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CCCCO Awards Five New CVU Centers
The California Community Colleges are charting a wired future with the added help of the five new California Virtual University Regional Centers announced in June by the Chancellor’s Office. They are: Foothill-De Anza College, Rio Hondo College, Coastline Community College, Cerro Coso Community College, and El Camino College. Each campus has been charged with empowering faculty and staff around the state with the skills and knowledge to use current technology in designing effective learning experiences as well as building distance learning environments that assist students in attaining high standards of competence. Region I An overall goal of the GBA Center is to aid faculty in efficiently converting courses to a more pedagogically sophisticated accessible online course than they would be able to produce without assistance. In addition, the Center will address the need to reduce duplication of effort and promote enhanced collaboration across institutions on course development, especially on common courses, advanced courses that have low enrollment, and courses that can be offered jointly by multiple campuses. Region II While the Rio Hondo Regional Center will benefit all associated campuses with the services provided by a Regional Center, the colleges that most need these services are the institutions just starting distance education programs. With these campuses, a Regional Center can provide expertise on campus infrastructure, start a technology plan, and greatly reduce the cost of developing curriculum by facilitating the utilization of existing learning objects and courseware. Colleges seeking growth of their online student services component will also benefit from Rio Hondo’s experience in the development of online counseling, registration, online library services, and an online bookstore. Region III Coastline Regional Center developers believe the technologies of the computer age hold a promise of improved educational design and delivery, emphasizing more student responsibility, independent learning skills, cognitive development, interaction, and greater content mastery than previously experienced. However, Project Director Ted Boehler notes that, “although online instruction has the potential for reaching large numbers of individuals, it will only be successful if colleges are able to offer high quality programs that provide collaborative learning, faculty and student interaction, and adequate attention to individual student needs.” He adds, "Making California community colleges more responsive to student needs through technology enhanced instruction will require a comprehensive approach that addresses system leadership, institutional supports, and faculty preparation." Region IV Recognizing the difficulty of providing assistance to such a diverse service area, and, in order to overcome the geographical challenges, the Project will establish two physical sites, one at American River in the north and the second at Cerro Coso in the south. Additionally, four sub-centers will be established at Victor Valley, Butte, Merced, and Allan Hancock Colleges. Each of the centers will act as a Lead Faculty Mentor College. The remaining 31 colleges in the region will be invited to select a project-funded faculty mentor. All mentors will receive training at the physical sites, and then be encouraged to transfer to the faculty on their home campuses. Seeing the Regional Centers as a long-term project, Paul Meyers, Project Director for the Center, believes the highest priority should be the development of a carefully planned and stable foundation built on previous experience and open to regular input and assessment. “During the development of Cerro Coso Online, we have encountered and resolved many problems related to the development of a virtual campus, including course development, student preparedness, faculty training and support, and online student services. We are excited about the opportunity to share our experiences with colleges within the Statewide/Rural Region and beyond,” says Meyers. Staff Development Center The first priority of the Statewide Center is the implementation of a Web site that makes it possible to access a centralized catalog of online courses and programs. As Statewide Center Program Director, much of Joseph Georges’ time has been spent focusing on this portion of the Project. He and his staff are committed to having the new site operational by the first week in August, in time for fall course listings. Beyond the initial Web site, a large portion of the Center’s effort will be in the creation of Web resource centers, to be called Distance Learning Initiative (DLI) Centers Many faculty in the same discipline, but at different institutions, may be unaware of each other’s accomplishments, interests, or progressive work on similar projects. The DLI Centers integrate online information about the technology available to support distance learning in specific fields, and will have examples of best practices statewide, as well as the training needed to allow a new user to select and make effective use of appropriate tools in a variety of specific disciplines. The DLI Centers will provide a directory of faculty, teaching or otherwise working in a specific field or discipline at California Community Colleges, and support individualized Web pages, listservs, Web-conferencing, and real-time chat, with the goal of encouraging the formation of associations and information sharing. "California’s Community Colleges have the opportunity to create a national model for faculty and staff development in distance education," says Joseph Georges. "Once the various Web sites are in operation, the Center plans to proceed with activities that involve training and professional develop of various kinds." "The Regional Centers represent an essential step in what will be a challenging and exciting process of linking new and emerging technologies with the goals of the State of California, our institutions of higher education and the constituencies we serve," notes Chief Deputy Chancellor Glee Johnson. "Each of the campuses chosen as a regional center is extra-ordinary in their own way, yet all have much in common. Every campus has a track record in distance learning, and brings their expertise together with essential consultation and support of resources found around their region." For more information on the CVU Centers, contact the following project directors:
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