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Volume 3 Issue 6June 1999

CVU Centers Drive Distance Education Into the Future

Debbie Olson
Specialist, CCCCO

Future trends can be anticipated to some degree, but policies and programs seldom lead or even keep up with change, especially where technology is concerned. One exception, however, might just be in our own backyard.

By the end of the June, four California Community College (CCC) Virtual University Regional Centers and one Statewide Staff Development Center will have been selected to receive grants totaling $2.9 million in state funds and will be well on the way to becoming a reality.

These Centers were developed as an infrastructure to expand technology-mediated instruction and for use as a campus networking system to provide access and training for students. The four Regional Centers will provide support and direction in the development of "virtual" course offerings and the Statewide Center will be dedicated specifically to staff development, training, and maintaining an interactive catalog of distance learning offerings on the Web.
"The Centers are an integral part of meeting the realities of current demands and the possibilities of future opportunities," said Bobbie Juzek, Dean of Systems Advancement and Resource Development and the individual tasked with the oversight of the Centers.

Each Regional Center will promote distance learning efforts within its region and share information and expertise with other campuses and Centers. The ultimate goal behind the Centers is to make it possible to do the job of educating much more imaginatively and efficiently with this new collaboration and commitment. Emphasis will be on shared resources and development whenever possible, in order to avoid duplicating efforts.

As one of the grant applicants states: "The greatest risk to the CCC expansion would be for institutions to continue their separate paths to development and delivery of online courses, thereby producing content that is more costly and less superior than that which could have been created through collaboration. The Regional Center needs to place its highest priorities on getting colleges to work together to address problems." Adds Juzek, "If distance learning is a driving force, then the Regional Centers are the engine for educational mobility."

Contact:
Bobbie Juzek
916-323-5863
bjuzek@cc1.cccco.edu

Paul Stark
916-324-8902
pstark@cc1.cccco.edu