Forging Effective ALN Relationships With Corporate Partners

Dr. David Sachs
Assistant Dean, CSIS
Pace University
White Plains, New York
dsachs@pace.edu

Pace University and ALN Course Development

• Brief Background
  • School of Computer Science and Information Systems has been developing ALN courses since 1995

  • Three Sloan Grants; 1995, 1996 and 1998

  • Concern for course quality

  • Concern for technology required of students

  • Concern for interactivity of students with instructors, other students and materials

Methodologies Used To Date

ALN Methodologies

Verification: SLA Survey - Spring, 1998

• browsers
• modems
• sound cards
• CD-ROMs

Verification - GVU Survey April, 1998

GVU Ninth User Survey - Technology Demographics

Sample Courses - 7 Keys & CS636

• Typify ALN methodology used to date

• Non-credit and credit bearing courses

• Interactive use of Web topics and sub-topics, videotape, E-mail, textbook,discussion group, and homework

• 7 Keys To Effective Web Sites

• CS636 - Digital Telephony and Switching

Corporate Partnerships

• IBM - primarily telecommunications non-credit courses

• Special Libraries Association - primarily Internet-related courses

• NACTEL Partnership (GTE, US West, SBC, Bell Atlantic, CWA, and IBEW)

  - AS in Telecommunications degree and Web site

A Brief Word About Interaction

Moore and Kearsley (1996) describe three kinds of interaction found in distance-education programs:

• learner-content interaction
  (text, video, Web materials)

• learner-instructor interaction
  (feedback on assignments, responses to questions, quizzes, suggestions, encouragement, motivation)

• learner-learner interaction
  (E-mail, postings to WebBoard discussion group, work in teams, chat rooms)

Lessons Learned From Collaborations

• Collaborations can offer wonderful opportunities

• Collaborations take lots of time, energy, and $

• Collaborations provide meaningful ways to provide ALN education - courses are created and taught in a "just-in-time" fashion with real-world, immediate feedback

• Collaborations require sensitivity (technical issues, personnel issues, timing issues, registration issues, etc.)

• Collaborations provide opportunities that are otherwise unavailable ("inside the firewall" marketing, promotion, and encouragement to students)

Implications for the Future

• Pace University will continue to seek corporate collaborations for ALN courses

• Collaborations will have to be carefully evaluated regarding how they "fit" with the ALN capabilities of the University

• We are highly optimistic!

Questions/Comments

• What have we learned ?

• What were the surprises?

• New skills for faculty & students

• Continued focus on increasing interactivity

This presentation may be found at:

http://csis.pace.edu/~dsachs/aln