 Mr. Brian Mahoney, Vice President, Business Development, Course Advisor Following is an interview with Mr. Brian Mahoney Vice President – Business Development for Course Advisor a leading online education directory by Dr. Saba Dr. Saba: Please, tell us about your background and how you became interested in applying technology solutions to higher education? Mr. Mahoney: Dr. Saba: Mr. Mahoney: Working at Course Advisor has been a real treat because of the people, whom I hold in the highest regard, and the customers because of the nature of the interaction. When we do a good job we have a stake in positively affecting our partner school’s admission process and that is rewarding. Dr. Saba: Mr. Mahoney: Beyond the technology we work hard to communicate with our customers on a regular basis. As sophisticated as our technology is this is still a people business and we understand that and keep that in focus as we are trying to help students find the best programs for their unique needs. Dr. Saba: Mr. Mahoney: Dr. Saba: Mr. Mahoney: Brian Mahoney Dr. Saba: Brian Mahoney is Vice President of Business Development for Course Advisor, a leading online education directory. Brian brings more than a decade of experience in the higher education industry beginning in 1996 when he co-founded Cyber Classics, an electronic publishing company. After the sale of the company in 1998 he held positions in direct and channel sales before joining Harcourt University where he was the National Sales Director for the Harcourt eLearning division, a publisher of online courseware. He held that position until the company was acquired by Thomson Learning in 2001. While at Thomson Learning he became the Director of the Enterprise Solutions Group, the first group of its kind created to develop meaningful content solutions for schools and especially the students that attended them. Brian holds a BA in Psychology from Lafayette College and an MBA with a Marketing concentration from St. Joseph’s University. He is on the board of the Peerless Institute and the New University Exchange. The latter is a forum for schools to discuss the entire spectrum of issues affecting learners in today’s rapidly changing world. Outside of work, Brian enjoys participating in all sports especially soccer, basketball and tennis, coaching youth soccer, reading and spending time with his wife and children. Brian and his family live near San Diego, California.  Richard T. Hezel, Ph.D., President, Hezel Associates, LLC Dr. Saba: Dr. Hezel Dr. Saba: Dr. Hezel Dr. Saba: Dr. Hezel Dr. Saba: Dr. Hezel Dr. Saba: Dr. Hezel Dr. Saba: Dr. Richard T. Hezel is president and founder of Hezel Associates, one of the first research and consulting companies with a specialty in distance education and e-learning. He founded the company to enable education institutions to harness the power of media, telecommunications, technology, and other innovations. Helping organizations to arrive at sound management decisions that align with the institutional mission have been the focus of Hezel’s leadership. The approach of his company has been to use research and evaluation as a tool for organizational change, project modification, and continuous improvement. Since 1987, Dr. Hezel has directed market analyses, evaluations, needs assessments, and strategic services for many national and international clients in K-12 and higher education, as well as corporate and healthcare sectors. His company’s clients include the US Department of Education, PBS, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the Arizona Board of Regents, Regis University, and many public, private, non-profit, and for profit universities, learning companies, and state education departments. Dr. Hezel gained recognition as a national expert in e-learning policy, management, and development, in part through the publication of a series of reports on state development of distance learning and educational telecommunications. With his staff, Hezel is currently working on a new international e-learning market report, Global E-learning Opportunities for U.S. Higher Education. He is also the author of numerous papers and reports on distance learning research, management, and policy and has been a speaker at conferences and industry meetings around the world. Prior to establishing Hezel Associates, Dr. Hezel was a faculty member in media and communications at Syracuse University and the University of Houston. He began his career as a public television producer and director. A native of Buffalo, NY, Dr. Hezel earned his doctorate in mass communication at Indiana University, a master’s in television-radio at Syracuse University, and a bachelor’s degree in history at Fordham University. Dr. Hezel is a member of the boards of directors for NUTN, the United States Distance Learning Association, and a member of many professional learning organizations. He is chairman of the boards of two non-profit organizations in Central New York. Richard T. Hezel, Ph.D. President Hezel Associates, LLC, Research, Evaluation, Strategic Services 1201 E. Fayette St. Syracuse, NY 13210 USA www.hezel.com +1 315 422 3512 richard@hezel.com Exclusive Interviews: Exclusive Interview with Mr. William Winfield, Director of the Annual Conference in Distance Teaching and Learning Mr. William Winfield Dr. Saba: Mr. Winfield: We are fortunate in having a very active conference planning committee that reviews the many proposals that are submitted and selects presentations and workshops that speak to current and emerging issues. In addition, many of our past keynote speakers respond to our annual January survey, providing a very rich environmental scan of the field of practice. This year, we have added a national advisory panel to help keep the conference focused on relevant issues of national importance. I should also note that our own Distance Education Certificate Program involves a similar cross section of professionals in the field, from higher education to military, business, and non-profits. Teaching these adult students online throughout the year keeps our staff constantly in touch with the changing experiences and needs of our attendees. Dr. Saba: Mr. Winfield: The rapidly expanding use of online classes in K-12 education prompted us to add a topic track devoted to presentations on new methods and models. Virtual high schools and special education, as well as traditional community high schools, are now dealing with very