and the flagship campus, Manoa, have also developed distance learning strategic action plans. All of these documents address the globalization of the distance learning program as well as localization guidelines. These documents describe policy development areas that must be addressed in planning for distance learning. (Gellman-Danley & Fetzner, 1998). The University has also followed benchmarks and guidelines developed by national associations, such as the (U.S.) National Education Association and the (U.S.) Western Association of Schools and Colleges regional accrediting commission. These include reports of surveys on traditional

4 versus distance education, and benchmarks for successful online programs. Assuring localization in the globalization of distance learning partnerships is the responsibility of all participants. Introduction to distance learning at the University of Hawaii The distance learning program at the University of Hawaii (UH), a system of ten multi-type campuses, suddenly finds itself looking back to the future. It has expanded access to courses and degree programs via distance delivery, but has had to assess the program and to coordinate system-wide planning and policies even as it continues to evolve and change. The University s system-wide program currently offers 36 degrees and credentials with almost 6,000 registrations in over 600 classes, primarily in-state, but also out-of-state. In the last decade distance learning has mushroomed from a handful of courses offered via cable television, or off-site, to a program that is disrupting traditional ways of carrying out the everyday business of the campuses (Armstrong, 2000). The University of Hawaii includes: seven community colleges (TAFE) on four islands, a four-year bachelor s and selected master s degree granting university on the island of Hawaii, an upper division (last two years) bachelor s degree granting university on the island of Oahu, a Research I university that offers 87 master s degrees and 55 doctoral degrees as well as professional degrees such as law and medicine on the island of Oahu.

5 Each campus participates in distance learning, not as independent campuses, but in distance learning partnerships. Distance learning includes off-site instruction where an academic is specifically employed to teach a course that is off the main campus or where an academic might have to commute by car or air to teach in a face-to-face classroom. Distance learning courses are also converting to synchronous or asynchronous technology-assisted formats, i.e. interactive television, cable television, Web-based online courses, videoconferencing, and hybrids of face-toface and one or more technologies. The primary reason for distance learning initiatives at the University of Hawai i is to provide access to opportunities in higher education throughout the state of Hawaii, an island state of six major islands (Policy, 1998). Distance learning is not limited to those courses and programs that adhere to the mantra of anytime, anywhere. Distance learning is a strategic goal of each of the campuses (UH Strategic Plan, 1996), so more important than the mode of delivery is the quality of the overall program. Off-site and cable television courses have been available since the 1970s and are still primary modes of delivering distance learning courses. During one semester at the end of year 2000, there were 271 off-site classes with 3,468 registrations and 67 cable television classes with 643 registrations. Interactive television had a slow start in the early 1990s, but today demand for airtime far exceeds capacity of the inter-island system. During that same semester there were 99 interactive television classes with 545 registrations.

6 In the mid-1990s, Web-based pages made their first tentative, but exciting entrance as supplementary material in on- and off-campus courses. Today over 1300 classes incorporate WebCt, a product licensed by the University of Hawaii, or MAILE, a homegrown product, or Blackboard, which has recently been licensed by one of the colleges. In the last report of University of Hawaii Distance Learning Offerings and Enrollment, there were 163 online-courses with 1,063 registrations as official classes in the University s distance learning programs. (OVPPP, Fall Report, 2000). Between 1997 to 2000, there was an increase from 282 to 616 classes offered in the distance learning program (+118%) and an increase from 4,901 to 5,972 registrations in these classes (+23%). The significance of this data is in what is not obvious. These classes are by and large not new classes, but traditional classes that are now also offered at a distance, expanding access, globalizing offerings that have been campus specific. The data also does not reveal what has been happening behind the scenes: how distance learning has disrupted the old environment. Distance learning partnerships A revolution has taken place in business. Now we are seeing the transfer to an evolution that has just started in education. This is going to change the landscape of education in a very positive way. (Sanford, 2000). What is this evolution in education? It is the ability to globalize access. How has the globalization of access to higher education changed the landscape? In many ways, but one very important one: Partnerships.

7 Universities are no longer ivory towers, independent and autonomous, or sacred mountains worshipped by pilgrims seeking knowledge and enlightenment. The distance delivery of programs at the minimum involves an originating site and a receive site, and for the technology-assisted program, usually multiple receive sites. At the minimum these global partnerships require access to student administration systems, such as admission and records, and student support services, such as advising and library information resources. At the University of Hawaii there has been a variety of distance learning partnerships. Three of the most significant examples have been: The collaborative partnership of the seven community colleges to offer and support a distance delivered Associate in Arts degree. The partnership between multi-type campuses, the Maui Community College and the University of Hawaii at Hilo. The system-wide partnership of the Sloan Foundation Project to develop and offer online bachelor s and master s degrees, globally. These three partnerships exist within the University of Hawaii system. There are partnerships beyond the ten campuses that are taking distance delivered courses and degree programs to American Samoa, the U.S. mainland, China, and even Down Under. They are still in relatively smaller numbers and the three major programs have effected the need for change that will improve support for these programs. Partnership between seven community colleges

