UPFRONT: A model program of distance education collaboration in the UW System is being launched this semester

- The Collaborative Nursing Degree Program. This joint-venture of UW-Extension and the five UW Nursing Schools:
Green Bay, Oshkosh, Madison, Milwaukee and Eau Claire, when fully developed, will provide Registered Nurses in remote and rural regions of Wisconsin, the opportunity to work toward a bachelor's degree. It is designed to meet the needs of non-traditional students who lack access to a campus with a nursing program.


Interest has been strong for the first two spring classes: "Assessment," and "Theoretical Foundations." Instructional Communications Systems (ICS) is working closely with the instructors in both design and site arrangement for the various technologies that will be used: audiographics, compressed video and audioconferencing. To date, 10 sites have been designated for each course.

Two additional courses are being planned for fall semester of 1996.

An in-depth 'FOCUS' article on the program will appear in the April issue of DESIEN.

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designated for "Reply." You may also address your message to:

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_________________________________________________________________



DESIEN ISSUE FOCUS:

Distance Education Committee (DEC)

co-authors

Rosemary Lehman and Dana Nelson



DEC is a University of Wisconsin-Extension (UWEX) committee that provides leadership for the UW System in distance education and is composed of representatives from all UW institutions. The committee's focus is programmatically driven, with an emphasis on accessible, learner-centered education. DEC facilitates education partnerships, coalitions and strategic alliances.



BACKGROUND - UWEX has been an integral part of the growth of distance education over the years, working closely with representatives from each of the universities and centers and with representatives from the state's 72 counties.



In 1992, the rapidly changing educational environment prompted both Continuing Education Extension (CEE) and the systemwide Continuing Education Extension Committee (CEEC) to address future directions for distance education as part of their strategic planning effort. As a result, distance education was included as one of CEEC's eight key long-term goals.



In August of 1992, a Distance Education Task Force was appointed to develop a Distance Education Implementation Plan. The plan was completed in February of 1993 and DEC, consisting of university and center continuing education representatives, was created to implement the plan.



The Implementation Plan formed the framework for the primary focus of DEC: policy research, evaluation and recommendations to CEEC in the areas of: 1) program development, 2) faculty development, 3) student support, and 4) markets. Integral to the Implementation Plan were goals of developing: learner-centered programs; collaboration between UW institutions; expanded partnerships and strategic alliances with other educational systems, organizations and private sector providers; and access to existing and future distance education technologies by all UW institutions.



ACCOMPLISHMENTS - Some of DEC's major accomplishments include:



1. Development of the Distance Education Profile and Inventory in the UW System, which contains information about distance education throughout the system and a compilation of credit and non-credit courses offered by UW
institutions,


2. Development of a recommended uniform user rate for the UW compressed video system, that would be piloted for a two-year period,


3. Collaboration to utilize the Educational Teleconference Network (ETN) more effectively by developing a unified schedule, based on programmatic priorities,


4. Review and recommendations regarding the funding of distance education development proposals funded by CEE,


5. Initiation of a project to provide a listing of all distance education courses on a Gopher maintained by ICS, a listing also available on the World Wide Web,


6. Assisting the coordinators of the UW System/UW-Extension 1994 Distance Education Symposium, and



7. Surveying all DEC members on the scope and availability of student support services at individual campuses.





AT PRESENT - DEC is in the process of:

Reviewing and making recommendations regarding the funding of a new round of distance education proposals for this year's IIA,


Studying ways to reduce the amount of reporting that institutions must submit for course listings,


Thinking about series of programs for certification,


Identifying levels of equipment for use in compressed video production, recommending levels of cost, and


Developing a Student Support Handbook.



DEC's primary focus will be on collaborative program development. In addition, DEC will be proactive by examining issues of student support such as the Home Institution Registration Model and faculty development in the area of instructional and distance education technology.


In addition to campus-based representatives, DEC also includes representatives from: Cooperative Extension, Extension Communications, the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), the Higher Education
Location Program (HELP), Instructional Communications Systems (ICS), the Dean's Office of CEE and Independent Learning.