eager and skilled “digital natives” looking for education as well as entertainment online. These young learners are also beginning to shift the priorities in higher education. The conference forum on Friday will explore how these visually-hungry learners are demanding more interactive multimedia and what course designers and developers can do to meet the demand. Dr. Saba: Mr. Winfield: Dr. Saba: Mr. Winfield: Dr. Saba: Mr. Winfield: The same broad integration of e-learning is happening in business, government, and military organizations. New departments are being added to deliver asynchronous and synchronous training in cost effective ways. I urge experienced distance educators from these sectors to bring their new colleagues to the conference to share and expand their skill base and to network with similar trainers from around the country and the world. The conference offers special rates and facilities for groups to meet at the conference and to attend sessions and share their knowledge before returning to their separate organizations. Thank you again, Fred, for this opportunity to explain and describe more fully our exciting conference program this year. We look forward to seeing you and your subscribers in Madison on August 3-5th. Dr. Saba: For more information about the conference and to register visit http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/ you can address specific questions about exhibiting to: Kimary Peterson, kimary@education.wisc.edu Bill Winfield began developing web based courses in 1994 when the practice was quite young. In addition to designing multilingual educational materials for The Babcock Institute for International Dairy Education and Research, he has worked with University of Wisconsin Learning Innovations on both academic and corporate online projects from 1996-1999. He currently teaches Designing for Online Learning as part of the Distance Education Certificate Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has been the Director of the Annual Conference in Distance Teaching and Learning, since 1999.  Dr. Harold Nelson is a consummate professional with a unique background in systems design and development. He has brought his eclectic background into focus in a book he has recently co-authored with Erik Stolterman. Published by Educational Technology Publications the book presents fundamental ideas about design and offers the foundations of competence in being a designer. Dr. Saba interviewed Dr. Nelson recently, which is presented here. Dr. Saba: Dr. Nelson: From Finland, I moved to Colorado to serve out the obligatory three-year apprenticeship period which was required in order to qualify to take the professional architect’s licensing exam. During this period of time, I worked on two design projects that I felt were too complex for a traditionally trained architect to handle well. These projects were the catalysts for my decision to go back to graduate school in search of the necessary skills for dealing with complex design challenges at a broader and deeper level than my undergraduate training prepared me for. I entered the Master of Architecture program at Berkeley, where Christopher Alexander was teaching. I soon met Horst Rittel, a professor of design best known for his theory of wicked problems; Horst essentially changed the course of my academic career. Because of him, I met West Churchman, a systems philosopher and professor in the Haas Business School at Berkeley, and through Churchman I met other faculty involved in systems thinking and design. After completing my M. Arch. Degree and passing the exam for a professional license, I entered the Ad Hoc Ph.D. Program at UCB where I chose my own faculty and designed my own degree—Social Systems Design—with the help of West Churchman and an exceptional committee of scholars. I completed the research for my dissertation in value distribution assessment at the Lawrence Berkeley Research Laboratory. Dr. Saba: Dr. Nelson: We wanted to help facilitate the creation of a culture of design—a reconstitution of sophia. In the Western tradition, sophia (the Greek term for wisdom) was split into two distinct parts during the Socratic era. In pre-Socratic Greece, the term sophia meant the knowing, or wise hand— there was no separation between reflection and action. During the Socratic age, sophia was cleaved in two, with only one of the two being preserved as wisdom. Reflective thinkers were given the highest position in the Greek social hierarchy, while those who engaged in the activity of making or producing fell to the bottom of the hierarchy. Philosophy, which was the love of wisdom, became primarily a consideration of first principles. From then to now this diminished form of sophia remains in place and is played out daily in a variety of polarities. For example, we have white-collar and blue-collar workers, researchers and practitioners, learning scientists and instructional designers. There are good reasons for not supporting this residual polarity. Systems design scholarship gives us the means to reintegrate reflection and action—the reconstitution of sophia. Our book introduces some of the ideas behind this most pragmatic challenge. Dr. Saba: Dr. Nelson: Instructional design is often referred to as being systematic, which is different from being systemic or representing a true systems approach. A systemic approach implies there is a belief in general or universal applications of methods of instructional design. A systems thinking approach would provide significant opportunities for a more integrative development of the field. There also seems to be a predominant focus on the technology of learning environments. The field is often represented as a consumer of knowledge created by others in more research focused fields. As designers, the community ought to be the triggering force for support from researchers. Within the field, the term design seems to predominantly refer to the processes of putting together structured learning settings—a craft process identified with making, producing, constructing, and similar implementation processes. This is an unnecessary limit on the field as a design field. Although it may not always be respected in academic settings, I appreciate the involvement of instructional designers in real world settings, which include business, government, and institutional contexts. This implies there is a high priority and value among instructional