Distance Education at UMUC (University of Maryland University College)

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Distance Education at UMUC (University of
Maryland University College)

• Ioan Jurca
• Politehnica University of Timisoara-Romania

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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)'

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Characteristics of UMUC online courses
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Characteristics of UMUC online courses
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Characteristics of UMUC online courses
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Characteristics of UMUC online courses
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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

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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

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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

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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 -gt late
  grading

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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