CHARGE
ACUE/SENATE WORKGROUP ON ACADEMIC ISSUES IN ONLINE EDUCATION
(Committee charged on September 14, 2006)
The growth of Penn State courses and programs offered through new media, non-resident instructional delivery, and other initiatives provide important opportunities to share discovery and learning among a broad audience. As with traditional academic courses and campus-based instruction, delivery innovation begins with faculty academic expertise and relies on the ultimate oversight of deans and chancellors. The certification of course quality, including the selection of appropriately experienced and credentialed instructors, the level of curriculum, the effectiveness of courses, the contribution of courses to principles of portability and program alignment, and with deference to teaching and research innovation and to academic freedom, even the instructional methods selected are each ultimately shared responsibilities of faculty, chancellors and deans, and the University’s senior administration.
Do new course and program delivery opportunities also have the potential to raise new academic issues for those charged with oversight responsibility and/or authority? If so, do these issues suggest the need for new or revised University Senate, ACUE, or local practices and procedures relative to academic quality?
On behalf of ACUE and the University Senate, we are asking you to take part in a small work group with representatives of ACUE and The Senate. The charge is to quickly identify and frame the academic issues that are raised by the delivery of Penn State courses and degree programs outside of campus based resident instruction. The work group is urged to consult widely with university colleagues, including those who may work with World Campus, Continuing Education, and the delivery of courses that are primarily information technology-based.
The work ground need not and should not consider infrastructure issues involving cost and profit distribution or technological support. These issues already are in the portfolio of an existing university committee. Nor should the work group propose new policies or procedures. These outcomes, if necessary, will be assigned later to appropriate Senate and academic administration bodies, based on a careful consideration of your report. Nonetheless, ideas and suggestions for solutions as they relate to the issues identified are encouraged.
David Christiansen, ACUE Chair, and Dawn Blasko, Senate Chair Elect, have agreed to serve as co-facilitators of this ad hoc work group. The group should plan to report its findings by November 3, 2006.
Membership:
ACUE - David Christiansen, Nancy Herron, Jack Selzer
Senate - Dawn Blasko, Chris Falzone, Greg Ziegler |
