[AG-TECH] Distant Education Funding Models

[Darren Condon]

Hi John,
 
AMSI/ICE-EM (http://www.ice-em.org.au/AGR/) have government funding to
assist with the establishment of Access grid rooms in mathematics
departments throughout Australia. I think the funding covers about 16
rooms, of which 3 (La Trobe, Wollongong and Uni. South Australia) have
been up and running from the second half of last year. Another 5-6 rooms
should be running by the second semester this year.
 
The plan is that departments will share an honours year subject or 2
over the grid each semester and students from any of the universities
will be able to sit in on them. A list of current offerings can be seen
here: http://www.ice-em.org.au/AGR/subjects_and_courses.html
 
La Trobe has put on a couple of subjects so far, and we've had a few
students from Wollongong sit in on them. The feedback has been very
positive (except for one local student who saw the technology as a
distraction from the "real beauty of the mathematics"). Since the
numbers involved have been low to this point, we have not bothered with
the funding side of things although this may change in the future. La
Trobe hosted a "workshop" in December last year where academic
representatives from the various universities got together and discussed
funding models, subject prerequisites, misconduct, complaint procedures
etc. It seems no conclusion was drawn on the funding side of things, but
some of the other policies that were decided can be view at
http://www.ice-em.org.au/AGR/assets/Documentation/AGR_Teaching_Pol.pdf
 
I think the academics have seen teaching over the grid and a little
extra marking as quite minor inconveniences when compared to the gains
for our students. We have the same problem mentioned by your staff in
that the enrolments at honours year are quite low, and we don't have the
resources to teach a large variety of subjects at that level. With the
roll out of these AG rooms, our students may eventually have 20+
subjects to choose from, instead of the 4-5 they currently get.
 
Another initiative (unrelated to the AG) put in place by ICE-EM/AMSI is
a summer school (http://www.ice-em.org.au/students.html#summer). This is
hosted at different locations around the country each year, and
honours/postgraduate students can give up part of their holidays to do a
subject compressed into the month before our actual teaching semester
starts. From what I hear, this has been a huge success. The students
attend all the lectures in 2 weeks and then get 2-4 weeks to work on
assignments etc. While it is hard work for both the students and
lecturers there are plenty of rewards. The staff get to teach to a much
larger class than they traditionally would, and the students enjoy
learning from new lecturers and meeting students from other
universities. They also all get to lessen their workload during the
normal semester.
 
I tend to think that a lot of this would not be possible without an
organization external to the universities driving it all and obtaining
government funding. Faculty staff simply don't have the time or energy
required.
 
Given that the funding side of things is still being "wrestled" with
here, we would also like to hear any recommendations/success stories.
 
 
Regards,
Darren.
 
Darren Condon
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
La Trobe University, Victoria 3086, Australia.
Phone: +613 9479 1459


________________________________

From: owner-ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov [mailto:owner-ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov] On
Behalf Of john langkals
Sent: Thursday, 3 May 2007 12:08 AM
To: 'ag-tech'
Subject: [AG-TECH] Distant Education Funding Models



I am looking for any input from the Access Grid community concerning
distant education funding models.  **It's a little late, but I would
like to suggest a broader topic as motivation for the Access Grid
Retreat: AG Distant Education Funding Models.

 

The interest has been generated at other universities to have their
students possibly 'take' some of our advanced courses, IF we can come up
with a funding model that works.  We have the technology and expertise
in house to do this, but don't know how to handle the funding mechanics.

 

Within various departments, faculty complains of not enough grad
students to justify teaching their favorite seminars.  It's suggested
that they investigate spreading the opportunity around by investigating
whether we could 'share' students among a number of universities, with
instruction shared among the faculty.  

 

What do you do at your respective institutions?  Are there any success
stories to share? 

 

Thank you,

 

John 

 

John Langkals

Systems Manager

Ohio Center for Technology and Science

Columbus, Ohio 43210

614.292.6957 Office

614.327.3732 Cell

614.292.7557 FAX

www.octs.osu.edu

 

 

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