| The
Phoenix Factor |
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The ironies here are rich. Throughout the Ingram's Outlook session on higher
education, much concern was expressed about Phoenix University, the ambitious,
multimarket, for-profit enterprise with a strong "distance learning"component. Although distance learning has existed for centuries—it's basically any educational effort in which the teacher is separate from the student—it has taken on a vigorous new life with the introduction and near universal acceptance of the Internet. And so, of course, I turned to the Internet to learn more about Phoenix. I quickly found my way to web site only to be told, "We've moved. Click here to go to our new site." I clicked as I was told and ended up at a new site. There I clicked on the "student" category, one of only four, watched some nice graphics of would-be students pass by, and then was unceremoniously dumped back at the old site. I tried to break out of this cycle a few more times but without success. So much for the Phoenix threat. At least today. But those who are fully committed to traditional learning exclusively have excellent reason to see Internet learning as a threat. It is redefining education, particularly higher education, and continues to make progress even as you read this article. Closer to home, the Kansas City Regional Access Consortium for Higher Education (KC REACHE) has been advancing the state of distance learning. This online learning partnership among 10 area colleges, coordinated by Kansas City Public Television (KCPT-19), got a serious boost recently when the U.S. Department of Education awarded it a $578,000 grant to enhance its services. As with Phoenix, there are still a few bugs in the delivery system. After logging on to KC REACHE, for instance, I proceeded to "click here and go to student orientation." I was sent instead to an area university. I searched the school's site and found my way to its student orientation. There, I clicked on "Start here," but nothing started. Bugs and all, though, one makes a mistake to underestimate the potential of distance learning, especially as organized by entities like KC REACHE. The consortium was founded just three years ago by five colleges in the region. Today, it has 10 member institutions. For the record, these are Avila, Johnson County Community College, Kansas City Kansas Community College, Metropolitan Community Colleges, Missouri Western, Northwest Missouri State University, Park, Rockhurst, UMKC and Washburn. Among them they offer 23 online degree programs and 500 classes. Just as traditional classroom experiences can vary, KC REACHE colleges offer a variety of solutions for the distance learner. Students can choose from four course delivery methods. Online Courses promise a "virtual classroom"in one's home or office. Students can communicate with other students and their instructors through e-mail, online discussion groups and Web-site visits. One of the great advantages of choosing an online course is that students are free to log on as their schedule allows. Telecourses use educational documentaries that can be videotaped and viewed as a student schedule allows. KCPT broadcasts telecourses at night, and some courses are available on video from the college library. These courses also include outside reading and companion textbooks, as well as written assignments and examinations. This style of distance learning often requires that a student occasionally attend on-campus classes. Teleclasses are live courses telecast directly to the home. Students interact with their instructors, and fellow students, both those in class and viewers at home, through the telephone. As with the other methods, students read textbook and outside readings and complete assignments. Blended Courses may contain elements from a variety of the above models. For instance, an online class might include a telecourse element. If the KCPT-19 influence leads to a seemingly equal weight being given to each option, the Internet, as everyone recognizes, has the future written all over it. It has the very real potential of changing the model in higher education pedagogy for the first time in a millennium. Indeed, administrators would be well advised to heed Joseph Schumpeter's notion of "creative destruction." In a nutshell, they may need to deconstruct traditional education before someone else—;a Phoenix, for instance—does it for them. Dave Cassiday, Manager of Adult Education for KCPT-TV and KC REACHE coordinator, believes that the consortium has the capability of countering Phoenix and retaining students for local institutions. "I believe that as a group," says Cassiday, "we can meet the learning needs of 95-98% of area students." The area Cassiday speaks of runs as far north as Maryville and as far west as Topeka. One great virtue of the Internet, not yet fully understood, is that it eliminates waste. Online students do not need to drive to school, park, go to class, sit through lectures, and return home. They can absorb the same amount of information—often in an engaging, visually stimulating way—in one-fourth the time with none of the hassle. This simplicity has powerful appeal, Cassiday acknowledges, especially for adult students. The Internet also has the potential to improve the quality of teaching. Students and their universities will simply cease to buy teaching programs that fail to engage and inform the students. If universities today pay more attention to research than to the quality of classroom instruction, that is about to change. The academic stars of tomorrow will be those who can create and market successful online packages. As the participants in the Industry Outlook noted, this emerging class of entrepreneurially minded online professors is already creating new challenges for colleagues and administrators—compensation and evaluation high among them. The capacity of the Internet to provide a stimulating, interactive, nearly unlimited array of information has rendered textbooks nearly obsolete and is transforming the role of libraries. When an online history student reads about troop movements at Gettysburg, he can watch them as he reads at a pace that is comfortable to him. When an online geometry student fails to discern the measurement of a given angle, the program will show her how to correct her mistake as soon as she errs. Perhaps most importantly, online learning, employed wisely, will teach to the students at their own pace at their own time in a manner that best meets their own needs. Students will learn more, in a medium they like, in less time. Ambitious students will be able to prowl not just the school library but the universe. Cassiday believes that the Internet has already become "a permanent part of the higher-education landscape." He does not see it as a replacement for traditional education but as a complement. KC REACHE actively works toward a goal that the participants in the Industry Outlook hold dear—meaningful collaboration. As the organization matures, if given adequate funding and authority, it has the potential to make the greater Kansas City area a national model of integrated, technologically sophisticated learning. |
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