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Winter
2001 Volume 3, Number 2
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Mainstreaming
the World Campus
In the process of building the World Campus, Penn State’s leadership has emphasized that technology-enabled programs should not be considered separate or distinct from other, similar University offerings. From its inception, the World Campus has placed a high priority on building policies and processes that can ensure its integration in and connection to the life and needs of the University as a whole. Such an aim demands that students enjoy a similar range of experiences and services in the World Campus as at any other campus location and that faculty may expect to follow the same set of administrative procedures in the World Campus as in any other location. Built on the established infrastructure of Penn State’s 108-year-old distance education program, the World Campus has already made significant strides toward integration in these areas. From library access to collaborative course delivery, technology-supported World Campus processes have both connected to and expanded University offerings. In the Penn State University Libraries, for example, the mainstream has been moving toward remote access for years. According to Jack Sulzer, associate dean for Campus College Libraries, the majority of library patrons are already distant or remote users. They often do most of their research from a computer off-site, then enter the library at a later stage to obtain materials not available on-line. As a result, library administrators have devoted more resources to increased access and shifted the emphasis within the collection both to building a strong research collection and to building access to those materials through a variety of delivery services. “Today,” Sulzer noted, "anyone in the world can access LIAS, the University’s on-line library gateway. For access to certain databases, you must have a Penn State ID and Access Account and be registered with the library, but LIAS is 80 percent available to anyone and soon will have a more effective user authentication mechanism that will provide even greater compatibility worldwide. We are trying to make as many of our resources and services available electronically to remote users as we possibly can.” As a result of this policy, many World Campus library services simply use existing on-line offerings for all Penn State faculty and students. Examples of such services include remote electronic access to the library catalog, hundreds of subject databases and thousands of full-text resources. In addition, Ask a Librarian services allow any Penn State library user to submit electronic questions to subject-specific reference librarians. Users may contact the reference specialists as questions arise, even after regular business hours, and receive answers via e-mail at a later time. Many of these subject librarians are also compiling pages of Web resources on Web sites accessible to all library users around the world. The Business Library and Social Sciences Library are two of the most extensive of these specialized Web sites. Loanne Snavely, head of instructional programs for the University Libraries, noted that many library instruction resources have been moved on-line, as well. Information Literacy and You Web modules provide anytime, anywhere individual instruction to students learning to conduct research. A number of other on-line tutorials are also available. Users who want remote access to library materials will find several services available. The Electronic Course Reserves offer on-line images of reserve readings for any Penn State courses. Sulzer added that any professor may use the library’s electronic reserves to avoid the need for course packets and may use library resources to secure copyright approval to reserve materials, but the service is especially useful for World Campus offerings. Along with many full-text article databases, two on-line services for article delivery are UnCover, which allows users to order fax copies of articles from the database, and UnCover Reveal, which is an automated alerting service that delivers the table of contents of requested periodicals directly to user e-mail boxes. Other library services designed to help distant learners are expanded versions of traditional library services like interlibrary loan (ILL). For example, the on-line ILL section for distance education and World Campus students provides direct mailings of Penn State materials to the students’ homes. In addition to establishing this partnership with the University Libraries, the World Campus has worked closely with University Admissions, the Office of the University Registrar, the Office of Student Aid, the Center for Academic Computing, Administrative Information Systems, Undergraduate Programs, the Graduate School and other University-wide offices to automate basic registration and records functions and to integrate World Campus processes into the University general student data system.
Some of these future student support services will include increasing automation of the processes, skills workshops, career counseling and job search databases. World Campus students currently benefit from connections to the Career Services Web site and eligibility for participation in the Penn State Alumni Association's mentor program, LionLink, and future plans build on the existing relationships with these units. The future of the World Campus will also see the development of my.campus, an efficient database-driven environment for the design, development and delivery of on-line content. The my.campus project is funded by the federal Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) through its Learning Anywhere Anytime Partnerships program (LAAP). Project partners include Penn State's World Campus, Apple Computer, Inc., ReportMill Software Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc. The World Campus is building this active on-line teaching and learning environment at the same time that information technology is also expanding course delivery possibilities for all campuses. A new Penn State policy called Campus Course Exchange recognizes that, as academic units throughout the University create on-line and other remote versions of courses, it will be easier to share instructional resources across all locations. The Campus Course Exchange makes it possible for academic units to work with each other to mingle students from multiple locations into a single, nonduplicating course. The World Campus is currently piloting the Campus Course Exchange with the Commonwealth College and other campus colleges, in partnership with academic units that offer courses through the World Campus. This means that a single World Campus course could include students from multiple campuses, along with distant students from around the nation and beyond. The Campus Course Exchange enhances students’ ability to complete degrees and certificate programs at a single campus location by sharing credit offerings among many Penn State locations. In turn, it allows many Penn State locations to deliver more of the courses their students need. “The Campus Course Exchange was not designed specifically for the World Campus,” Miller explained, noting that many colleges and campuses already deliver distance-based courses through PicTel and other information technologies. “This year, as we pilot the service with World Campus courses, we are learning much about how to share courses effectively with other campuses. It will take us some time to get this working properly. However, over time, the course exchange model will help ensure that all Penn State students have access to needed courses, regardless of where and when they study, and certainly the World Campus will make its contribution to that goal,” he added. The Campus Course Exchange pilot is one of several partnership activities that are being tested this year by the World Campus and the Commonwealth College as the result of a study group, chaired by Donald W. Leslie, associate dean of the College of Arts and Architecture, and designed to foster new partnership activities between the Commonwealth College and the World Campus. Penn State Great Valley’s Leadership in Technology Integration for Teachers (LITI) program, a specialization within the master's in Instructional Systems, has already started to share upper division courses with the World Campus Education Technology Integration Certificate. LITI is a new area of emphasis designed to provide practicing teachers with the knowledge and skills to be technology leaders in their schools and school districts. Dr. Doris Lee, assistant professor of education and coordinator of the Instructional Systems program at Penn State Great Valley, is the LITI program’s lead faculty member. Most of the LITI program’s on-campus courses are offered at night in a seven-week format. The World Campus courses offer self-paced instruction and enrollment at any time. Dr. Barbara Grabowski, associate professor of education and professor-in-charge of the Instructional Systems program, partners with Penn State Great Valley through the World Campus Education Technology Integration Certificate. She sees the course exchanges as a benefit to both campuses and students. “The Campus Course Exchange enables students, regardless of campus affiliation, to take courses in the certificate program. For administrators, that means cooperation rather than competition for students,” she said. As Grabowski noted, the Campus Course Exchange and other World Campus partnerships serve as models of the collaborative potential of a University that embraces telecommunications technologies. Whether it is connecting new learner populations to Penn State faculty, learner support services and resources, or the life of the University itself, integrating the World Campus promises to benefit students, faculty and programs University-wide. Grabowski offered her own opinion of the benefits of access to the World Campus’ coordinated on-line instructional resources and expertise, noting, "World Campus staff take care of the technical and administrative headaches of course delivery. Faculty can focus on the task at hand — teaching and facilitating learning. When the students write to say that there is something wrong with their browser or computer access, we gladly point them in the direction of World Campus Technical Support. No materials? Then, World Campus Administrative Support. Broken link? World Campus Instructional Designers!”
For Grabowski and many of her colleagues, mainstreaming the World Campus has increased teaching effectiveness and simplified course delivery to a growing population of geographically dispersed students. 
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U.Ed.OCE 01-8002/mkm/GSM