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A number of demographic, economic, and technological forces have converged in higher education, causing the redefinition of the goals, content, and delivery of education at multiple levels. It is widely felt that these external forces could result in an enhanced and expanded use of distance education as one of the central strategies of major universities.

Institutions actively moving into the arena of distance learning should have a well-conceived plan to guide this effort. This plan should be strategic in nature, identifying the educational opportunities that capitalize on the institution's strengths. This report will discuss issues that should be considered as part of this planning process. Key issues related to distance learning are outlined and recommendations presented to facilitate the implementation of a distance learning program at WSU.

This committee has met weekly for about six weeks to examine the issue of distance education and to try to map a direction for further inquiry into this often thorny issue. Committee members included:

Rather than attempting to reinvent the wheel, this committee has examined some of the documents already written about distance education from Regents’ schools in Kansas. The following document has largely been constructed from the best of two of those efforts: Kansas State University and the University of Kansas. While the committee has attempted to incorporate a Wichita State view within these pages, we would invite any interested faculty member to visit the online sites of the original documentation to gain further insight into the process as conceived elsewhere in the state. Those documents may be found at:

HTTP://kuhttp. cc.ukans.edu/history/unigov/distance.html (University of Kansas)

HTTP://www.ksu.edu/provost/d istance.html (Kansas State University)

A vision and mission related to distance education needs to be articulated for the University. Wichita State University is far behind its peer institutions in the consideration of distance education in relation to its instructional mission. The University must take a clear and unequivocal position on the role of distance education at WSU. Such a position should involve all sectors of the University community and should build from clearly defined and universally understood goals. These goals should be appropriate to the special character of Wichita State University and should take into account the comprehensive needs assessment described in this document.

We would hope for a process that would enhance the quality of on-campus instruction without weakening the traditional and interpersonal faculty-student relationships that are best constructed in an on-campus environment. Recognizing the divergent feelings associated with distance education, we would hope to initially develop the ability to provide services to sections of the public hitherto unserved or underserved: those individuals seeking lifelong learning; those needing additional professional training or retraining; those who wish to but cannot attend Wichita State University due to distance, or scheduling conflicts; those who are aged or who have disabilities.

We would hope that distance education at Wichita State would attract these new audiences while retaining and strengthening the traditional roles the university plays within the community, the state, and the larger academy.

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Recommendations

1. Needs assessments at the community, state, national and international levels are required to identify program areas where WSU can make a significant impact while remaining economically viable. Wichita State should also conduct ongoing assessments of the educational needs of its clientele and its institutional strengths to help guide future distance education efforts.

2. A vision and mission related to distance education needs to be articulated for the University.

3. A guiding set of principles for delivering and assessing distance education programs should be developed.

4. A central strategy for determining whether a course or program should be mediated and delivered via distance education should be established.

5. The University should incorporate consideration of distance education into its strategic planning.

6. A central office for integrating and coordinating the development of online instruction should be established.

7. To be successful over the long run, distance education programs must be financially viable. It is recommended that a study be initiated to develop accurate estimates of course development and maintenance costs. A study to determine the price of competing distance education products should also be done.

8. It is recommended that distance education students NOT be assessed non-resident tuition.

9. The Committee recommends that any plan for technology investment include a strategy for life cycle funding for technological infrastructure to assure that service levels are maintained and distance education programs are utilizing the most current instructional technology. The technical and instructional design support required by faculty and staff to develop and deliver online instruction also must be funded, as well as the need for increased access to the Internet and connectivity.

10. A set of educational quality standards should be developed for the University and should apply to both resident and distance education.

11. The University must modify existing academic policies that are incompatible with distance education or serve as barriers to the future development of distance education programs, including residency requirements, definition of full-time status, and definition of credit hour.

12. Distance education students must be afforded the same rights and privileges as their on-campus counterparts. Access to the library, technical support and academic advising must be addressed, and appropriate fees assessed to cover the cost of services and facilities accessed by these students.

13. Distance education activities must be recognized and duly rewarded in tenure and promotion decisions and merit salary evaluations.

14. The impact of distance education on faculty workload must be considered.

15. The Committee recommends that a policy be implemented to establish the University and the faculty member as partners in the development and ownership of mediated courseware.