designers to serve the needs of people outside of an academic context. Dr. Saba: Dr. Nelson: This is a philosophic and practical book—not just a theoretical book. It does not present a singular model of design. It presents a big picture of design with many essential details filled in. It is a pragmatic and contemplative introduction to an important ongoing dialogue. A dialogue in which, designers from formal and informally designated design fields, are actively engaged in around the world. Design is being discovered, or redefined, by diverse communities of practice, which find that design has immense promise to move them beyond the analysis or value paralysis that they continually find themselves in when using other traditions of inquiry. They will be introduced to a conceptualization of design that is much broader, deeper, and more integrated than is commonly presented in academic or professional contexts. The book provides an introduction to many seminal ideas that actively point to new opportunities and possibilities for leaders and stakeholders in the field. The book provides insight into what is involved in becoming design competent. It introduces the dynamics of design practice, and the requirements of a design education. Dr. Saba: Dr. Nelson: We differentiate design from art and science by the concept of service. Design is defined as service on behalf of someone else—a contractual relationship. Artists and scientists engage in forms of service legitimately focused more on their own interests. Artists express their emotions and feelings; scientists express their curiosity about the world. Designers, however, serve the needs and desires of others. This does not mean that designers are not aesthetic or rational, they are both, but most importantly they are empathic. When design is considered to be a form of science or art, educational strategies are borrowed from those traditions. When design is considered to be a midpoint in a continuum between art and science, design curriculum is accordingly balanced out between the two. When design is accepted as a unique tradition of inquiry and action, the education of designers needs to reflect this. If designers are going to design learning and teaching systems, they need to be educated as designers and gain experience as designers. They need to know the distinctions between the different traditions of inquiry that determine what the different purposes of learning and teaching systems need to be. Design competence is essential for engaging in authentic design activity. Dr. Saba: Dr. Nelson is president and co-founder of the Advanced Design Institute. He is presently working as an organizational systems designer and education consultant for universities, governmental agencies and business organizations. His focus is in two areas. The first is on the development of design competent organizations. The second is on innovation leadership development based on systems thinking and advanced design theory. He is an affiliate faculty member of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington. The Design Way, a book, co-authored with Erik Stolterman, recently was named "Outstanding Book of the Year" by the Division of Instructional Development of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology. For over twelve years Dr. Nelson was the Director (Department Head) of the Graduate Programs in Whole Systems Design (WSD) at Antioch University. Under his leadership the programs became nationally recognized in the field of systems design. One program was ranked among the top graduate programs in organizational development (OD) in the United States. He was the principle designer of the degree programs as well as administrative manager and core faculty (Professor). The student population consisted primarily of in mid-career professionals or adults preparing for new careers. He has been involved with diverse organizations including non-profits and corporations, state and federal agencies, international governments and the United Nations. Dr. Nelson has made presentations, and facilitated workshops on a variety of topics including; leadership development, organizational systems design, creativity and systems thinking. He has worked as a researcher, consultant and university educator in design and systems science. He has consulted or taught in countries as diverse as: Chile, Turkey, Finland, Indonesia, and Australia. He is a past-president of the International Society for Systems Science. Prior to his work in the fields of organizational systems design, leadership development and educational systems design Dr. Nelson, a licensed architect in the State of California, worked as a practicing architect in the private sector and as an assistant regional architect for region V of the U.S. Forest Service. Dr. Harold Nelson graduated with distinction from the University of California at Berkeley. His Ph.D. in the Design of Social System was designed by him and administered through the Ad Hoc Ph.D. program supervised by the Dean of Graduate Studies. His dissertation focused on a systems approach to the impact on rural communities of large-scale resource development projects with an emphasis on value distribution assessment. He received his Master of Architecture degree from the University of California at Berkeley as well. Upon receiving his Bachelor of Architecture from Montana State University, Dr. Nelson studied architecture and ceramic design in Finland at the Technical University and Ateneum Fine Arts Academy. Exclusive Interviews: Exclusive Interview with Mr. Frank Russell, CEO and President, Geolearning, Inc. Managed learning is a strategy for many companies to connect the learning needs of their staff with business and organizational objectives. Geolearning specializes in managed learning. An interview with Mr. Frank Russell CEO and President of Geolearning with Dr. Saba is presented here.  >Dr. Saba: Mr. Russell: During the dotcom boom in the late 1990s, people saw the power and reach of the Internet. Its unique infrastructure, instantaneous communication and worldwide reach satisfied a need in the training industry. These attributes led my business endeavors from video- to Web-based technology. I went on to create GeoLearning, Inc., the leading provider of Managed Learning Services and hosted learning solutions. As an Application Service Provider (ASP), the entire learning solution is delivered entirely over the Internet. We essentially host, maintain and manage learning platforms for our customers. When I entered the field, corporate-wide training was only delivered though an instructor or in a classroom setting. As technology advanced, video-based training and CD-ROM led the field. Now with the advent of the Internet there is a solution to distance, time and resources that businesses, government agencies and educational institutions are successfully embracing. The Web contributes to a blended learning environment, allowing each student to learn at their own pace and under their individual conditions. Dr. Saba: Mr. Russell: We’ve been in business since 1997 and seen the ups and downs of the industry over time. Our small size and large market presence allows us to think strategically and move quickly; developing products customers can use and need. Unlike many of our competitors, our business has grown tremendously over the past few years and continues to be profitable. Though we are a privately held organization, I can tell you that sales in the third quarter of 2004 alone surpassed total sales for all of 2002. We were recognized for this achievement by being named to the Inc. 500 list as one of the fastest growing private companies in America. GeoLearning comes with a strong training background and applies this to our unique technology. Rather than being technology focused, like many of our competitors, we understand how people learn and the needs of an organization large or small. Our focus on service rather than purely technology has served us—and our customers—quite well. Dr. Saba: Mr. Russell:
GeoLearning offers many technology-based tools to help deliver effective training programs. GeoExpress™ is our mid-market hosted learning management platform. It is a good entry point to e-learning and is a scalable solution for organization with up to 3,000 users. GeoMaestro™ is our flagship learning management system. It allows large enterprises to deliver, track and manage employee learning. The following modules are available for GeoMaestro:
Dr. Saba: Mr. Russell: The module can be thought of as a guide to performance planning—it walks managers and employees through the steps necessary to accomplish a learning path, curriculum or certification. In addition, it supports a blended learning environment, enabling managers and employees to develop competency plans, add individual learning tasks, assign due dates and provide advance reminders via e-mail. A group of related tasks and events form a “learning path” or curriculum. MyPlan’s administration features can be used to create Learning Path Templates that can be assigned to individual employees, a group of employees or globally. Plan templates can be categorized and stored for later use or modified for different employee groups and situations. Dr. Saba: Mr. Russell: We are working on the next generation of training technology tools that will create a “new experience” for the user, whether that person is a student, supervisor, instructor, or administrator. We are aiming for very elegant tools with ease of use at their heart. The user interface is intuitive and will require no training or simple wizards like you see in PowerPoint. The tools will also be flexible at all levels, making them highly configurable for the individual learner, but with no customizations needed to deploy across the enterprise. Our focus will continue to be on rapid implementations that enable rapid content development, rapid learning and rapid reporting using wizards and dashboards that provide instant access to key learning metrics. Dr. Saba: Mr. Russell: >Frank Russell, President & CEO GeoLearning, Inc. Frank has more than 20 years of experience in the training and development field. Prior to founding GeoLearning, he was president and co-founder of Excellence in Training Corporation, a leading producer of video-based training. Frank’s extensive experience in the computer-based training field includes research at the Center for Advanced Computation at the University of Illinois where the first Internet browser was invented. He worked for Control Data Corporation in the late 1970s with the Plato System, which was the first commercially viable CBT authoring system. He has also been the director of training for a Fortune 500 company and head of training for the State of Iowa. Frank holds a BA from Southern Illinois University and a MA from the University of Illinois. GeoLearning is the leading provider of Managed Learning Services and hosted learning technolgies, having been chosen by more than 350 organizations around the world to manage learning and development. Named to the 2004 Inc. 500, GeoLearning is one of the fastest growing private companies in America. The company’s GeoMaestro and GeoExpress learning management platforms offer robust registration, tracking and reporting functionality crucial for managing enterprise-wide learning, development and knowledge acquisition. With no hardware or software to install, GeoLearning’s ASP-hosted platforms can be deployed quickly, allowing clients to efficiently manage human capital development, accelerate critical business processes, and drive organizational performance. Recent sales highlights include such marquee clients as Dell, Nike Global Footwear and many of the largest U.S. federal government agencies. Dell selected GeoLearning to create and maintain a site for skills training and certification courseware. The site currently provides access to e-learning courses for 400,000 students and adds over 1,000 new users each week. Nike Global Footwear signed on as a GeoLearning client in 2003 to manage the training of 10,000 employees worldwide. The state of New Jersey signed a $2.56 million 3-year homeland security contract with GeoLearning to manage training for 145,000 first responders throughout the state. In 2002, GeoLearning was awarded a 4-year contract with the federal government to power the Gov Online Learning Center as an e-learning resource for 1.8 million federal employees. It is the largest e-learning portal in existence today. Additional information is available at www.geolearning.com  Videoconferencing has become the workhorse of distance education, but problems in implementation continue to plague the users. Videre Conferencing is among a new generation of system integrators that “get it done right” the first time. Dr. Saba interviewed Bill Benoit, co-founder of Videre, which is reflected here. Dr. Saba: