Creating A Scalable, Robust Distance Education Capability At East Carolina University

The core infrastructure for successful online educational systems is driven by several competing factors including: technical capabilities, communications systems, professional resources, faculty expertise, and student-centric requirements. Systems must address issues such as: the developmental and delivery technologies being utilized, the academic and physical demands of the course, economic conditions, time and space constraints, and evolving technologies that affect product quality and effectiveness over time. All of these factors must be considered throughout the design and development process. There are also factors which influence the design and setup of an integrated model for online education. Assessing the types, quantities, and capabilities of equipment, software, and teaching methodologies has become an issue which must be addressed at every turn in order to keep up with student demands for high quality educational programs and to maximize various delivery methodologies. The primary goals of an effective distance delivery protocol are designed to promote student success and to help faculty build the requisite skills needed to develop, deliver, and promote an optimal learning environment. The College of Technology and Computer Science at East Carolina University has embarked upon a multi-disciplinary approach to identify current stateof-the-art delivery methodologies that support distance education, including hardware and software tools, delivery portals, instructional pedagogies, student expectations, and developmental support systems to enable faculty to create professional products for use by a broad audience. A college-level task force has been created to define best practices in the DE world and to establish the necessary infrastructure to operate effectively in this environment. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of “best practices” in online learning, and unveil a scalable online course sequence model which will promote student success in College of Technology and Computer Science at East Carolina University. Growing Demands for the Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology Program The B.S.I.T. program is a 2+2 undergraduate program, designed as an online completion curriculum for students who have been awarded a qualified Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degree in Industrial Technology or closely related field. The courses completed in the qualified technical AAS degree provide the foundation and half of the technical courses required in a major for the Industrial Technology degree. This BS degree program has the flexibility to allow students to tailor a curriculum to their specific career goals. Concentrations available via online DE include: Industrial Distribution, Information & Computer Technology, Manufacturing Systems, Industrial Supervision, or Bioprocess Manufacturing. The Bioprocess Manufacturing degree was developed within a year to address the needs of North Carolina’s workforce and to align with the community college’s BioNetwork. The curriculum for all the programs also has a strong emphasis in management, which allows the graduate to function well in either technical or decision-making career fields. Almost 100 AAS degrees in the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) have been identified as potentially aligning with the B.S.I.T. program. Currently, articulation agreements with 60 programs at 7 community colleges have been signed and more are being established each semester. A variety of other articulation agreements are in various stages of development with additional community colleges. This pilot program will promote accessibility for all students and is the only such program at public and private universities in North Carolina and surrounding states that allow those with technical AAS degrees to enter a BS degree with junior standing and significant completion of the requirements for the BS degree. With this type of expansion, a new way of handling large sections or classes is necessary.