16. The University must develop a multi-faceted, coordinated and comprehensive faculty development and support plan.

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Part II: Background

At the December 1998 Kansas Board of Regents meeting, the Council of Chief Academic Officers (COCAO) decided to have a joint discussion concerning Distance Education at the February 1999 meeting with the Council of deans and Directors of Continuing Education (CODDCE) and the Council of Faculty Senate Presidents (COFSP).

At their January 1999 meeting, COFSP identified ten major items that need to be discussed from a faculty perspective. COFSP also recommended that each campus have a faculty committee look at these issues to provide information to the President of the Faculty Senate for use in these discussions.

The joint meeting of COCAO, CODDCE, and COFSP held in February concentrated on fees and tuition currently charged by each campus for each course. This group will meet again in May 1999 to discuss faculty issues.

The Ad Hoc Committee on Distance Education/Distributed Education was charged by Faculty Senate President Elmer Hoyer with discussing the ten items identified by COFSP and making recommendations to the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate by April 30 1999. These recommendations will then be taken by the President to COFSP. The Committee was also charged to make recommendations to the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate on any issues the committee identified as needing to be considered or implemented by the Senate.

The original list compiled by COFSP and passed on to the Committee was as follows:

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Part III: The Current Situation

Distance education courses are offered in the following formats:

Videotaped Courses. Students watch taped lectures, complete reading and writing assignments, take tests, and perform other activities outlined in the course syllabus. Tests can be supervised at the student's location.

World Wide Web Courses. Students access course materials and lectures via the World Wide Web. Some lecture presentations include video or audio streaming accompanied by visual aids and instructor created web pages. Interaction with instructors and students occurs through e-mail and web-based conferencing tools such as chat rooms and message boards. Students enrolling in a World Wide Web course require Internet access and access to a computer that meets certain minimum system requirements.

TELENET 2 Courses. TELENET 2 is a statewide compressed videoconferencing network that includes live videoconferencing and other instructional technology tools. The classrooms are located throughout Kansas and are equipped with a high-powered personal computer, video camera, speaker phone, and state-of-the-art software -- all linked together via Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) circuits.

Telecourses. The majority of the course content is broadcast on WSU-TV. Students also come to WSU for occasional meetings with the instructor. Telecourses are broadcast on Multimedia Cablevision in Wichita and in 23 surrounding communities.

In the 1998-99 academic year, 73 distance education courses were scheduled to be offered through distance education technologies, with 49 offered as telecourses, 19 as Telnet or ITV courses, and 5 as Internet courses. These courses were offered in 5 colleges: Liberal Arts and Sciences, Business, Engineering Fine Arts and Health Professions.

For a complete listing of courses offered via distance education technologies at WSU for the past three school years, please see Appendix A, compiled by the Media Resource Center.

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Part IV: Needs Assessment

WSU has limited resources that can be allocated to support distance education activities. Needs assessments at the community, state, national, and international levels are required to identify program areas where WSU can make a significant impact while remaining economically viable. The Committee feels the following issues and questions are among those that need to be addressed:

Research should include a thorough search of the education literature to determine the state of the art of distance education to establish a baseline for developing University policy and programs.

A comprehensive market research study should be performed.

Administration should determine where WSU possesses a comparative advantage relative to competing universities and for-profit educational businesses.

It should be determined whether offering not-for-credit courses is central to the University's mission.

Do complementarities exist between distance education courses developed for academic credit and not-for-credit modules or courses?

Needs assessment should be an ongoing process.

Results of needs assessment should be widely distributed across the University to serve as a catalyst for further development of the distance education program.

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Should the University decide that distance education is something that should be pursued, there should be a guiding set of principles for delivering and assessing distance education programs? These principles should form a central policy foundation for developing a distance education effort that is consistent with the University's overall priorities and educational mission.

The guiding set of principles for distance education at Wichita State University should be:

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To date, most courses and programs offered via distance learning have occurred at the initiative of individual faculty and academic units. In general, faculty and units desiring to develop a distance education course or program have been provided access to support staff and resources in the MRC. As a result, WSU's current distance education course offerings through the MRC are mainly in areas where faculty or departmental initiative has occurred. A central strategy does not exist for determining whether a course or program should be mediated and delivered via distance education. An organizational structure that can handle a concerted distance education thrust does not exist. This lack of strategy and organization has been acceptable as the University progressed through its developmental stage of distance education delivery. However, as distance education opportunities increase administrative issues and organizational structure will need to be addressed.

