Distance Education at Syracuse University

1
Distance Education at Syracuse Universitys
School of Information Studies

• Scott Nicholson, Ph.D., MLIS,
• Assistant Professor
• Syracuse University
• School of Information Studies

2
Overview

• Overview of DE at Syracuse
• The Limited Residency Model
• Blending Distance and Campus
• Passing on the Traditions
• Moving into the Future

3
A Brief Overview

• Started in 1993 as an MLS program
• 37 students via residency and e-mail
• Expanded to include Masters in Information
  Management (1996) and Masters in
  Telecommunications (1998)
• Current sizes
• 60 of LIS
• 20 of IRM Telecom
• Model of thirds

4
Residency and Pedagogy

• Residencies used when pedagogically appropriate
• Pedagogy Teaching assisting students through
  interaction and activity in the ongoing academic
  and social events of the classroom. (Center for
  Research on Education, Diversity Excellence,
  2002)
• We examine course content to determine residency
  needs

5
Importance of Residencies

• Small amounts of in-person contact are important
  for community
• Builds Syracuse identity
• Creates school-wide community
• Reduces fear
• Some course-based activities are better presented
  in person
• Orientation, Introduction
• Development of initial groups and classroom
  community
• Examination and use of physical items
• Person skills (interview)
• Residency experience are resource-intensive
• Difficulty Balancing Resources with Pedagogical
  Needs

6
Limited Residency Model

• Starts with 2-day Information and Information
  Environments course
• Taught by Dean and Program Directors
• All programs brought together
• Moves into 5-day separate introductory gateway
  courses
• Certain classes, when pedagogically appropriate,
  have 2-day residencies
• Originally allowed faculty to determine
• Currently is standardized by course content
• Role of Summer Institute on Leadership and Change

7
Non-Residency Experiences

• Asynchronous experiences
• Course delivery through WebCT
• Communication portal
• Static delivery through text
• Lectures, Readings
• Multimedia experiences
• Impatica
• Recorded video (prepared or from live)
• Interactive experiences
• Synchronous activities
• Chat, IM, telephone
• Special presentations
• Activities at special occasions
• Student Evaluations

8
Building a Community Scaffold (Woods and
Eberole, 2003)

• Technologies and techniques upon which social
  communication and community building can occur
• Implemented as infrastructure cuts across
  courses and connects students, alumni, and
  faculty/staff
• Relieves pressure on faculty, who can focus on
  course content

9
Community Scaffold Components

• Series of Discussion Lists
• Formal list for programs
• Informal list for students
• WebCT communities
• Syllabi and other non-course specific information
• Online Advising and Student Services
• Virtual ALA student group
• Alumni resources
• Develop and maintain community beyond school
• Importance of Community
• Requires administrative and staff support

10
Blending Distance and Campus

• Community Scaffold allows campus courses to take
  advantage of communication technologies
• Discussion boards
• Course delivery
• Group work support
• Scaffold allows campus/distance collaborations
• Shared course experiences
• Robust groups
• Raised awareness of SU culture

11
Passing on the Tradition

• Training new faculty and adjuncts
• WebCT course
• Includes facilitators, experienced instructors,
  and new instructors
• Uses combination of material, discussion and
  field trips
• Develops a cohort and mentor relationships
• Evaluations of new faculty and training
  experience
• Result New local and distance faculty know what
  to expect, who to contact, and feel part of the
  IST community
• Continued training and communication
• PhD student teaching practica

12
Exploration and Entrepreneurship

• Support and encouragement given to new ideas for
  DE delivery
• New ideas are evaluated and implemented
• Results presented to DE committee and faculty
• Culture supports exploration and good ideas are
  rapidly implemented

13
A Culture of DE Research

• Faculty continue to produce published research on
  DE
• Effectiveness of DE model (repeated)
• Virtual Hallway through IM
• Emergent Leaders in Group Work
• Community Scaffolding
• Use of Narrative in DE Pedagogy
• Global Collaborative Learning Platforms
• Socio-technical factors
• Developed and developing countries

14
Moving into the Future

• Extending our curriculum and sharing our
  expertise through the WISE program
• Continuous review of residencies and pedagogical
  needs
• Attempting to operationalize for analysis
• Further development and integration of community
  scaffold
• Evaluating effectiveness of methods and tools