Mr. Benoit: Dr. Saba: Mr. Benoit: Dr. Saba: Mr. Benoit: Dr. Saba: Mr. Benoit: Dr. Saba: Mr. Benoit: All aspects of the customer experience have been transformed since the mid-1990s. The products are much less expensive, easier to operate and provide far better audio and video quality. All of these improvements come at a time when outside events such as travel concerns and economic weakness are driving people back to videoconferencing. A key ingredient will be companies such as ours that can design, implement and support solutions along with the best practices & procedures to put our clients “at the head of their class”. Dr. Saba: Bill Benoit has enjoyed a highly successful sales career for close to 20 years in the High-Tech industry.Specializing in Videoconferencing and custom AV Room Integration along with IP, ISDN and ATM networking solutions, he is one of the area’s most knowledgeable sales executives on conferencing solutions.Prior to co-founding Videré Bill held senior sales positions at Viewtech, USTeleCenters, Chancellor Corporation, and Nynex Systems Marketing.He holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. For more information about Videre visit http://www.videreconferencing.com/indexVidere.html Exclusive Interviews: Exclusive Interview: Andy Cooley, Senior Vice President, Marketing Sungard SCT Higher Education Integrating various technologies which have been developed and installed in support of instruction on campuses over the years is no easy task. It has also been a core issue for information technology officers as well as for those in academic programs that work with technology on a daily basis. Sungard SCT, Inc. is a company that specializes on this very issue. Dr. Saba interviewed the Senior Vice President of Sungard SCT for marketing, which is reflected in this article.  Dr. Saba: You have had a successful career in both business and education; how did you become interested in the role of technology in higher education? Mr. Cooley : Dr. Saba: Mr. Cooley : Dr. Saba: Mr. Cooley : SunGard SCT has been successful in achieving this largely because of our sizeable and diverse customer base. Our client institutions give us very detailed information about their objectives, their processes, and their challenges. From this, we can identify core commonalities and build on them. By doing so, we can provide solutions at a lower cost of ownership. Our active and vocal client base also helps us to continually understand their changing needs and challenges. We realize that higher education is a unique environment and we are committed to providing solutions that address our clients' subtleties and challenges. Higher education is our sole focus. Dr. Saba: Mr. Cooley : Technology applications do result in administrative cost savings. For example, it allows institutions to be more targeted in their recruiting efforts. Also, self-service applications, like registering and paying for courses online, save costs in paper, materials, and staff time. Technology also enables institution staff to work more efficiently. However, technology is not inherently a cost reducer. Rather, it is a tool to reduce administrative barriers, expand the interaction between learners and faculty, and enhance the educational experience. The payback is the increased quality of interaction and education, not reduced costs. Dr. Saba: Mr. Cooley : Dr. Saba: Andy Cooley Senior Vice President of Marketing, SunGard SCT Inc. Mr. Cooley joined SunGard SCT in 2002 with the acquisition of Campus Pipeline, where he served as senior vice president of corporate marketing and product management. While there he was in charge of defining new products and services as well as creating the marketing that helped the company become the higher education portal leader. Prior to Campus Pipeline, Mr. Cooley was senior research executive at Wirthlin Worldwide, a strategic research and communications consulting firm. At Wirthlin, Mr. Cooley worked with several Fortune 500 firms, industry groups, and nonprofit organizations including the American Plastics Council, Houston Industries, Beneficial Life, Visa, and the Quest Futures Group, which includes Coke, IBM, Disney, GM, and other industry leaders. Mr. Cooley has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Utah and a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University. Mr. Cooley is involved in volunteer efforts to enhance the undergraduate experience in higher education and currently serves on alumni boards for both institutions. For more information on Sungard SCT Inc. Contact: Nick D'Addezio ndaddezi@sungardsct.com 800.223.7036 phone www.sungardsct.com Exclusive Interviews: Exclusive Interview with Dr. Scott W. Brown, Professor of Educational Psychology and Director of the Teachers for a New Era Project at the University of Connecticut Dr. Scott W. Brown is Professor of Educational Psychology and Director of the Teachers for a New Era Project at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Saba interviewed Dr. Brown about his current project. Dr. Saba: How did you first become involved in distance education? Dr. Brown: DE provided me with an opportunity to provide graduate instruction to students who previously spent more time driving back and forth to my class than they did attending my class. It removed a distance barrier and enabled me to interact with students miles away. It was beneficial to the students and I learned a lot the first time we ran the course. Initially, I co-taught a graduate course on statistics to students in three different locations with a group in front of us live. It was a video link between the campuses and it required considerably more planning than a live course did, but we enjoyed it a lot – the instructors and the students. Since that time I have taught the course using a video link to one other campus over 100 miles away. Now we work with a couple of projects that have used distance education to communicate with students as far away as 3,000 miles away with a GlobalEd project as students in middle and high schools communicate with one another about international negotiations or in our Classroom of the Sea project, with deaf students using video links as students use high speed video to sign the activities they are conducting on a ship at sea to other deaf students in their classroom hundreds of miles away. For me, DE is a general system that can be applied in a wide variety of ways to remove barriers