The University should incorporate distance education into its strategic plans so it will become a mainstream academic activity at WSU. The full potential and importance of distance education will not be realized until it is brought into the mainstream of academic activity at Wichita State University. One of the greatest impediments to distance education's growth nationwide is a resistance to change, primarily resulting from a steadfast commitment to resident instruction. The Administration should take all necessary steps to create an environment conducive to the development of both in-residence and distance education programs. If the Central Administration does not provide clear leadership to advance distance education as a mainstream activity, it will continue to be marginalized and isolated from the remainder of the University's academic activities.

To accommodate growth in distance education activities, significant increases in the efficiency with which distance education courses are mediated and delivered will be necessary. While the current processes may have been appropriate during the developmental stages of the distance education program, these processes must be re-engineered if WSU is to become a larger distance education provider. Every procedure, form, and job description involved in the development and delivery of distance education courses and programs should be evaluated.

Wichita State University should conduct ongoing assessments of the educational needs of its clientele and its institutional strengths to help guide future distance education efforts

The University should develop an administrative and organizational structure that encourages and facilitates the development of distance education in all areas of academic endeavor.

A central office for integrating and coordinating the development of online instruction should be established. Such an office should represent a source for faculty support as well as a single source for information on policies and resources. We do not advocate centralization of distance education activities; however, we do believe that greater coordination of these activities and centralization of resources is critical.

The University should provide a mechanism for sharing information within the University on topics associated with the development and delivery of online instruction.

Distance education requires cooperation among a large number of public and private partners. These partners will include business and industry, government, and other educational institutions. To acquire or access the information technology infrastructure necessary to compete in the industry of distance education, it is likely that universities will need to form alliances and/or partnerships with other universities and private firms.

Distance education courses and programs are developed to serve a variety of audiences, including on-campus students, off-campus undergraduate students, non-degree seeking students, business professionals, etc. Traditional marketing and promotion activities are not sufficient to reach a number of the non-traditional clientele, particularly professional audiences, that may wish to access distance education courses and programs. In addition, WSU's regional reputation provides little advantage in recruiting students outside the central U.S.

To be successful over the long run, distance education programs must be financially viable. The following factors should be considered when developing a financial model for a possible distance education program at WSU:

Significant investments in information technology infrastructure.

Distance education course development requires large up-front investments of faculty time and effort. We recommend that a study be initiated to develop accurate estimates of course development and maintenance costs. This study should address the influence of such factors as the delivery technology, class size, and available student services on course maintenance and development costs.

Traditional policies for assessing tuition and fees do not fit many of the unique circumstances introduced by distance education.

The Committee recommends that a comprehensive study be conducted to determine the price of competing distance education products. This information should be combined with course development and maintenance cost estimates to develop a competitive and equitable tuition and fee schedule. Because of the close substitutability of distance education products, assessment of tuition would likely be an important factor in making WSU courses and programs competitive. The University must review current tuition and fee policies for distance education students based upon criteria of fairness, revenue generation, and competitiveness with other universities.

WSU should aggressively pursue grants to fund technological infrastructure, course mediation, and program development.

Distance education students require access to some, but not all, facilities on campus. The current privilege fee structure does not permit variable assessment of fees to collect fees for access to a subset of available facilities and services.

The University should adopt a financial model for distance education that assures long-term financial viability and provides financial incentives to colleges, departments, and faculty who participate in distance education activities.

Revenues accruing to the University could be used to invest in the technological infrastructure that supports both on-campus and off-campus educational activities.

It is likely that many distance education products will not take on the format of a traditional university course. These alternative formats might include modules, certification programs, short courses, etc. In addition, it may be beneficial to price some degree programs using payment schedules other than on a credit hour basis. This payment schedule could be particularly useful as a retention incentive in distance education programs. Registration and accounting processes must be flexible to accommodate alternative payment schedules with little administrative burden.

