Abstract:

New technologies, both Internet-based and standalone, have made a number of course delivery modes possible that were unimaginable twenty years ago. By expanding the reach of the college beyond its physical campus and skewing traditional notions of class time, these modern course delivery modes provide a wealth of new opportunities for students, faculty, and the institution itself. However with each new technology employed and each new delivery format that relies upon that technology, a new level of complexity enters the class room. The ability for the administration, support staff, faculty, and students to address these complexities can mean the difference between a trans-formative success and yet another bad technology investment.

The first step toward truly getting a hold on the complexities found in each course delivery method (e.g, fully online, self-paced, traditional face to face) is a simple, yet intensive, analysis of the various course delivery methods being offered, the characteristics of each delivery method, the curricular aspects of each method, and the various resources (human, physical, and technological) required to take full advantage of each delivery method. On its own this exercise that will be of great benefit as it will require issues that may have gone unnoticed to be made evident. Once evident, they can be taking into consideration.

Should a scoring rubric be developed for each aspect, the process moves from mental exercise to sophisticated planning document. The rubric should include issues common to all institutions but also address issues particular to the academic department or overall institution. For example, an institution that has adopted a master course strategy for fully online courses will have different issues to consider than one that allows faculty to build a course as they teach it.

By scoring each delivery mode in each aspect, the process can now identify which delivery method requires the most or least amount of each physical resource, which can reach the most students at any time, which is most suited for which types of content and assessment. With this information, intelligent choices can be made in the planning, scheduling, and marketing of courses to maximize the best features of each course delivery method while minimizing the drawbacks.