Kirwan emphasizes community-building

President addresses symposium at SUNY, Stony Brook

Lack of community -- not hate, intolerance or guns -- is the root problem schools must address if they are to end violence, President Kirwan told educators during a speech Feb. 15 at the State University of New York, Stony Brook.

"Students are crying out for community in our schools today," Kirwan said. "Building that community is difficult, time-intensive work in this age of isolation and cynicism. But at Ohio State we have seen that if we build positive, supportive structures for community, our students will join in wholeheartedly."

Kirwan, a featured speaker at Stony Brook's Student-Community Wellness Leadership Symposium, used two Ohio State programs -- a living-learning center and community redevelopment -- to illustrate his point.

Ohio State is home to two of the country's top experts on school violence -- Fred Bemak and Antoinette Errante. Bemak, professor of physical activity and educational services in the College of Education, has organized successful programs for at-risk youth at several high schools across the country. Last fall, he started working with some of a Columbus inner-city high school's most marginalized, isolated students. He sat down with them in a group just to talk about what's going on in their lives, and to give them a safe and supportive place to hang out.

"Today, these kids -- who were the most isolated -- now feel like they're part of the school community. Their grades are even on the rise," Kirwan said.

Translating such a program of personal attention to the population of a "good-sized city" of about 50,000 students on an urban campus can be difficult, but not impossible, Kirwan said. "Our challenge has been to make the University seem smaller while keeping all of its resources accessible to all students."

For several years, Ohio State has sought to build community living-learning environments, where students who have similar academic or cultural interests live in the same residence hall. He told the group about the pilot Mount Leadership Society, the first of four Scholars Programs expected to be active at OSU next academic year. "Since September, this group has been living together, participating in special programs together, taking special classes together, and even doing community projects together," Kirwan said. "The results have been stunning. We've just been overwhelmed at how well the program has created a powerful sense of community. This is just the kind of environment where students can thrive, and where the seeds of isolation, alienation and violence will not sprout."

But building community among students alone solves only half the problem, Kirwan said. "There's no pretending we can be an island of peace and tranquility rising above the outside sea of violence and moral corruption. We can succeed completely only when we also forge a partnership with the community at large," he said.

Kirwan told symposium participants about Campus Partners, noting that the community redevelopment initiative is Ohio State's answer to forging stronger ties between the University and its surrounding neighbors. "Our goal for Campus Partners is nothing short of having it be seen as the model for how a university can draw upon its considerable expertise and resources, work in partnership with the larger community, revitalize a decaying urban district and build a stronger, more caring community," Kirwan said. "And when we as individuals pool together in caring communities, that power can be limitless."

University meets distance education challenge head-on

As part of its quest for academic excellence, Ohio State is committing itself to increasing the use of Web-based courses and distance learning.

Steve Acker, acting director of Technology Enhanced Learning and Research (TELR), said the University now has 44 credit-bearing Web- and video-based courses and an additional 50 noncredit or continuing education courses.

"Our goal is to have 200 distance education courses by the end of spring quarter of next year," Acker said. "To help us accomplish that, we're investing $500,000 in eight strategic areas."

Those areas are: courses with strong external market potential, University preparatory courses, General Education Curriculum courses, chronically closed courses, courseware for the international market, outreach and engagement courses, professional advancement and workplace readiness courses.

Last July, 22 faculty members were awarded Courseware Development Grants totaling $224,000 to support creation or enhancement of distance education courses. Matching college funds brought the total to just under $500,000.

This year, those grants will be offered again (see accompanying box, page 8), but with double the funding, Acker said. These grants, to be awarded in amounts between $5,000 and $25,000, must be targeted to specific credit-bearing or noncredit-bearing OSU courses in one of the eight strategic categories. A college match is required.

TELR also has a Technology in Instruction Program with funding geared toward introducing technology into academic programs, which does not have a specific distance education focus, Acker said.

And distance learning is becoming an important area for outside grants, according to Edward J. Ray, executive vice president and provost. He cited recent grants of $464,000 to the College of the Arts and $274,000 to Outreach and Engagement.

The available funding is making faculty take notice.

"There are a huge number of faculty who are interested in introducing technology into their courses," Acker said. "They are just looking for the support and time to take advantage of the opportunity."

In fact, a Jan. 20 conference, "The TELR Way: Distance Education from Start to Finish," attracted a standing-room-only crowd of more than 140 faculty members. The response was so overwhelming that TELR posted a video clip on the Web of the keynote presentation made by Ray on the future of technology-enhanced education at Ohio State. The streaming video can be accessed at http://dlop1.uts.ohio-state.edu:7070/ramgen/media/telr/telr1-00a.rm. RealMedia plug-in is needed to view this talk.

In his presentation, Ray mentioned the Ohio Learning Network, a consortium of colleges and universities in Ohio, and its new project, OhioLEARNS!, an online catalog of more than 600 distance education courses offered at Ohio's colleges and universities (www.ohiolearns.org).

Ray said the catalog shows Ohio State is lagging behind some other Ohio colleges and universities when it comes to distance education. He said that is attributable to limited resources, hands-on courses that are difficult to adapt to the Web, and the fact that the share of nontraditional students among Ohio State's 54,000 students, while expanding, "has not been the heart of our market."

"However, anytime/anywhere learning is an important trend that is moving forward quickly, and we need to be at the leading edge of that trend," Ray said.