We believe that the unique nature of distance education makes the application of traditional non-resident tuition policies impractical and recommends that distance education students not be assessed non-resident tuition. If it is determined that non-residents should pay a higher cost than resident students, particular attention should be paid to avoid pricing WSU courses out of the market. A mediation fee could be assessed non-resident students such that they pay a larger cost-share than resident students, but courses and programs remain priced at competitive levels.

A prerequisite for success in distance education is the presence of a technological infrastructure to support and deliver programs beyond the traditional boundaries of the University. This technological infrastructure must include production facilities from which to originate programs, technology needed to support these programs, and telecommunications infrastructure. Wichita State University, through the MRC, currently deploys cable television, interactive television and Internet technologies for delivery of its distance education courses. Each technology has an underlying infrastructure that supports its activities. The principal physical facility for developing distance education courses is the Media Resource Center (MRC). Computing & Telecommunications Services will also need to be considered when considering the University's technological infrastructure.

Cable television has been employed to deliver telecourses to WSU students since 1982. Mulitmedia Cablevision provides the basic distribution path to 120,000 households in 23 communities in southcentral Kansas. At WSU, a telecourse typically consists of televised lessons, assigned readings and a reduced number of on-campus meetings which are determined by the instructor. Current support issues include master tape acquisition, course license fees, and per student fees. MRC personnel supporting telecourse operations include one full-time staff, part of another full-time position, and thirty hours weekly of student labor. MRC engineering staff provide design, installation, operation and maintenance support. Hardware concerns are replacement VCRs for program origination and storage requirements. Future issues will be the impact of digital television on the acquisition, storage and distribution systems.

Interactive television provides live-two-way audio and video connectivity between two or more sites. WSU currently uses three different interactive television distribution systems to deliver its interactive classes. The first, compressed video, uses the state telephone network, KANS-A-N to connect 35+ sites around the state. Up to sixteen sites can be conferenced together for instruction. All six Regents’ institutions, both KU Medical School campuses, Washburn University, several community colleges, and many of the state’s educational service centers are part of this network. The second system is Telnet 2. It uses desktop video over Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) lines. Like KANS-A-N, there are about 35 sites around the state with Telnet 2 facilities. Up to fourteen sites can be linked with Telnet 2. The third technology, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a regional network operated by Southwestern Bell. There are many sites across the state that have ATM facilities, however the technology is limited to no more than four sites able to be connected at any one time. While the first two interactive technologies were established as statewide networks, both can be--and have been--used to make out-of-state and even out-of-country connections. In addition to their use for instructional activities, KANS-A-N and ISDN have been used for administrative purposes. The MRC facility currently has two compressed-video codecs, one desktop conferencing unit (ISDN) and one ATM unit. Any of the three delivery systems--compressed, ISDN or ATM--can be used with the two interactive classrooms plus one small conference room operated by the MRC. One full-time MRC staff position devotes part of his time administering the interactive system. MRC engineering staff provide design, installation, operation and maintenance support. Student employees help support live classroom operations. Present and future issues in this area include 1) operational budget: each transmission system has costs associated with its use and no budget exists at the MRC to support these costs; 2) at the same time, these costs are not stable and fluctuate from year to year, often with little notice, making it difficult to plan budgets; 3) the current state compressed video network is aging and consideration is being given to rebuilding the network, which may lead to the replacement of codecs and a different billing system; 4) adding additional interactive classrooms at the WSU Outreach Centers or at Wichita Area Technical College will have capitalization costs; and 5) MRC is not staffed to support an increased use of these technologies as their use is spread throughout the instructional day (i.e. 7:00 AM-10:00 PM).

Internet classes are a recent development at WSU. With their brief history they show some potential for cultivating student enrollments. Despite their brief history, several issues with regard to infrastructure are apparent. 1) Training and support faculty: currently, there is one instructional designer to support the entire WSU faculty. Clearly this is a shortcoming. 2) Creation and training resources: MRC recently installed the Digital Domain that contains one state-of-the-art creation station for both Windows and Macintosh platforms. This severely limits faculty access to creation hardware. MRC currently works cooperatively with the Instructional Computing Center to use Jabara 230 for small group, hands-on training. Additional training facilities are needed. 3) In support of creation and training, a software acquisition budget needs to be established. 4) If Internet courses continue to grow, disk storage on servers will become problematic. MRC currently houses one server in support of Internet courses and has a second on order. These servers have been purchased with MRC funds. MRC also provides staff support for operation and maintenance of these servers. 5) If the "anytime-anywhere" advantages of Internet instruction are to be maintained, help-desk support must be established and maintained on a 24-hour basis.