of distance, time and communication access to facilitate or support the learning of students of all ages. Dr. Saba: Dr. Brown: We are using web boards and WebCT to connect our new teachers with university professors and with one another, so that they may operate within a community of practice as they face many new challenges in their classrooms and school buildings. For the TNE project, DE is a critical component in our induction/residency program supporting new teachers across the state of Connecticut and beyond. Since we are in a consortium with 10 other schools, I expect that there will be some common links of DE across the sites as our universities share materials and professional development activities to enhance the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of our graduates, as well as our professors. Dr. Saba: Dr. Brown: Web boards for asynchronous communications among the new teachers and experienced veterans, and university professors are breaking down the barriers of isolation facing many teachers. It allows these new teachers to enter a community of practice removing time and distance factors and quickly addressing their issues and concerns, which if left unanswered can fester and lead to teachers having less success and a less positive experience in their new roles. Our results to date are very preliminary, but are in the right direction of opening lines of communications and support for our new teachers. Dr. Saba: Dr. Brown: For distance education to continue to grow, high quality educational content and pedagogy must be the accepted standard. We must set standards for distanced education materials to strive for in order for the potential this medium has to be achieved. Poorly designed materials with hinder this progress as many consumers will not differentiate between the medium and the materials. The materials must be constantly updated to reflect the capabilities and standards of the current technologies and user standards to remain a viable source of educational experiences. I see the current status of distance education in the field of education, professional development and research as very positive and exciting. There are many opportunities for each of these areas, and the future is very bright, as long as the design of the distance education materials maintains high standards for quality educational experiences. Dr. Saba: Dr. Brown: Distance education in K-12 schools is being used to bring education to students who would not have been able to have that educational experience with out it. Issues of teacher shortages in specific areas, the need for a language teacher in a critical shortage area, or advanced placement courses for students whose school may not have the expertise for any one of various reasons, can address that need and fill that gap. New courses can be provided to students who need remediation on specific topics or who desire additional information above and beyond the standard curriculum can have the barriers of the school day removed, thereby enhancing the learning opportunities for students. Presently, we see DE courses for K-12 students addressing things beyond the typical curriculum providing opportunities that only a few years ago would have been out of reach. Today with an internet connection, they are a reality. In my opinion the opportunities for DE at the university level are greatest in two general areas: undergraduate education for the non-traditional student (one who may be older than 18-24 years olds, and who may also hold a job that limits their ability to attend a university full-time) and graduate education in some professional fields. I believe we will still see large numbers of non-traditional students searching for universities that can meet their time restrictions by providing college courses that do not conform to the typical semester time-frame and still provide contact with professors and other students so that the distance education student is receiving a high quality educational experience. In this way students with families and jobs can attain university credit and/or learning new knowledge and skills as they work towards a college degree. Most major universities are working very rapidly to develop courses to address the needs of the non-traditional students while maintaining the academic integrity of the institution so as not to create a difference in educational quality among the traditional and distance education courses. I believe you may see many remedial courses for undergraduates also being developed to fill the demands for pre-requisite skills necessary for success in upper level courses. For the typical undergraduate student, I believe we will see some distance education courses, but because they are generally residents of a campus community, the majority of the distance education experiences will be in a hybrid format combining traditional classroom experiences with distance education activities as support; such as we find in many of the on-campus courses using WebCT on my own campus. I believe that there will be considerable resistance from students living on a campus to DE courses, and I have seen it in their parents as well. Students attending a college campus want the access to a professor rather than DE courses, for the most part. At the graduate level professional schools hold the greatest promise for distance education. Schools of education, business, nursing, and social work can address the continued professional development and work towards advanced degrees at excellent universities without requiring students to move closer to the university they wish to attend. On our own campus at UConn we offer graduate courses in several areas, but one of our most popular areas is in the area of gifted and talented education because we have the National Research Center for Gifted and Talented in my department, Educational Psychology. The courses are completely web-based and are offered to students across the country and around the world. Students interact with leaders in the field of gifted and talented education without having to leave their homes. But this program is not unique in format, as many universities are offering complete degrees on-line, while maintaining high academic standards. The future for both K-12 and university distance education opportunities is bright. As distance education is used to remove barriers of time, distance, lack of local expertise, we will see a