DEC is chaired by Dana Nelson, who has a joint appointment with UWEX and UW System Administration. Rosemary Lehman, Distance Education Specialist, ICS, UWEX is DEC's coordinator and liaison. A full listing of DEC members follows the newsletter.



CAMPUS UPDATES

(Please insert information about your institution's distance education

progress here)



UW CENTERS -
UW-EAU CLAIRE -
UW-GREEN BAY -
UW-LA CROSSE -
UW-MADISON -
UW-MILWAUKEE -
UW-OSHKOSH -
UW-PARKSIDE -
UW-PLATTEVILLE -
UW-RIVER FALLS -
UW-STEVENS POINT -
UW-STOUT -
UW-SUPERIOR -
UW-WHITEWATER -

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FROM THE DISTANCE EDUCATION CLEARINGHOUSE

NETNEWS

Michele Jacques



Distance Education Clearinghouse on the web at: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/home.html or gopher to the server:
gopher.uwex.edu for text-only version of the Clearinghouse


The archive of the DESIEN newsletter has now been created and has recently been added to the Distance Education Clearinghouse. You can find it specifically at: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/desien

In addition to information on how to subscribe, etc. all DESIEN issues, supplements, as well as the contributing messages from subscribers are archived at this address.



Online versions of both the Wisconsin ETN Program Request Form and the WisView Program Request Form are now on the web. You may use the online form to directly submit your program requests. The forms offer easy-to-use pull down menus, check boxes, and fill-in-the blank text areas.

Once you have completed the form, it will be automatically e-mailed directly to ETN and WisView. If your web browser does not support forms, there are alternative text versions available on the web as well as options for the
gopher version of the Distance Education Clearinghouse. Deadline for submitting ETN Program Requests is January 26, 1996. Deadline for WisView is March 1, 1996. The forms can be found at: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/forms/




A newly revised area of the Distance Education Clearinghouse is our section on Funding Resources and Grants. This section includes a large number of links which connect to foundations, sources of grant opportunities, U.S. Department of Education Technology Initiatives, NTIA, and many other resources. There are also links to specific grant opportunities which are posted as they are announced. The Funding Resources page is located at:
http://www.uwex.edu/disted/funding.html



As always, please be sure to send your comments, suggestions, and questions about the Clearinghouse to me. I can be reached at jacques@ics.uwex.edu or by phone at (608) 265-6178. Thanks.



Michele Jacques
Project Coordinator, WWW
Distance Education Clearinghouse
Instructional Communications Systems (ICS)
University of Wisconsin-Extension



FYI



WORKSHOP - Choose one of three sessions being offered: Session 5, February 5-March 24; Session 6, March 4-April 26; or Session 7, April 1-May 26. "Make the Link Workshop (World Wide Web -WWW- for Everyone)." This is an eight week distance learning workshop conducted entirely by e-mail. It introduces the beginner to the WWW , the Internet's distributed hypermedia information system, and enhances the skills of the somewhat more experienced user as well. The workshop will focus on how to gain maximum advantage from this simple to use, yet sophisticated tool. Workshop cost is $20. To sign up send an e-mail message to: majordomo@arlington.com and in the body of the message, include: subscribe links5, links6 or links7. This will automatically put you on the list to receive further information.



VIDEOCONFERENCE - February 22, 1996, 12:00 noon-3:00 pm CST.

"Electronic Visualization for Education and Professional Practice: Mississippi State University's Success Story." Mississippi State University's ground-breaking programs in electronic visualization cross traditional boundaries within educational institutions, providing a useful model for other colleges and universities seeking to expand their technological capabilities.

Contact PBS-ALSS 1-800-257-2578.