In addition to telecommunications infrastructure within WSU, another critical factor influencing the future development of distance education programs is the external telecommunications infrastructure, particularly within Kansas. Many rural areas within Kansas do not have adequate Internet service to support some currently available web-based technologies. While new technologies such as compression techniques and Internet2 may address some access problems, it appears likely that access to web-based courses will remain limited in some regions. Similarly, some potential distance education students may not have access to the computer resources necessary to access web-based courses. Although microcomputers are becoming more affordable, an increased reliance on web-based delivery may decrease access to these students.

Any consideration of technical infrastructure must take into account the realities of constant change and technological innovation in this area. Therefore, the Committee recommends that any plan for technology investment include a strategy for life cycle funding for technological infrastructure to assure that service levels are maintained and distance education programs are utilizing the most current instructional technology.

We recommend that the University establish the technical and instructional design support required by faculty and staff to develop and deliver distance education. We also recommend that the institution ensure that the University's need for increased access to the Internet and connectivity be met.

Perhaps the foremost distance learning issues among most people within the University community concern questions of educational quality. Rapid advancements in distance education technologies have created a great deal of uncertainty concerning educational quality, for reasons concerning a lack of experience with and research on these technologies. Questions of educational quality not only center on whether educational objectives are realized, but also the processes in place to assess courses and collect the information necessary to make informed decisions to improve distance learning programs.

The instrument currently employed by the Social Science Research Laboratory does not provide an opportunity to collect discipline-specific information or questions that address course-specific objectives. It is not specifically designed for application in a distance education environment and fails to provide important input concerning delivery technology, technical support services, etc. The University should attempt to develop a new evaluation instrument for distance education courses to address some of the shortcomings of the current process.

The University should develop rigorous evaluation and control processes to assure that distance education programs comply with the academic standards of Wichita State University. This quality control should apply not only to academic content, but also the quality of the delivery method and student support services. Ultimate responsibility for the academic content and quality of a course or program rests with the faculty of the program's academic department. A set of educational quality standards should be developed for the University and should apply to both resident and distance education.

The University should also develop a program of ongoing assessment of the state-of-the-art in distance education, both in content and delivery methods. This information should be collected by and disseminated to all impacted parties within the university community (i.e. faculty, administrators, and technical staff).

The University must modify existing academic policies that are incompatible with distance education or serve as barriers to the future development of distance education programs. Most academic policies at WSU were developed to govern on-campus instruction and fail to address distance education activities. As a result, incompatibilities exist between current academic policies and the offering of courses and programs via distance learning. Some of the more significant areas of concern identified include course/program approval policies, residency requirements, transfer of credit, academic honesty enforcement, and Graduate School policies.

Distance education provides some unique opportunities for WSU to provide educational services to under-served clientele. However, given the intense competition that exists in several of these markets for educational services, responsiveness to clientele needs is mandatory. For courses and programs that currently exist on campus, no additional academic approval should be required for delivering these courses and programs via distance learning. However, new courses and programs are subjected to a lengthy approval process. It is questionable whether current approval processes provide the necessary flexibility to compete in today's highly competitive academic environment.

Current policies require first year students to live in a residence hall on campus unless they meet certain exemption criteria. Doctoral students are required to spend at least two contiguous semesters as full time resident students. Residency requirements are clearly not compatible with the implementation of distance education.

The proliferation of distance education courses nationwide will result in an increase in the number of courses transferred for use in fulfilling graduation requirements. Several faculty have expressed a concern about the quality of these courses and their affect on WSU graduates. Currently, WSU's policy is that transferability is determined by the appropriate Wichita State department for each course from another institution. Increased numbers of transfer credit requests may place an undue burden on departments considering each of these requests.

Distance education courses are governed by the same academic policies as resident courses. An issue of particular significance for distance education courses is student authentication of assignments and exams. This is increasingly important as the World Wide Web becomes used more widely for the delivery of distance education courses.