8 The distance delivered Associate in Arts degree is a general, liberal arts degree. More information on the program can be found at its url: ( The partnership is between the seven community colleges that are part of a community college system, but are independently accredited and administered by fairly autonomous provosts. In January 1999 a committee of community college representatives was established from across the seven campuses. The committee has grown and changed as necessary, but has included administrators, academic and student support service personnel, academic faculty, University Center directors (University Centers broker UH programs to their communities), and also UH system-wide distance learning planners. They began the tedious, but challenging and productive, task of collaboratively developing a strategic action plan for the distance delivered Associate degree and the implementation plan for integrating distance learning into each of the seven campus operations (Action Plan, 2000; Implementation, 2000). It has been no easy task. On the one hand they were willing to globalize access to their courses and coordinate and collaborate to develop a Community College Distance Learning Program. Looking across the campuses there were more than enough classes to meet the requirements for the degree offered by any of the campuses even if it would have to be a mix of interactive television, cable, and online classes. Whose degree would it be? It could not be a system-wide degree, there is no such thing since campuses, and not systems of campuses, are accredited. Therefore, it had to be a campus degree. Student s must identify a home campus and meet that campus general and specific course requirement for its degree, but distance delivered classes offered by the other campuses

9 could fulfill the requirements. The reality of back to the future then descended. In looking at how each of the campuses, at the local level, could then support a partnered program, it immediately became apparent that the entire structure of policies, procedures, and organization; curriculum development and academic services; student services and information and marketing; resources, technologies, and facilities; assessment and evaluation; and database information systems had to be differently determined, and managed in light of a change from seven independent campuses to a partnered program that had to be seamless for the student. The campuses have had to consider common, rather than separate admission forms; standardizing semester start dates; registering for classes across the campuses; transferring not only credits, but grades; financial aid awards; and course development and offerings, including gap or missing courses. The campuses use the same student information product, but the system is not integrated between campuses, therefore tracking and reporting has been done campus by campus. How can students be supported without integrated systems and standardized policies and procedures? What is at stake is the quality of the program. Globalizing is one thing and localizing the program s mission and the support that is required is another, and by far the most difficult. Multi-type campus partnership: Community college partnership with a four-year campus During the past several years Maui Community College, on the island of Maui, and the University of Hawaii at Hilo (UH Hilo), on the island of Hawaii have established a partnership and process in

10 which courses for high demand bachelor s degrees have been offered on Maui. For more information see the url: ( Maui Community College in most cases provides the lower-division general education requirements and pre-requisite courses that fulfill the UH Hilo degree. The director of the University Center, Maui and the director of Information Technology and Distance Learning at UH Hilo have been responsible for this partnership. University Centers are University of Hawaii system-wide entities, but are administered by other campuses: Maui Community College, Hawaii Community College, and Kauai Community College. The University Center, Maui partnership has resulted in UH Hilo being able to globalize, or expand access to, its degree programs in Computer Science, Hawaiian Studies, Marine Science, and Sociology. They are currently partnering to plan and deliver UH Hilo s degree programs in English and Psychology. They have successfully localized the program because they identify specific high need programs on Maui, get buy-in from the academic faculty who are involved in delivering the courses from a distance, and work together to market and prepare students for the program. Consensus, participation, and commitment from both campuses are absolutely essential. The programs have been highly successful because they have been limited to one campus, where some of the classes are taught on the site, and each campus has taken responsibility for its respective courses. System-wide partnership: Outreach College and the University of Hawaii System Outreach College, a non-degree granting college at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the flagship campus, received a three-year Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant in 2000 to develop asynchronous

11 learning network (ALN) courses. These are online courses that are intended for partial, or completely online programs. The initial programs include the Bachelor of Arts degree in Information and Computer Sciences from UH Manoa, a Certificate in Database Management from UH Hilo, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Studies from UH Manoa, and a Master of Arts in Music education at UH Manoa. Courses are either in development or are already offered. For more information see the url: ( The project will eventually include online courses that are developed by UH West Oahu and community college academic faculty and will provide system-wide opportunities to develop ALN (online) courses. The original intent was to extend the program system-wide, but it was not considered essential at the start because the program had not localized it, that is, they had not assessed program pre-requisites and the articulation of the degree program course requirements across the ten campuses. Partnerships require not just a collaborative spirit, but clear agreements about policies, course offerings, articulation, and assessment. The mechanics and logistics of across-campus registrations, differentiated tuition, curriculum and resource development and sharing have had to be addressed. The University s experience with workshops and lots of committees has provided professional development opportunities and stimuli to challenge and reenergize ways of looking at functions and responsibilities across multiple campuses. Globalization Globalizing access to higher education and distance learning partnerships has been a catalyst for change. As an example, in 1991 it was brought to the attention of librarians at the University of