SPRING BROADCAST TELECOURSES - Twenty UW telecourses will be broadcast on Wisconsin Public Television this spring beginning January 21. Credit is offered by participating UW campuses and Wisconsin technical college districts. UW telecourses include: Basic Statistical Methods, Caring for Children, Caring for Infants and Toddlers, Destinos, Family Day Care, Multicultural Education, Serving Children with Special Health Care Needs in Schools, A Teacher's Guide to the Information Highway, Teachers Tackle Thinking and Young and Special. Contact Charlotte Bell, ECB, 608-264-9730.



CONFERENCE - April 11 and April 12, 1966, Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Association for Adult & Continuing Education (WAACE) and the Association for Continuing Higher Education, Region VI (ACHE) will hold a conference on the theme "Adult & Continuing Education: Creating Opportunities in Times of Change."



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MID-MARCH DESIEN ISSUE FOCUS: "The Educational Media Council (EMC)."



ENDNOTES: Call for Conference Sessions for the The 12th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning, August 7-9, 1966, Madison, Wisconsin. The conference theme is "Designing for Learning." Proposals are due March 1, 1996. Contact Nancy Kolberg, 608-265-4159.



Call for Presentations for the Wisconsin Educational Technology Conference (WETC), October 8-10, 1996, Green Bay, Wisconsin. Applications are welcomed for one-hour sessions and three-hour workshops and are due March 8, 1996.

Contact Ron Unmacht, 608-264-9689.

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DESIEN has been created to encourage information exchange and discussion of distance education issues concerned with: 1) Symposium team progress and institution course/program development, 2) faculty/team development, 3) technology, 4) policy, 5) funding, and 6) research among participants, presenters, and organizers of the 1994 UW-Extension/UW System Distance Education Symposium. Other List members are also welcome to join in for information contributions and discussion.



Each monthly issue will focus on an "area of interest," feature a regular column on the Distance Education Clearinghouse by Michele Jacques, contain an FYI section and list future areas of focus. Your continuous input through updates, features, questions and dialogue will be instrumental in helping DESIEN evolve and grow.



DESIEN is a one-year pilot project, September, 1995 to September, 1996 and will be evaluated at the end of that time. The coordinators of DESIEN are Rosemary Lehman and Pat Takemoto. The owner of DESIEN is Rosemary Lehman, lehman@ics.uwex.edu. Please contact Rosemary if you have concerns or problems.



ListServ: DESIEN-List@uwex.edu

Owner:lehman@ics.uwex.edu





DEC List



UW-Centers Mary Grant, Director UW Centers (Executive Committee)


UW-Eau Claire Debra King, NUR/Human Sciences & Services, Outreach (Executive Committee)


UW-Green Bay Robert Skorczewski, Assoc. Director Outreach & Extension (Executive Committee)


UW-LaCrosse Donald Campbell, Director Continuing Education & Extension


UW-Madison Steve Siehr, Outreach Specialist


UW-Milwaukee James Christensen, Distance Learning Director


UW-Oshkosh Billie Gauthier, Director Continuing Education & Extension


UW-Parkside Mark Marlaire, Director Continuing Education


UW-Platteville Ralph Curtis, Chancellor of Academic Affairs


UW-River Falls Judie Caflisch, Program Manager, Continuing Education & Extension


UW-Stevens Point Julie Hellweg, Director Continuing Education & Extension


UW System Dana Nelson, (DEC Chair), Academic Planner


UW-Stout Sandy White, Outreach Program Manager, Continuing Education/Extension


UW-Superior Ron Harshman, Continuing Education Extension


UW-Whitewater Kathy Gibbs, Continuing Education & Outreach


ICS, UWEX Marcia Baird, Director ICS


ICS, UWEX Rosemary Lehman, (DEC Coordinator & Liaison) Distance Education Specialist, ICS


Cooperative Extension Terry Gibson, Director of Program Support


HELP Program Kris McGrew, Director of HELP


CEE Holly Breitkreutz, Assis. Dean Continuing Education & Extension


Extension Communications Diane Kostecke, Administration Program Manager


SBDC Richard Schafer, Innovative Programs