Undergraduate GPAs are often not a good predictor of academic success for working professionals interested in graduate distance education programs. Current Graduate School admission policies require a minimum GPA of 2.75 for admission. Studies should be undertaken to determine better predictors of academic success for this group of potential students.

The definition of full-time status has very little applicability for distance education students completing courses within schedules that do not necessarily correspond to an academic semester. As a result, graduate students actively engaged in some distance education programs are continuously considered part-time students. This definition of full-time status affects eligibility for government sponsored financial assistance. An alternative definition of full-time status should be developed which is not based upon the number of hours in which the student is enrolled at a particular point of the academic semester.

The definition of a credit hour is currently based upon a contact hour measurement (i.e., one contact hour per week equals one credit hour). Work should commence on the development of an outcome-based model of credit measurement.

Academic policies that reference specific times within an academic semester should be scrutinized to determine whether they can be applied to self-paced courses or courses that do not conform to a semester schedule.

The University should take immediate action to assure that distance education students are provided the full range of services to which they are entitled as registered students of Wichita State University. If distance education is to be integrated into the mainstream of academic activity, then distance education students must be afforded the same rights and privileges as their on-campus counterparts. All student support policies and procedures should be reviewed to assure that this group of students is being provided an appropriate level of service. Primary areas of concern include access to the library, technical support, and academic advising.

A working committee of Library officials, MRC staff, and faculty involved in distance education should be appointed to define the level of library services to be provided distance education students.

Serving distance education students will cost the library more in terms of provision of document delivery and access to electronic resources. Distance education students should be assessed a library access fee, and these revenues should be transferred to the Library. At this point, the Library does not have estimates of the costs of servicing distance education students. This cost information is an important first step in developing a library access fee structure, and a study should be initiated to develop these cost estimates.

All students should have access to the Library's electronic documents and search services. For databases currently accessible via the World Wide Web, authentication of users is typically based upon the student's Internet provider. As a result, distance education students using an Internet provider other than WSU do not have access to these resources under current licensing agreements. Only one electronic library resource is available currently to off-campus users who do not have a University IP address, LUIS, the library catalog. The Library should develop other authentication systems to make databases available to distance users.

Alternatives to the current system of document delivery to distance education students should be evaluated.

Many students taking asynchronous, web-based courses are employed full time, and hence, access these resources during off-work hours. Therefore, these students do not have access to real-time technical support services. If the University is going to make a serious commitment to distance education via web-based delivery, 24-hour technical support service is a necessity.

Currently, distance education students are not provided student identification cards. This policy limits distance education students' access to some facilities and services. In addition, it provides a strong message that distance education students are somehow different from the remainder of the student body and not entitled to the same rights and privileges as on-campus students. Distance education students should be provided a student identification card.

Most students enrolled in WSU distance education courses are enrolled in on-campus degree programs or are not pursuing an academic degree at WSU. As more comprehensive distance education degree programs are developed, providing quality academic advising will become a greater challenge to academic units. In the past, some departments and colleges have expressed some reluctance to take on advising of distance students due to limited staff resources. Academic advising of distance education students is likely to be more time consuming and difficult due to student heterogeneity, competing time commitments, difficulty in evaluating transcripts from other institutions, the extended time period required for degree completion, and maintenance of academic records.

Distance education students should be assessed the appropriate fees which cover the cost of services and facilities which they access. Fees need to be apportioned to the university departments and agencies that provide services to distance education students.

Efforts should be made to provide faculty support in the areas of instructional technology and distance learning. Faculty support activities should include direct technical assistance to faculty developing distance education courses, as well as sponsorship of workshops and lectures on distance learning issues and methods

A single point of contact should be established for faculty interested in developing distance education courses.

Responsibility should fall to the academic departments to implement a process for determining the priority for distance education treatment of courses.