12 Hawaii at Manoa, that Manoa was offering bachelor s and master s degrees on neighbor islands where there was no university library to support student research. A group of public services librarians from across the system of campuses who became by default, the Distance Learning Librarians group, mobilized to review issues, and then examine standards for services and procedures. Their unprecedented coordination of instructional services, reference services, joint initiation of new information technologies, such as dial-in access to local area networks and fulltext databases online, equalized access to students across the campuses, and not just for distance learning students. Their work created a change in how services are planned and implemented. Distance learning partnerships globalized academic programs, and globalized planning for public services in a partnership of librarians across the campuses. In year 2000 this group staunchly supported the development of a UH system-wide database of library holdings and patron records. The decision to support their recommendation evolved from a process that included committees representing all campus libraries that participated in the selection of a new generation integrated library information system. Globalizing access to higher education and distance learning partnerships can be a cataclysmic upheaval of the traditional landscape of education. Campuses can no longer plan, or establish policies, as self-contained, independent institutions. Change is necessary, but it must be done in concert with its partners. The integrity and quality of a campus program must be maintained, but how does a campus keep its edge? How does it maintain its competitiveness in a very competitive marketplace? Partnerships in distance learning are sometimes formed to be competitive, but every institution that wants to enter that marketplace cannot compete in the same arena.

13 Localization Localizing distance learning partnerships forces institutions to self-examine in concert with the partnered institution. Localizing takes the program back to its partners and insists that they decide on a common mission, a common vision, and their common strategic goals. All partners must determine the localized program that is of most value for all participants, especially how students benefit from the program, but also how faculty learn from the experience, or how the institution profits from the program. All partners in distance learning must determine which policies and procedures still work and which ones are obstacles for students in accessing the partnered distanced delivery of programs and services. Roles and power relationships of students, faculty, and the administration of the institutions will change. Which changes will actually create a richer, more rewarding educational experience? Distance learning partnerships require an institutional perspective that has an open-mind, is flexible, and visionary in order to determine how best to localize a program. All universities and colleges do not have to partner with for-profits, or become for-profits, but neither should they all offer the same kind of program. Globalizing decision-making and planning in a distance learning partnership does not mean that everything becomes the same. Localizing the planning is a way of working collaboratively, of cooperating, and coordinating programs in a global environment. But, it also allows the partners to develop and highlight unique programs. How can they maximize distance learning partnerships for educators and for students? What makes the Associate in Arts degree from the seven community colleges of the University of Hawaii

14 local, i.e. special? What makes the Maui Community College and UH Hilo bachelor degree programs viable? How is an online degree program of courses developed by a system of campuses different from an online degree program that is offered by a one-campus program? And what about other examples initiated by the University of Hawaii, such as the module on contemporary Pacific island issues developed jointly by history academics at the University of Hawaii and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand in which students share experiences, research, and ideas? And what about the partnership of the University of Hawaii s School of Nursing with a software company to develop non-credit course offerings online for delivery to China? None of these programs has or is developing without asking itself questions about the purpose of the program, the quality of the program, and how the faculty and students will be supported. It is not a simple matter of a partnership in order to globalize a program, but a partnership that will result in a localized product that can guarantee quality and a value-added program for students. In the United States there are national and regional associations establishing benchmarks and standards of good practice for distance delivered education (NEA, 2000; WASC, 2000). These guidelines provide the basic framework for assuring the quality of all aspects of education as it globalizes. Manuel Castells, Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, has described our time as the age of global and local. Therefore, as access to education globalizes, and networks of institutions and networks of people expand, what must distance learning partners in a 21 st

15 century techno-society keep in clear view? Student-centered services and the delivery of quality programs remain foremost in the opinion of educators pro and con distance learning, but it is also essential to keep in mind the value of specific identity as [the] source of meaning (Castells, 1998). References Armstrong, L. (2000). Quoting Christensen in Distance learning: an academic leader s perspective on a disruptive product. Change, Carr, L. (2000). College off-campus, The Standard, 1. Castells, M. (1998). A rejoinder: on power, identities and culture in the network society. New Political Economy, 3, Gellman-Danley, B. and Fetzner, M.J. (1998). Asking the really tough questions: policy issues for distance learning. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 1, 1. Green, Joshua. (2000). The Online Education Bubble. The American Prospect, Heeger, G. (2000). Gerry Heeger goes the distance. University Business, 47. National Education Association. (2000). Quality On the Line: Benchmarks for Success in Internet-based Distance Education. Washington, D.C.: The Institute for Higher Education Policy. Office of the Vice President for Planning and Policy, University of Hawaii. (2000). University of Hawaii fall 2000 distance learning offerings and enrollment report. Honolulu.

16 Sanford, S. (2000) Quoting G. Macomber in Mixing business and education at NYU online. Converge, 34. United States. Department of Education. (2000) The power of the internet for learning. Washington, D.C. Web-based Education Commission. University of Hawaii. (1996). Strategic Plan. Honolulu. University of Hawaii, Executive Policy (1998). Distance learning plans, policies and procedures. Honolulu. University of Hawaii Community Colleges. (2000). Distance learning strategic action plan. Honolulu. University of Hawaii Community Colleges. (2000). Implementation plan for integrating distance learning into campus operations. Honolulu. Western Association for Schools and Colleges. (2000). Guidebook for Distance Education and Technology Mediated Programs. Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications. (1999). Promoting Effective Support Services for Students in Distance Learning Programs.

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