College of Agriculture
Distance Education Strategic Plan
Introduction and Background
The College of Agriculture is committed to growing the Distance
Education program. The COA established the "Incentives for Distance Education
Task Force" in December 2005. The charge of the Task Force was to identify
and define the key components that might be included to expand and strengthen
the COA Distance Education programs at the department level.
A distance education forum was held on March 21st. The forum provided
an opportunity to take a fresh look at the College of Agriculture Distance
Education strategies, particularly getting faculty involved, incentives,
support from the Brenton Center, marketing, evaluating, and the development
of a new strategic vision to function under the new University budget
model. Forty faculty / staff attended and represented fifteen college
or university
units. The following is a result of their input.
++ Forum Transcript - MS Word / Adobe PDF ++
++
Forum Presentation - PowerPoint / Adobe
PDF ++
The College of Agriculture is committed to providing quality instruction
and course content to students regardless of geographical location by combining
the best traditional methods with the latest teaching and technological
innovations. The educational needs of students and employers locally, regionally,
and globally are changing rapidly. These employers are requiring an increasingly
skilled and knowledgeable workforce. Fundamental to the land grand mission
is access by citizens to degree programs that contribute to these evolving
needs. The College and Agriculture Distance Education program is striving
to meet these needs.
Distance Education is a priority for the University
President Geoffroy has directed ISU's new Vice Provost of Extension and Outreach,
Jack Payne, to "significantly grow the university’s overall continuing and
distance education program". This charge reflects the Board of Regents' recent
emphasis on distance education.
Distance Education is a priority for the College
of Agriculture
COA Dean Wintersteen states "...continuing education is a COA priority". She
further stated "...the college has a responsibility to assist people in times
of change" and "...is a great opportunity to connect to stakeholders".
Vision for Distance Education
The vision of the College of Agriculture is to become the premier provider
of distance education in agriculture by providing the highest quality
of instruction and support services that are accessible and responsive
to the learning needs of its students.
Mission for Distance Education
The mission of the COA Distance Education Program is to extend faculty
expertise beyond the physical limits of the campus and to provide
equal access to courses, certificates, and degree programs through
quality distance education courses that provide for lifelong learning.
The College of Agriculture strives to meet the needs of all students.
Distance education enhances this capability by utilizing the ever-expanding
set of technological tools to reach students who may be unable to
participate in the traditional University environment. With these
technology tools, students from all walks of life participate in
a University environment while continuing with their employment
schedules and family responsibilities. Distance education provides
an outstanding level of education to everyone, not just to select
individuals at strictly delineated times of the day.
Objectives
Enhance Quality of Education
The primary objective must be to provide high-quality educational
experience for students in order to develop independent and self-reliant
learners. The use of technology allows the students to experience
a greater amount of variety of primary learning materials and to
have students connect with more resources and people. Distance education
puts the student in the center of the learning experience and gives
students greater control over the rate of learning, the time of
learning, the place of learning, and access to supplemental materials.
Increase Accessibility
Distance education serves a population of students whose life circumstances
do not allow them to participate in the traditional classroom experience.
Students who might otherwise not be able to attend Iowa State University
because of personal, job-related, and time and distance constraints
can participate in course offerings through distance education. Moreover,
distance education technologies allow for a greater number of people
to pursue a degree of certificate.
Increase Student Credit Hours
The overall goal is to increase student credit hours and quality
in the COA distance education program. This can be accomplished
by: 1) increasing
the number of degree and
certificate programs; 2) developing a course rotational plan that will assist students in planning their education, 3) extend the offerings
beyond the State of Iowa, and 4) increase the shelf life of offerings.
Additional strategies that will be considered if funding is available are:1)
increasing the number of 300/400 undergraduate and graduate elective courses offered; and 2) utilize private funding to increase the number of PSEOA courses offered.
Efficient Resource Utilization
The COA has limited
resources for distance education and must use
them effectively and efficiently to extend learning opportunities
to place bound citizens throughout the State. The COA will continue
to strengthen and develop distance education courses/programs which
build on the unique strengths of the COA.
Success of COA Distance Education Program
The COA must maintain a superior distance education program and be
committed to preparing students to become lifelong learners. The
success indicators that will be used are:
1)
Number of distance
education degree programs offered at a distance
2) Number of
certificate programs offered at a distance
3) Number of students completing
degrees by distance education
4) Number of courses offered at a distance
5) Number of student credit hours generated
by distance education courses
6) Number of departments/faculty involved
in distance education