He also said one of the difficulties for faculty is that teaching an online course for the first time can take up to twice as much time as a traditional course.

"The good news is Steve Acker says by the third time you offer an online course, the time commitment is about equal to a traditional course," Ray said.

Acker said the challenge is for the University to provide incentives to encourage faculty and colleges to develop and launch new Web-based courses.

Recently, the Deans' Technology Learning Committee formed a task force on distance education to study faculty incentives, said Alan Escovitz, director of external affairs for enhanced learning and research in the Office of the Chief Information Officer.

The task force will examine an array of student and faculty issues related to distance education. Draft recommendations will be proposed for class sizes, faculty workload, online testing, technical support and infrastructure, and pedagogical training needed to achieve a quality learning experience, said Escovitz, also a committee member.

He said the task force expects to have a set of draft recommendations ready to submit to the dean's committee by the end of spring quarter, which will eventually be forwarded to the Office of Academic Affairs.

To join the discussion on the issue of faculty incentives for distance education, visit the TELR Web site and join the forum on this topic at http://telr.ohio-state.edu/forums.

Web-based courses a hit with faculty

Early reviews from faculty who have created Web-based courses at Ohio State indicate they favor the increased teaching efficiency and flexibility, and applaud the technology support they receive from the University.

"Using the Web is an extremely powerful teaching technique," said John Lippold, professor of welding engineering.

Lippold is currently teaching Welding 715: "Understanding & Controlling Defects in Welds," a senior and graduate-level course, to registered on-campus students. By putting lectures on the Web, he said he is able to use classroom time to answer students' questions and work through problems.

He taught the course during spring and summer quarters in two different variations: a combined classroom/distance education format in spring and a home-study approach during the summer. In each case, he said students surveyed after the quarter preferred these methods to traditional classroom instruction.

Janet Box-Steffensmeier, associate professor of political science, created and taught Political Science 367 -- a writing course for undergraduates -- during autumn quarter. She said she likes the flexibility of Web-based courses.

"I'm not required to be in a classroom lecturing for two hours," Box-Steffensmeier said. "Also, it caters to students who have special needs, whether they have disabilities or are busy with jobs or family."

She said one of those taking her distance education class was an Ohio State student who was transferred to Arizona through his job before he could complete the only three courses required to graduate.

And faculty don't have to be computer whizzes to create Web-based courses. Technology support is available from two departments within the Office of the Chief Information Officer -- Technology Enhanced Learning and Research (TELR) and University Technology Services (UTS).

Nancy O'Hanlon, assistant professor in University Libraries, developed and taught a one-credit course, Internet Tools and Research Technologies, in partnership with University College. Although she has experience with Web-based teaching, she said staff from TELR and UTS were instrumental in getting the Web course off the ground. She is using Course Sorcerer software developed by UTS, which manages student access to assignments and grades them automatically.

Lippold also relied on technology support from UTS.

"If I had not had the support of UTS, there is no way I would have put together a Web class," he said.

To get her course running, Box-Steffensmeier enlisted the technical services of graduate student Bill Anderson, who was paid through the TELR grant she received in July.

Additionally, faculty who need help building Web sites or adding technology to courses can sign up for a TELR Internship Program that matches technology-savvy undergraduates with faculty course development needs. Interns are schooled in the software necessary to create a Web-based course, such as Web CT, Microsoft Front Page and Photoshop. For more information, visit the TELR Web site at http://telr.ohio-state.edu.

While some may shy away from creating a Web-based course out of fear it will consume valuable time, those interviewed said the workload is similar to a traditional course -- though they did note that substantial start-up preparation is required.

Box-Steffensmeier said it took about six weeks of solid work to get the course together. "It was almost a relief when the quarter started," she said.

Lippold said, "It was surprisingly less work than I thought," adding that UTS lightened his workload considerably by designing the Web site and posting coursework on the Web.

Steve Acker, acting director of TELR, said drop-out rates in distance education courses are high if students feel they have no support, such as e-mail, chat rooms and online discussion groups. Successful distance education courses combine convenience with a sense of community, he added.

"People want to feel they are a part of a class," Acker said. "So the ones that do work are the ones that have ways for the students to communicate with each other and talk about what they are learning and ask questions."

But that communication can eat up a lot of time. With 175 students enrolled in her class this quarter, O'Hanlon said keeping track of student progress and answering student e-mail is time-consuming.

"You will spend more time responding to inquiries, but you can control when you will respond," she said.

Opinions varied when it comes to interacting with students. Box-Steffensmeier said that when she teaches in a classroom, she sees a "sea of students."

"The opportunity for interaction is there, but it doesn't happen," she said.

Students who are shy in a large classroom setting are more likely to open up and converse via e-mail or telephone, Box-Steffensmeier said. She said she got to know her distance education students better -- and some even posted photos of themselves or their families.

O'Hanlon agreed that students are more comfortable communicating questions via e-mail, but Lippold said student interaction with a Web-based course takes a little getting used to.

"Your communication is strictly electronic," he said. "You don't build the same type of relationship as if you taught in a classroom."

However, he said the advantages are hard to overlook. Lippold said students like Web-based courses because they have access to all the course information.

"If you're a student and attend a lecture, you maybe scribble down two-thirds of the lecture and it's gone," he said. "In a Web course, you can go back over it again and again."

And if students miss a lecture, he added, they can catch it on the Web instead of relying on the accuracy of a fellow student's notes.

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