April 7 , 2006 Minutes

Academic Steering Committee for Distance Education (ASCDE)

Full Committee Meeting Minutes – April 7, 2006 – 8:30 am-10:00 am

 Participants: Kathi Baldwin, Megan Carlson, Sheri Denison, Kate Gordon, Tim Hinterberger, Mel Kalkowski, Tom Miller, Carol Swartz, Kathleen Voge, Hannele Zubeck

Guests: Chris Sturm (eMedia)

Approval of Minutes and Agenda

Reports

1. Future of Online Learning at UAA Meeting, April 6th
1. Tom, Kathi and Kate attended a Future of Online Learning meeting, which was led by Rich Whitney. The group agreed that more work needs to be done in this area.
2. There is consensus that UAA needs to have a leadership position reporting to Academic Affairs who serves as the point person for distance learning issues. Since this position needs to have the authority to support the responsibilities inherent in the duties, the group believes it should be a Vice Provost or Associate Vice Provost position.
3. Important responsibilities for this proposed position will include policy and faculty development, quality management of courses, coordination with internal (ITS, eMedia, CAFÉ) and external (Statewide, other universities, accreditors) bodies, and advocacy for UAA in all areas concerning distance education.
4. The structure of this position, its relationship to existing units, and funding still need more discussion. The committee will be meeting again on April 20th.
2. Centralized Tuition Assistance Management
1. Mel shared information on the U.S. Army’s new Centralized Tuition Assistance Management system. CTAM parallels Banner as a program for registration, grades, and program tracking. It will also serve as a portal to distance courses worldwide, including those offered by UA. Students in the Army will only be eligible for tuition assistance (as opposed to reimbursement after course completion) if they take courses through institutions affiliated with CTAM.
2. CTAM experienced technical problems with its launch in April, and is currently making revisions for a re-launch. UA is preparing to load our courses into CTAM by June 1st.
3. The committee discussed some issues related to the CTAM launch that may need addressing. Military networks have had problems accessing online library resources and downloading Java to run Elluminate Live.
3. Distance Education Steering Board Summit, March 29-21
1. Prior to the DESB summit, the ETT met separately and set eight areas of interest.

1. The DESB was allotted $20,000 to work three of the ETT priorities. The selected areas are highlighted above and include a breakdown of the funding.  This decision-making was determined through DESB voting using collaborative software.
1. The first will be a 90-day workgroup will be focused on developing a single 800 number for current student support, including technical support and troubleshooting. This will include an inventory of what is currently available, and what can be done to simplify.
2. The second project will be funding three I-Teach sessions. I-Teach is a statewide initiative that is similar to UAA’s Tech Fellows program. Each of these sessions will consist of a week-long training program at a chosen host campus.
1. I-Teach was offered as an opportunity from Statewide, but does not appear to have been communicated to UAA faculty. This supports the need for a single point person on UAA’s campus for distance learning communication.
3. The third project will be a 90-day workgroup on developing a single 800 number for advising incoming students.
2. Due to the volume of material the DESB had on its agenda, there was not time to discuss performance measures at the summit.
1. Distance Education Gateway – http://www.alaska.edu/distance/

 Kate is also working to get the statewide distance education gateway portal linked on the UAA webpage.

Information Items

• UAA’s Web Board has been dissolved. A new group at the sub-cabinet level is planned.
• The announcement for this year’s Tech Fellows program will be going out the week of April 10th.
• UA purchased an institution-wide membership for the Technology, Colleges, and Community online conference April 18-20. The membership allows any UA staff, faculty, or students to attend the online conference. ASCDE members are encouraged to attend.
• In recent years, UAA decided to become a member of the University of the Arctic. Dean Tom Case was tasked with working out the details, but it is still in process.

Academic Year Wrap-up Process—Final Report of Issues

a. Kate will gather comments and recommendations from the group to prepare a year-end report for the current and incoming Provosts. She asked the committee to reflect and write down observations on the current state of distance education at UAA, critical barriers, and suggested solutions.

b. Please get your comments and suggestions to Kate by Friday, April 21st. She will compile the report and send out a draft to the committee for review. After the report is finalized, it will be formally submitted to the Provost.

5. This was the last meeting of ASCDE for this academic year. Please remember to send your comments and suggestions for the year-end report to Kate Gordon by Wednesday, April 21st.