Contribute Your Ideas - Example Idea Description #5
EXAMPLE Idea #5: Reinvent Distance Education
1. What do you see as a key area of distinction at UMaine?
Maine is a rural state with many people living far from education centers. UMaine has a start in thinking about how we can use distance technology to share information. A key area of distinction could be creative use of technology to reach diverse groups.
2. What do you see as an opportunity or challenge that UMaine faces?
As mentioned above, the large distances represent both opportunities and challenges. We need to find ways to use distance education technology to reach those who otherwise might not be served and we need to do this in a cost effective way that solves some of the problems that other states and campuses have not yet been able to solve (for example, how to ensure high quality, how to include service learning and other engaged teaching practices, how to include hands-on lab experiences, how to build strong faculty mentoring into the online experiences).
3. What solution do you propose?
I propose looking at the many distance learning activities already taking place at UMaine in Cooperative Extension, Distance Education, Disability Studies, and other areas. We could ask leaders in the College of Education and elsewhere to help us identify what recent research has shown about is and isn’t working nationally in distance education in rural states for the array of disciplines we have at UMaine. We could then use this information to design distance education in ways that solves some of these problems.
4. How will this solution enable UMaine to achieve a new vision of institutional excellence and realize its position as a leading 21st century Land and Sea Grant University?
UMaine could become known as the higher education institution that has developed the most inventive, high quality distance education that solves problems and takes these new practices in new directions that don’t undermine good educational practices.
5. How would you assess whether this solution is successful?
I personally don’t know how one would measure success but I bet there are people on campus (students, program evaluators, experts in overcoming distance issues) who could help.
