Getting a degree online may become easier for Ohio State students. The board of trustees encouraged administration to continue expanding the distance education opportunities at their monthly meeting last Friday. The reality of earning a degree without entering the classroom is not too far away.
Dr. Bobby Moser, vice president of Agriculture and executive dean of the College of Agriculture, reported to the board what he thinks needs to be done in order to make distance education a valuable asset to OSU.
“What we need is a group of helps,” Moser said.
In order to make distance education work at OSU, Moser wants the university to pull together an organizational unit which provides the business, instructional design, technical support and student support services.
Moser said many of these services are already available throughout the university. The TELR/CIO office offers the instructional design and technical support for online classes. While the Continuing Education office provides student services, enrollment services, needs assessment and recruitment of students.
Moser wants these services pulled together and reorganized to develop a distance learning office with a market analysis plan to promote distance education.
The Board’s Outreach and Engagement committee discussed involving MBA students to help with the marketing strategy of this program.
Moser said there is no overarching OSU identity to distance education. This is something he thinks the program needs to become a cost benefit for the university.
“The best way to get started is to pick a course pack and start,” said David Brennan, chair for the board of trustees.
Moser said he has looked into expanding the availability of foreign language courses online. Most foreign language courses already use computers for teaching purposes, therefore, he thinks it looks promising for converting them into online courses.
“The integrity of the courses must come from the departments,” said Provost Ed Ray. He stresses that the university will want these classes to uphold the integrity of all Ohio State courses, and the individual departments that choose to offer online degrees and certificates will have to be held responsible for that integrity.
Giving each academic department this responsibility also gives them the flexibility to work with each individual course they offer. Moser does not want there to be a strict mandate on how all of the courses will run.
Committee chair Tami Longaberger, said the issue of online courses should focus more on the quality of learning than how the courses are taught.
“It takes a specific type of student to be dedicated to taking online courses and setting up their own time schedule for learning,” she said.
Six degree programs are now available online. The committee offered their support to Moser and his team to help expand the distance education opportunities available at OSU.
