Question:
We are interested in learning from others who have conducted distance learning training for community college instructors and administrators, particularly at a STATEWIDE level. The North Carolina Adult Education Association was recently awarded a grant from the NC Community College System to develop a pilot program to instruct faculty how to teach via the web and 2-way interactive TV, as well as that old standby, telecourses. We may also eventually offer a course or module on administrative and management issues in distance education. If you have have conducted similar training, what has worked and not worked for you? Are there any lessons we can learn from your accomplishments? While we have had some experience in this area at the institutional level, we are in the initial stages of preparing a training model for North Carolina Community College System System professionals and would like to hear from others who have been this way before.
Answer:
We have done extensive organizational and statewide training and faculty development for distance learning system development and delivery, and have developed some processes that have served the systems well. Our training/faculty development has focused on: 1) the development and delivery of onlone/Internet instruction, 2) Interactive Television (videoconferencing) instructional delivery, and 3) a blended technology approach to distance education delivery. We have also delivered training in planning assessment processes for distance learning systems.
We have developed extensive training manuals for each type of training, and those manuals contain many practical tools such as assessment instruments, copyright permission letter samples, intellectual honesty policy samples, etc. as well as experienced-based concepts and planning models.
Based on our experience as distance learning faculty members and college/university administrators, we offer these workshops nationwide. If anyone would like more information about the specific nature of our training processes, or the materials we have developed, contact us
