ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 23, 1996 TAG: 9604230075
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAMES V. KOCH
IN LESS than two years, TELETECHNET, Old Dominion University's distance learning system, has become the largest in the United States. This year, almost 7,000 student registrations were recorded statewide in approximately 85 courses offered at about two dozen locations. Course registrations are expected to grow to 10,000 in 1996-97.
Why does TELETECHNET work so well? Because as The Washington Post put it, ``The paradigm shift that ODU has made is from a teaching institution to a learning institution. They are really trying to serve their customers.'' It serves students where they are and when they are available, and does so with cost efficiency while maintaining quality. All TELETECHNET courses and degree programs are identical to those on the home campus.
The Roanoke Valley accesses the TELETECHNET network on two sites - Virginia Western Community College and Ingersoll-Rand Corp. These institutions provide electronic classrooms and technological backup for the delivery of five bachelor's degree programs (four varieties of engineering technology and health services management). A master's degree in special education will begin in the fall. Statewide, 12 bachelor's degree and two master's degree programs are offered, with three new programs (accounting, management-information systems and computer engineering) to be added shortly.
Lack of available electronic classroom space, rather than cost, is the primary deterrent to offering additional degree programs at any site, all of which are delivered interactively by satellite transmission. Once classrom space is available, the cost of adding degree programs at a particular site is quite small, since every program is already being delivered statewide and needs only to be ``downloaded'' from the satellite in each community that desires it.
All academic programs offered via TELETECHNET are fully accredited, including those offered in engineering. Student satisfaction is extremely high; 95 percent of TELETECHNET students continue from one semester to the next. One reason, among many, is that TELETECHNET courses are ``budget priced'' for students whose average age is 34 and nearly all of whom are employed. TELETECHNET students pay about $75 per course less than students on Old Dominion's home campus in Norfolk because they are not assessed for student activities they cannot easily access.
What about the future?
* By 2000, about 20 bachelor's and a half-dozen master's degree programs will be offered, and 15,000 registrations are expected statewide.
* Two-way television will be extended from a few experimental sites to all sites statewide. Currently, students are able to see the professor, but not vice-versa. This innovation will enable both to see each other, as well as permit students in every location to see each other and interact.
* Many more business sites (such as Ingersoll-Rand) will join the network, and the network will be used more often for other purposes such as statewide teleconferencing.
* TELETECHNET will be delivered to individual homes. Within a year, Old Dominion will transmit nationally its first interactive degree program (accounting) to homes that are equipped with interactive technology, which is rapidly becoming cost effective.
* Courses also will be transmitted to ships at sea, to military bases, and to a variety of other sites, including the State Library in Richmond.
TELETECHNET is not for everyone. But for an increasingly large segment of placebound working Virginians who must watch their dollars, it is their best alternative. It is an essential component of the evolving university of the 21st century.
James V. Koch is president of Old Dominion University in Norfolk.
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