Although technical assistance has been available to faculty in the past, a concern exists that faculty demand for assistance in developing mediated courses will soon outstrip available resources. The MRC has a small, but competent staff to assist faculty in developing distance education courses. Without significant staffing increases, this unit will be unable to keep up with anticipated demand for assistance. Although new tools and templates will eventually reduce the technical skills required to place instruction online, most faculty do not have the technical expertise currently required, nor is it reasonable to expect faculty to acquire such skills without assistance. Faculty should be responsible for the content and instructional design of courses to be placed online, but it would be counterproductive to expect them to also do the technical development The University must explicitly recognize and support the need to use instructional teams of both faculty and technicians in creating high-quality online instruction.

Distance education activities in many departments have been treated as something done "in addition to" faculty's regularly assigned activities. As a result of distance education not being incorporated into mainstream activities, distance education has not been well recognized in many faculty member's annual performance evaluations or tenure and promotion decisions. Departmental evaluation criteria do not currently give explicit recognition to distance education as a scholarly activity. If distance education is to be incorporated into the mainstream of academic activity at WSU, then it must be viewed as a legitimate faculty activity. Distance education activities must be recognized and duly rewarded in tenure and promotion decisions and merit salary evaluations. To accomplish this objective, academic units may need to modify their faculty evaluation criteria to explicitly recognize distance education activities. The University should establish a clear system of incentives and rewards to recognize achievement and encourage development of distance education at Wichita State University.

As it now stands, there is no accross-the-board consistency in the approach to faculty compensation for the development, teaching and maintenance of distance education coursework. Any comprehensive policy regarding distance education at WSU must address the issue of compensation; establishing and maintaining distance education courses requires a great deal of effort. The policy must be sufficiently flexible to recognize differences in the demand placed on instructors due to differences in up-front course development, course levels, enrollment, delivery technology, etc. At the same time, the policy must be simple enough to understand and implement.

A significant level of uncertainty has existed among the faculty concerning the ownership of mediated courseware for delivery via distance education. Currently, a proposed WSU policy statement defines ownership rights of mediated courseware under two scenarios: (1) self-initiated mediated courseware, and (2) institution-directed mediated courseware. While the policy attempts to establish faculty ownership of self-initiated mediated courseware, there remains considerable uncertainty around the interpretation of this policy. Important questions that appear to be left to each institution's interpretation include: (1) "What defines self-initiated versus institution-directed courseware?", (2) "To what extent will the University restrict the sale or lease of self-initiated courseware to other institutions?", and (3) "Will the University share revenues and control rights with developers of institution-directed courseware?". Similarly, the University's interpretation of intellectual property rights issues surrounding mediated courseware will have a significant impact on the incentives of faculty to participate in distance education activities. The Committee recommends that this policy be implemented to establish the University and faculty member as partners in the development and ownership of mediated courseware. Procedures should be developed to estimate the proportion of the endeavor (e.g., time, resources, etc.) contributed by each party, and divide ownership rights accordingly.

The University must also address the impact that distance education activities will have on faculty workload. Considerable uncertainty exists of the level of effort required to teach distance education courses, and the impact of class size, delivery technology, etc. on faculty workload. Workload models must be developed and updated using current information to assist administrators in developing fair annual expectations for faculty and equitable compensation schemes.

Expansion of distance education activities at WSU will require the involvement of a large number of faculty whom are currently not involved in distance learning. To foster the use of learning technologies and distance education, the University must develop a coordinated and comprehensive faculty development and support plan. This plan must provide faculty and academic units easy and ready access to support for instructional design and administrative logistics. Faculty support must cut across technologies and delivery environments, and provide useful instruction to faculty at all skill levels in the use of distance education technologies. Faculty support should be a multi-faceted program, including: (1) informational sessions concerning needs and opportunities in distance education, (2) direct support in developing courses and programs, and (3) expertise on services available to distance education students (library, technology support, etc.).

Assure that faculty incentives and rewards are aligned with public policy expectations and institutional priorities for the volume and distribution of faculty efforts. Consequently, the University needs to provide resources for the faculty time and talent necessary to offer high quality distance learning opportunities.

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Distance Education Utilization at Wichita State University
(Figures provided by the Media Resource Center)

Chart #1: Telecourse Enrollments 1982-1999

Chart #2: Interactive Television Enrollments 1996-1999

Chart #3: Telenet Enrollments 1996-1999

Chart #4: Internet Enrollments 1996-1999

Chart 5: A Three Year Summary of Distance Education Enrollment at WSU

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