continued growth in available credit and now credit courses for students of all ages and characteristics. Dr. Saba: Dr. Scott W. Brown is professor of Educational Psychology and the Director of the Teachers for a New Era Project at UConn. Dr. Brown has served as the graduate coordinator of the Educational Technology program at UConn, the head of the Educational Psychology Department, and the Director of the UConn Bureau of Educational Research and Service. He has been awarded over $7 million in state, federal and private grants, and has published over 90 articles and book chapters on topics related to educational technology and cognition and instruction. Dr. Brown specializes in learning, problem-solving and decision-making with a technology rich environment. Scott.brown@uconn.edu Exclusive Interviews: Exclusive Interview with Dr. Benny Johnson, President and CEO, Quantum Simulations, Inc. Dr. Benny Johnson: is involved in one of the most innovative and unique initiatives in technology based education today. Dr. Saba interviewed Dr. Johnson recently and asked him how he is using principles of artificial intelligence for creating learning science education applications. Dr. Saba: How did you become interested in technology based science education? Dr. Johnson: In 1998, I partnered with Mr. Holder, and longtime business associate, Rebecca Renshaw, to launch Quantum Simulations, Inc. to address the need for on-demand tutoring. Our goal was to provide every student with unlimited access to effective and affordable personal tutoring help anytime, anywhere. After extensive research and analysis, we determined that proven teaching practices combined with artificial intelligence (AI) technology delivered to students over the Internet was the key to meeting our objective. We received funding from the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation and, in a few short years, developed the Quantum Tutors — the first, and only, artificial intelligence tutors for science. Designed for classroom exercises, at-home study and teacher training, the tutoring software uses Quantum’s patented artificial intelligence technology to emulate the proven teaching techniques used by Mr. Holder for more than 35 years. Accessed by students on demand anywhere there is an Internet connection, the Quantum Tutors help students overcome the unnecessary anxiety, fear and frustration that come with learning challenging, new subjects such as chemistry and mathematics, particularly at home where a teacher is not available to help and parents may be unable to help because they most likely lack the background and teaching skills to assist with homework in these subjects. Just as I was inspired to learn more about the sciences, now students can have a greater appreciation for chemistry and mathematics where they not only learn fundamental skills, but achieve a higher conceptual understanding of these subjects, while improving their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Dr. Saba: Dr. Johnson: True learning happens when the student is actively engaged at a deeper, intellectual level where “breakthrough learning” takes place. We’ve all experienced it before - that magical moment of transformation where what seemed to be a confusing concept or unsolvable problem now becomes obvious and much easier to understand. That’s what the Quantum Tutors are designed to give the student. The Tutors encourage the student to solve problems in a non-threatening environment where they are totally free to explore, make mistakes and try new ideas without fear of embarrassment. Similar to a human tutor, and unlike any other software, the Quantum Tutors assist the student with any problem he or she wants to work on, provide feedback and coaching based on the student’s own work, give hints and even answer questions. The student can e-mail a transcript of their work to the teacher just as they would submit a homework assignment on paper. In the end, the student understands the concept, receives positive feedback at every step and experiences all the excitement and confidence that comes with learning something new. The Tutors are always there to guide them every step of the way and provide as much or as little help as needed based on the student’s subject knowledge and comfort level. Dr. Saba: Dr. Johnson: This particular funding is dedicated to the development of an innovative Assessment Tool, where teachers can use the power of the AI to administer their student testing and evaluations online. For the student, the Assessment Tool automatically grades the student’s own work and provides an immediate, real-time constructive report on their work, suggesting topics and concepts to review to improve future test scores. For the teacher, the Assessment Tool provides critical real-time data for analyzing how the class performed on the concepts tested, also providing drill-down detail to each individual student’s work on demand. Teachers can use this information to determine concepts to re-teach and even how to pair students together to coach and help each other, in ways that would never be possible when the teacher must compile and analyze his or her own assessment data by hand. Dr. Saba: Dr. Johnson: Quantum Mathematics (middle school) includes five Tutors covering Measurement, Ratio and Proportion, Percentages, Scientific Notation and Metric Units. These Tutors were developed to provide students assistance with core math skills in preparation for high school science. Quantum Chemistry (high school and college) includes nine Tutors covering all major fundamental topics for a first-year chemistry course including: Measurement, The Elements, Ionic Compound Formulas, Mathematics of Chemical Formulas, Equation Balancing, Oxidation Numbers, Chemical Reactions, Chemical Bonding and Stoichiometry. Further information, including a Virtual Tour, is available on our web site, www.quantumsimulations.com. The Quantum Tutors are available through two distribution partners, Science Kit (www.sciencekit.com/elearning), which offers all Tutors with bundled pricing discounts, and Holt, Rinehart and Winston (www.hrw.com/quantum), which offers the Chemistry Tutors only. Dr. Saba: Dr. Johnson: Dr. Saba: Benny G. Johnson, Ph.D., President and CEO, Quantum, Simulations, Inc., holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemistry and Mathematics from the University of Kentucky, and received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University