Distance Education at UMUC (University of Maryland University College) Ioan Jurca “Politehnica” University of Timisoara-Romania

Contents ● Context – about UMUC and Distance Education at UMUC ● Online courses at UMUC – general features ● What an instructor has to do ? ● What a student must do? ● Pros/cons ● Conclusions

UMUC and Distance Education ● UMUC – part of University of Maryland University System ● UMUC – created in 1947 as an institution for US army (adult education) ● Operates in US, Europe(incl. SCG and BiH), Asia ● Teaches both F2F and online ● 'Worldwide leader in online education', ● Covers many fields, from Accounting and Computer Science to Fire Fighting and Anthropology

UMUC and Distance Education ● Offers degrees and certificates ● Degrees: bachelor, master, doctoral ● Certificates: more 'mobile', market-oriented ● Not all courses are offered online ● Uses mainly 'adjunct faculty', i.e instructors employed on temporary basis (contracts for each 'section') ● There is a limit of classes per fiscal year for each instructor

UMUC and Distance Education ● Computer studies particularly appropriate for online education ● Undergraduate programs in computers: CMIS, CMIT, CMSC, CMST, IFSM ● Graduate programs in computers: CSMN, ITSM, MSIT, MSWE, OMDE ● Romanian involvement: since 2000 (boom of enrollment, lack of instructors, US ambassador to Romania in UM board of directors) ● I am involved in the undergraduate CMIS program

Characteristics of UMUC online courses ● An online course consists of: – Modules: text with diagrams summarizing the course contents (common for a UMUC course, not created by each instructor) – Webliography- supplementary reading online material – Homeworks/assignments/projects – Conferences – for discussing assignments and other topics – Chat room for students and instructor/TA – Textbook and 'recommended book(s)'

Characteristics of UMUC online courses

Role of the instructor ● Specifies course schedule ● Specifies grading criteria (assignments up to 60 % of final grade) ● Creates assignments ● Specifies conference discussion topics ● Answers student questions on assignments and module material NLT 48 hours ● Creates exams papers for midterm and final exam ● Grades assignments and exams

Student involvement ● Satisfy course pre-requisites ● Participate in all activities of the course (each activity counts in the final grade) ● Study the textbook and the modules ;-((( ● Turn in (on time) assignments and exams ● Help classmates without giving away complete solutions ● Express opinion on the course and the instructor

Pros and cons ● Pros – Time and space flexibility both for students and instructor – Potential access to best teaching materials and or instructors – Encourages/facilitates more involvement of students – Develops 'virtual communities' – Create cross-cultural links

Pros and cons ● Cons: – No face-to-face interaction instructor/student – No 'real time' answers to questions (unless on chat – time differences on the globe) – Difficult to control cheating – Limited multimedia – Congestion periods on the servers – Course materials might become obsolete – Final exams 'travel' around the globe -> late grading

Conclusions ● DE online is a viable alternative form of education ● Increased bandwidth might overcome the multimedia limitations ● DE is not for everybody – some students cannot adapt to DE ● DE requires more effort from instructors ● Problems of internationalization