ISU Distance Education News

Deadlines? There are deadlines?

(or Why should I care when Distance Education gets my course?)

There really are good reasons. Submitting your course by the deadline ensures it is
o posted on the www.lifelearner site – which received an average of more than 9,000 unique visitors each month in 2005, most by students looking for courses
o the course is open for registration when students are looking for courses
o the course is listed on the Board of Regents, State of Iowa distance education Web site - www.iride.org
o the course is promoted by the Regents' education centers in Davenport, Sioux City, and Council Bluffs including a listing in their semester catalogs and flyers
o the course is accessible through the 1,040 URLs that link to www.lifelearner.edu, accessible to students around the world using search engines

The deadlines to submit distance education courses are
February 3 for fall semester courses
July 29 for spring semester courses
December 2 for summer courses

Sometimes courses just can’t be submitted on time… but sooner is always better than later.

What causes late submission of courses? Let me know. Post your comments.
--Lynette Spicer, communications specialist

Geoffroy Places Renewed Focus on Distance Education

President Geoffroy has directed Iowa State University’s new Vice Provost for 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. The board adopted a distance education strategic plan in spring 2005 and requested two follow-up reports, one on DE technologies and a cost study. Board members are commited to making Regents institution education more widely available and accessible to place-bound and other non-traditional students.

The Provost’s Distance Education Council at Iowa State is currently implementing strategic initiatives to improve distance education. Key initiatives are
• Develop a shared vision of continuing and distance education (C&DE)
• Develop networks and improve communications among those engaged in C&DE
• Improve marketing and promotion of C&DE, especially Internet-based marketing
• Stimulate the development of C&DE products, especially in areas of high demand and Iowa State expertise
• Develop technological capacity and efficiency for conversion and development of C&DE content to digital delivery

The president’s full charge on continuing and distance education.
Significantly grow the university’s overall continuing and distance education (C&DE) program; establish specific growth targets and a timeline for achieving them. Develop ways to create C&DE offerings in areas with high market demand. Disentangle the C&DE budgets from the rest of extension and set C&DE up as a completely separate business enterprise with the goal of making C&DE completely self supporting, without subsidy from state appropriations or tuition revenues other than those generated by C&DE.

New Tuition Policy for Distance Education Courses

Effective summer 2006 Iowa State University has revised its tuition policy for distance education courses. The number of Iowa State courses delivered by convenient and accessible methods through continuing education has increased. Many courses that previously were closed to on-campus students will be open to those who choose to pay additional tuition. This policy gives on-campus students new schedule and delivery options.

Students will be assessed tuition at the resident (in-state) rate for courses offered through continuing and distance education. Students will incur tuition charges for distance education credits above the on-campus 'full-load' tuition cap.

Distance education courses are denoted by an X in the section number. For any course required in a major or minor, both on-campus and distance education (X) sections will be offered.

Some distance education courses have a delivery fee that is charged in addition to tuition and other student fees. All students enrolled in distance education courses will continue to pay delivery fees. Delivery fees are listed in each course description on www.lifelearner.iastate.edu.

Policy Statement
Assessment of Tuition and Delivery Fees to On-campus Students Enrolled in Distance Education Courses
November 7, 2005

Pursuant to the Distance Education Council’s request for a change in the policy regarding assessment of tuition and delivery fees to on-campus students enrolling in distance education courses and the unanimous support of that proposal by the deans of the colleges, Iowa State University will adopt the following policy:
Tuition and fees will be assessed and collected for each enrollment in a distance education course without regard to a student’s on-campus / off-campus status. For the purpose of this policy distance education courses are defined as those courses designated by an X in the section number. The tuition and fees paid by on-campus students for distance education courses will be distributed in the same manner as other distance education revenues. Colleges or departments may continue to exclude on-campus students from distance education courses for pedagogical or administrative reasons. When a course is offered only via distance and is required by a department, the department must offer an on-campus alternative in the same semester. This does not apply to majors or minors offered exclusively off-campus.

The effect of this policy will be to require on-campus students to pay additional tuition and fees if they choose to enroll in distance education courses.

This policy is intended to reverse the trend of colleges and departments barring on-campus students from enrolling in distance education courses. This trend is the result of two forces: the costing mechanisms used by the colleges for developing and delivering distance education courses and the preference of some on-campus students for the convenience, accessibility, and/or mode of delivery of distance education courses. The allocation of distance education tuition and fees directly to the originating college/department and the associated administrative units is intended to subsidize these costs. Re-opening these courses to on-campus students will provide those who choose to pay the additional tuition and fees access to those courses.

This policy is not intended to affect courses or sections created for on-campus students using digital learning content or other non-traditional means of delivery. Only those denoted by an X in the section number will require the assessment and collection of additional tuition and fees from on-campus students.

Provost’s Distance Education Council
In April 2001, Provost Rollin Richmond established the Provost's Distance Education Council.
Chaired by Continuing Education and Communication Services Director Bill Tysseling, the council provides institutional leadership in distance education policy and strategy, and advises the Iowa State University president and provost on all matters related to distance education. The council's purview of interest and activity is by broad: distance education policies and procedures; acquisition and development of distance education technology; staffing, budgeting and planning; and informing the Iowa State community on matters related to distance education.

Courses Offered for Both Credit and Noncredit Increase

Departments are finding additional revenues by offering noncredit versions of credit courses.

Spring 06 courses offered for credit and noncredit
Partnering with Parents - HD FS 493B/593B
Horticulture Gardening series - Hort 493A, Hort 493B, Hort 493C, Hort 493D
Identify Theft - Pol S 487X
Introduction to Medical Interpreting - Span 353X

Making course content available for both credit-seeking and noncredit students has worked well for Kim Greder, instructor and developer of the Partnering with Parents course. Kim teaches the course in a variety of ways. Students can take face to face workshops or an online course. Kim also offers a condensed version of the face to face workshops during the summer for those who can not participate in a semester long series. Students may sign up to take the class for CEUs or enroll as an undergraduate or graduate student.

The College of Agriculture is offering a series of horticulture courses designed for gardening enthusiasts. Continuing education staff sent announcements to garden centers, garden clubs, and agriculture students to announce the new noncredit option. Courses developed so far in the series cover annual flowers, herbaceous perennials, houseplants, and vegetables. Yvonne Nilles teaches the online courses. This spring 75 students have enrolled; 57 registrations are in credit courses with some courses scheduled to begin in March and April.

Steffen Schmidt and co-author Mike McCoy wrote Who is You, a book on identity theft. This spring the political science department offered an electronic democracy course online with a unit on ID theft. Noncredit courses begin February 24.

Iowa State's foreign languages department offered medical interpretation this semester. Tia Huggins in the instructor. The course meets on campus Saturday mornings. Students could enroll for either college credit or noncredit CEUs.

For more information on how to offer a noncredit version of a credit course, contact
Kris Phelps
kphelps@iastate.edu
294-7329