The Center for Distributed Education - ECampus

International and Extended Studies San José State University


This information has been compiled to provide a more complete and accurate history of the growth in use of online resources to deliver instruction. Presently, the information compiled by the office of Institutional Planning and Resources (IPAR) underestimates actual numbers.

An Historical Perspective

In the summer of 1997 University Continuing Education received a grant from the Commission on the Extended University to design, develop and deliver a Master’s Degree in Science with an emphasis in Occupational Therapy. An instructional developer was hired to work with the OT faculty to create the program. It was determined from the inception of the program that the emphasis would be placed on pedagogy. Faculty chosen to teach in the program took an online class that taught instructional design principles of online learning. The goal for the faculty was to not only design an online course, but to experience what students would encounter in the e-learning environment. At the end of the course the faculty were to have designed an online course.

In the summer of 1998 the eCampus saw its first online class of 5 students followed in August by the first OT cohort of 18 students in two classes. Students from as far away of Boston, Massachusetts came to a 3-day orientation, which included a session on using “technology for learning.” Students from the first OT cohort graduated in Fall 2000. Currently OT is teaching it’s fifth online cohort of students.

eCampus was a self-support program funded by University Continuing Education during the initial phase. To continue the momentum created by the OT Masters, the eCampus mined the University for faculty to develop and deliver other online classes and programs. Institutional support to faculty was provided in the way of $1500 stipends for development. The eCampus continued to see growth. To deal with the increase a second instructional developer was hired to work with faculty. At the same time to better understand the phenomenon and provide the service necessary for growth in the larger university community, a university task force was formed. Recommendations concerning infrastructure and institutionalization of e-learning at SJSU were given to the Provost. The recommendations included the creation of the Center of Distributed (CDE), the selection of a university wide technology platform, and a structure of cooperation between the Center for Distributed Education, the Faculty Development Center, and the Academic Technology Group. This structure allowed the university to best utilize the institutional resources.

Fully On-line and Blended Classes; WebCT

In the early stages development focused on fully online classes in the self-support environment. However the desire of faculty to utilize technology for learning began to expand into the traditional state-support schedule in a “blended” format. This was seen as an opportunity to increase interaction between student, faculty and instructional resources.

The Center for Distributed Education, eCampus, took on this new challenge with support from the Academic Division. Institutional resources were provided for the selected platform, WebCT, and one of two positions. Technology reliability and motivated faculty increased the number to over 357 blended and totally online classes in 2003-2004. The number of students who have in engaged in technology enhanced learning in 2003-2004 reached 10,845.

The eCampus and the Center for Distributed Education have collected enrollment data since its inception. Each semester classes are totaled and enrollments counted from administrative lists maintained by CDE. IPAR also collects data. Their data is collected from the Student Administration section of Peoplesoft. That data is incomplete due to academic department schedulers not being able to identify classes in the correct instructional mode. As schedulers become more familiar with entering “instructional mode” into Peoplsoft, data discrepancy should diminish. The table and graph below below illustrate the significant growth over the years in the delivery of instruction online and the breadth of the engagement across campus.


SJSU eCampus


Academic Year 1999/00 2000/01 2001/02
2002/03
2003/04
        Online Blended/MM Total Online Blended/MM Total
Total Students 997 1507 2118 2697 2522 5219 2664 8181 10845
                   
State Support Courses 50 82 97 120 54 174 123 220 343
Self-Support Courses 45 50 82 14 0 14 14 0 14
Total Courses 95 132 179 134 54 188 137 220 357












 

 


cde2



The increase in use of technology for learning at SJSU is a direct reflection of the coordinated efforts of the CDE, Faculty Development Center and Academic Technology Group. It is evident that technology is having a positive effect in the way that teaching and learning is approached at SJSU.


CPR Report