We take an approach that faculty members don't have to be comfortable with technology in order to be successful in distance learning or online education. If you provide support to them on a one-on-one basis, we can get them ready to teach online within one academic term, quarter or semester. We work with them in what we call a `just in time' approach where the term before their course is going to be delivered, we help them restructure their curriculum and content into an online format. We start with the learning objectives and take a multi-dimensional approach. We don't want faculty to put their lecture notes online. Just reading content online is not effective instruction or retention-based. Students do not want electronic correspondence courses. Working professionals definitely don't want that. We help faculty examine what they are successfully doing on campus and how we can repurpose and develop those activities in an online distance environment. The objective is to create highly interactive learning experiences with each other and with their faculty as well as different approaches to interacting with the content, such as multimedia presentations, readings, and case studies. That kind of approach coupled with faculty training can help an individual that hasn't done anything online before or who doesn't feel real comfortable with technology to very successfully teach in an online environment.
The other thing I think is important is supporting them while their courses are being delivered. Some institutions take an approach where the faculty go through a very heavy training program and learn how to teach online and then it's up to them to build and manage their courses themselves. We find that approach isn't nearly as successful as taking over the online course building process for them. And when they're teaching, they're sometimes left to their own devices to handle all logistical issues that come up and we find that isn't as successful either. We understand and know that faculty need and want support, and given that kind of support, find that online education can be very rewarding and appreciate that their students are very independent learners who develop good writing skills and are eager and motivated.
Faculty also become champions for each other. When we start a program, part of our assessment is to find a couple of faculty champions who want to do this and they then become the catalyst for the others to jump on board. It is typical that one successful online program will lead to another. The faculty group from the first program are the ones who stand up in the room and talk about all the positive teaching and learning experiences that they have had and about how they are also adapting more technology in their on-campus courses, as well.
IMS Global: We assume these online courses are accredited through an institution's normal accrediting agency?
GP: Absolutely. We will only work with institutions that have regional accreditation. Our mission has been to help the not-for-profits at traditional institutions to recruit and retain distance learning students who can graduate on-time. That continues to be our mission.
