VWSU is an initiative of WSU that provides the necessary resources to allow faculty to explore and select the most appropriate technologies to offer all or part of a degree or certificate program in a learner-centered asynchronous format to enhance learning and improve student outcomes.

VWSU is a central element of WSU's strategy to sustain its traditional role and address the triple challenge of continuously improving quality, providing access, and containing costs in face of the increasing number of high school graduates during the next 10-15 years, and rising demand by returning and place bound students.

VWSU will allow the university to enhance learning and improve student outcomes while increasing access by:

1. Optimizing the utilization of campus based physical facilities by enrolling residential students in asynchronous courses.
   
2. Expanding the reach of the geographically dispersed branch campuses and learning centers to address the needs of place bound students.
   
3. Enrolling students pursuing degrees or certificates at living-learning spaces off campus.

The VWSU courses will have several critical characteristics including:

• Quality: Curriculum reengineering, learning systems design and comprehensive assessment activities associated with the development of VWSU courses will enhance learning and improve student outcomes.
  
• Availability: The VWSU courses are available to students when they want them and wherever they want them.
  
• Reliability: Delivery of course content is consistent from one topic to the next, between instructors and independent of time.
  
• Price: Students may be able to complete degree requirements at a lower cost. Asynchronous learning allows learners to have a job while completing a degree and avoid the costs associated with moving to campus.

Course Conversion

The responsibility for course conversion rests in the academic units.

The development of the learning systems is based on sound educational foundations. Curricular re-engineering is the essential first step in the content conversion process. Instructional materials are designed to support learner-centered strategies. Assessment plans are developed to assure attainment of identified educational outcomes.

Curricular Reengineering:

All courses targeted for content conversion will be first subjected to curricular renewal/reengineering to identify desired educational outcomes and design instructional strategies to achieve these outcomes.

Faculty who successfully complete the process of curricular renewal of their own courses will serve as resource for other faculty embarking on reengineering of their curriculum.

Instructional Design:

Careful design of instructional material will be essential for successful content conversion. Instructional materials should be designed to support learner-centered strategies. Features of learner-centered instructional programs are listed in Appendix 3. The staff of the Center for Teaching and Learning will assist faculty in the process of instructional design.

Acquisition of Instructional Materials:

Where possible and appropriate instructional materials will be acquired from commercial sources, otherwise, instructional materials will be developed by colleges and departments. Several colleges have established their own instructional technologies units. These units are currently involved in content conversion to stage 1 and stage 2 instructional materials in support of their faculty as well as meeting the needs of faculty from other units on a fee-for-service basis. This market driven decentralized strategy appears to be serving the university well.

Assessment:

An assessment plan will be developed at two levels. At one level, an assessment plan will be developed to determine if desired educational outcomes have been achieved by utilizing the technology-based instructional strategies. The instructional strategies will be refined to ascertain that the desired educational outcomes are being achieved.
A second level of the assessment plan will compare technology based learner-centered educational strategies to traditional methods.

The assessment plans will be developed and implemented by assessment experts at the Center for Teaching and Learning.

Skill Transfer Plan:

Several strategies will be utilized to provide a cadre of faculty with the necessary skills to successfully complete conversion from instructor-centered synchronous to learner-centered asynchronous format. The Teaching and Learning Center as well as the office of the Vice Provost for Learning and Technology will have primary responsibility for planning and implementing the skills transfer activities. The strategies for skills transfer will include:

1. General purpose workshops to provide novices with an overview of learning systems design and production. The workshops will serve as the springboard for interested faculty to begin the content conversion process.
   
2. Workshops on specific aspects of learning systems design and production. These are intended for individuals who have completed the planning and are beginning the implementation of the content conversion process.
   
3. Tools training programs and certification process to advance faculty knowledge of available tools for courseware authoring, computer based testing and monitoring student progress.
   
4. Applications training programs to enhance faculty competence in the use of available tools for technology-enhanced learning.
   
5. Consultation on one-to-one basis to address individual needs of faculty.
   
6. Special interest groups (SIGS) to provide support and peer learning.
   
7. Mentoring program to establish a link between individuals who have successfully completed content conversion process and others who are about to begin the process.
   
8. Quality circles to continuously review and evaluate the learning systems design, production process, and the quality of products.
   
9. Conferences to communicate best practices.

Content Conversion Plan:

Conversion of courses from instructor-centered synchronous format to learner-centered asynchronous format will require additional resources. To optimize the use of limited resources available to the University, content conversion will be focused and targeted at one of three groups of courses:

1. Clusters of upper division courses that fulfill all or most of the requirements of a degree program.
2. Clusters of courses that meet the needs of re-education of non-traditional and returning students not seeking a degree.
3. High enrollment lower division courses.

Deans and department chairs will identify courses that fall within the above groups and have high potential for success. Criteria for the selection of degree programs will include.

• Demand for degree
• Appropriateness of content
• Degree of readiness of faculty
• Quality and reputation of program

Selection of the lower division courses will be based on:

• Enrollment
• Appropriateness of content
• Degree of readiness of faculty

Several professional and graduate degree programs have high potential for success and will be selected for content conversion.

Derived from: C10.0841

Several other sites exist exploring VWSU and the issues of Virtual Education. This plan has been prepared by the University administration and been presented to the University's Board of Regents. While there are differing views and ideas surrounding the accomplishment of these goals, the University is united in its commitment to improve learning.

To White Paper on Asynchronous Learning.

To White Paper on Temporary Systems.

To WSU Strategic Plan.

http://www.wsu.edu/vwsu/orientation.html

11/15/96