One university’s decision to close its central distance-education office has stirred a national debate over the best way to operate online programs.
Under a restructuring at Texas A&M University at College Station, individual colleges will now manage online learning. And tuition paid for those programs will flow directly through those colleges.
The decision follows a related move at the University of Texas system. As online education continues to grow, those reorganizations have prompted many educators to share their opinions about e-learning management on a listserv run by the technology cooperative WCET.
To some, decentralization is “doomed to failure.” To others, a separate bureaucracy “simply doesn’t make sense anymore.” A third camp advocates a hybrid approach.
Chad Wootton, Texas A&M’s associate vice president for external affairs, frames the question of managing online and traditional education like this: “Are we thinking of them as two separate educational opportunities? Or are we thinking of them as the educational opportunity of course delivery, and it just so happens to be a different delivery method?”
What do you think?
11 Responses to Texas A&M’s Restructuring Stirs Debate Over Best Way to Run Online Programs
duvaldude - July 1, 2010 at 8:32 am
Courses, regardless of how they are delivered, must have the same description and teh same learning outcomes. Additionally, courses must have the same standard of effective delivery regardless of the delivery medium. Decentralize that and you’re headed for places you don’t really want to go.-RCM
chuck_osmund - July 1, 2010 at 8:54 am
I obtained my MSLIS from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a member of their first cohort using the LEEP3 distance education scheduling option. It was called a scheduling option because it was one of three ways one could obtain the degree — on campus, through the Friday Program, or remotely. Students were able to mix and match these options. Some on-campus students took online courses, some distance students moved to Urbana-Champaign and took on-campus courses. This is decentralization from a university perspective, but the same standards were clearly maintained across the different options.
staceysimmons - July 1, 2010 at 9:18 am
The distribution methods and the participation are a hybrid. Professors are going to have to learn to adjust to these new styles- just as we have to Facebook and other social media.Stacey Simmons, PhDLSU Center for Computation and TechnologyFounder, Omnicademy
lmcn1077 - July 1, 2010 at 9:46 am
To clarify the actions at two of Texas’ university Systems (or maybe to complication the conversation)… I believe the restructuring at Texas A&M is at the campus level (at the flagship campus), and leaves the System distance education office in place. On the other hand, the reorganization at the University of Texas is at the System level, eliminating the System distance education office and pushing responsibilities to the campus level. Most of the UT System campuses have centralized distance education offices, but some have departments that also run programs. The flagship campus in the UT System (UT Austin), has a mostly-decentralized model similar to what is being put in place at Texas A&M.
11272784 - July 1, 2010 at 1:13 pm
I worked at A&M for 13 years. The whole campus is decentralized and ech college is incredibly powerful in terms of internal politics. The university does very little in a centralized way, and this decision doesn’t surprise me at all – it follows the independent culture of A&M.That said, I think it’s a disservice to students and a lousy way to run distance education programs. I believe strongly that students need ONE entry to the university, ONE set of policies, ONE central registration and enrollment point, and ONE set of people who deal with the problems and issues around DE programs.But my bet is that A&M will never go against their campus culture and create such a centralized presence, now that they’ve discovered (a decade later than many institutions) that there’s money to be made in DE.
dallasm12 - July 1, 2010 at 1:54 pm
New social web platforms and multi user virtual environments are taking the distance out of distance education. The concern expressed in this article is an interim hiccup and no more; as we adopt and adapt to an emerging new podium for teacher-student interaction. I agree with @staceysimmons above. We must learn to adjust to the new channels of flow.Dallas McPheeters, M.Ed. Educational Technologyhttp://dallasmcpheeters.com
kermitrick - July 1, 2010 at 3:01 pm
A well done centralized distance-education program can help an institution determine best (or at least good enough) practices when distance-education is new to an institution. Think of it as a proof-of-concept effort.However, once distance-education is established – with practices accepted within the instition, then there’s no real reason for a centralized effort, outside of whether the institution is itself centralized or decentralized.If anything, once practices are established, there’s every reason to decentralize in order to make the distance-education more effective for each of the different needs.
raza_khan - July 1, 2010 at 6:25 pm
I agree with #1.Raza_______________________________Raza Khan, Ph.D., P.D.Sciences FacultyCarroll Community CollegeWestminster, MD
bigriverraft - July 4, 2010 at 9:16 pm
Echo many of the points above. One thing to consider is that the decentralized method can work, but let me stress “work”. Good distance ed. doesn’t just happen–it needs resources. And, second, there are still possibilities for a decentralized program to deliver non-traditional programs, certifications, etc.
cookiej - July 6, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Why would anyone want to decentralize? This means every department/college/school must recreate the services, technology, procedures, processes, training, and faculty professional development, ensure rules and policies are followed, etc… Will they all “know” what they are doing? Will there be consistency? Who will do the institutional reporting to state and regional accrediting agencies? Why duplicate all of these processes and services – in a time when funds are limited? Do you think every department/college/school will hire more staff to do this work? NOT! So, who will to the work?
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