in 1993, working with Professor John A. Pople, a 1998 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. Dr. Johnson is the author of over forty scholarly publications in academic journals and books, and has delivered invited lectures at many national and international conferences, including the Education Secretary’s No Child Left Behind Technology Leadership Summit in 2004. As principal investigator on various research and development projects, Dr. Johnson has received over $7.5 million in Small Business Innovation Research and other awards through various agencies including the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the National Institutes of Health and the Ben Franklin Technology Center of Western Pennsylvania. In addition to this work, Dr. Johnson has contributed substantially to several significant commercial and government chemistry research software projects, including Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s NWChem project, which is part of the Department of Energy’s effort to solve environmental problems related to the Hanford nuclear site in the state of Washington. Exclusive Interviews: Exclusive Interview with Dr. Gary Miller Associate Vice President for Outreach at The Pennsylvania State University, and Executive Director of Penn State Continuing Education and the World Campus For close to 20 years, Dr. Gary Miller Associate Vice President for Outreach at The Pennsylvania State University, and Executive Director of Penn State Continuing Education and the World Campus, has been leading major distance education programs and projects in higher education. Dr. Saba, CEO of Distance-Educator.com interviewed Dr. Miller about his experience in distance education leadership.Dr. Saba: You have been involved with distance education for a long time. Could you tell us how did you become interested in the field and what were some of your earlier accomplishments? Dr. Miller: In 1987, I moved to the University of Maryland University College to direct the International University Consortium, one of the early course-sharing consortia. IUC had begun by adapting British Open University (now Open University of the United Kingdom) materials to better suit the North American curriculum. It was my first opportunity to work at as part of the global distance education community. I returned to Penn State in 1994 as the first Associate Vice President for Distance Education. Penn State was a pioneer in distance education—dating back to its first correspondence program in 1892. In 1992, a task force had recommended that distance education move more into the mainstream of the University, which led to the creation of a Department of Distance Education. Mainstreaming distance education into the fabric of Penn State’s academic life has been a continuing goal over the past decade. Dr. Saba: Dr. Miller: The World Campus is not a separate institution or a separate academic unit. Instead, it is an administrative unit that offers degree programs from the University’s many schools and colleges. This allows us to extend access to the University’s strongest research-based curricula, taught by senior faculty members. Dr. Saba: Dr. Miller: Over the past decade, we’ve had several initiatives to build faculty communities around the new ways they can use technology to teach. One of the most important for the World Campus was Innovations in Distance Education, a three-year effort funded by the AT&T Foundation. Over three years, we created a small community of faculty across disciplines to who created online courses for both distance education and resident instruction and who met regularly to discuss their experiences. The result was a publication through which the faculty laid out basic principles for teaching online. Similarly, the TLT group holds an annual symposium on online teaching that brings faculty together to share ideas. The Sloan Foundation also supported reflective research by faculty members who teach with the World Campus. In every case, the goal is to help faculty work as a community of scholars. It is an ongoing process. Dr. Saba: Dr. Miller: In this period of dramatic social change, the challenges to distance education are multiple. At one level, the challenge is for all of us to be able to achieve sustainable economies of scale—balancing continued innovation with excellent and affordable service. At another level, the challenge will be for those of us who work in traditional institutions to fully mainstream distance education so that we can better serve new populations of adult learners who need a broader array of learning opportunities. This is a time of transformation. Some institutions will transform themselves. New institutions (for profit or otherwise) will arise to help fill the need. We need to be open to multiple models, but we also need to recognize that the old models will not be sufficient for the future. Within institutions, some of the most important challenges will be to transform policies so that the institution can embrace not only the operational requirements of distance education but the needs of adult learners, m any of whom live far from campus and who who may never come to campus. There will also be challenges at the state and national level, especially in the area of financial aid and specialized accreditation. Dr. Saba: Dr. Miller: Dr. Saba: Dr. Gary E. Miller is Associate Vice President for Outreach at The Pennsylvania State University, where he serves as Executive Director of Penn State Continuing Education and the World Campus. Dr. Miller earned his doctorate of Education in Higher Education from Penn State, and is widely published in the areas of distance education policy and quality. He is the author of The Meaning of General Education: The Emergence of a Curricular Paradigm and numerous journal articles and book chapters on distance education.From 1987 to 1993, Dr. Miller served as Associate Vice President for Program Development and Executive Director of the International University Consortium at the University of Maryland University College. |
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Those were the issues I had taught and researched. Now we focus less on the technologies themselves and more on learning effectiveness. In addition, we have taken on more strategic, business and market planning projects, especially in higher education. 
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