From: "Swisher, Bob" <bswisher@ou.edu>
To: "'it-fyi@listserv.ou.edu'" <it-fyi@lists.ou.edu>
Subject: it-fyi: Virtual WGU Student Teaches Himself (Chron of Higher Ed)
Date: Mon, 3 May 1999 12:05:08 -0500
From the issue dated May 7, 1999
A Virtual Student Teaches Himself
Working for a degree, he takes tests to prove his 'competency' to
Western Governors U.
By JEFFREY R. YOUNG
Bellingham, Wash.
Spend a day with Greg Marshall, who's balancing a full-time job with
undergraduate studies, and you may come away with a new perception of
Western Governors University.
Mr. Marshall is a typical student at the new "virtual" university,
according to its leaders. He's 31 years old and comfortable with
computers -- in fact, he trains people to use them -- but he has had
almost no college education, and doesn't have time for traditional
courses. At W.G.U., however, he plans to earn a degree without taking a
single class -- on the Internet or otherwise. He's primarily teaching
himself.
Western Governors says it offers a new model for higher education --
one that takes advantage of technology to serve students who can't get
to traditional classrooms. It has the strong endorsement of a number of
governors, as the name suggests, and it is working with colleges and
universities, its "education providers," in 17 states and Guam.
The virtual university has two distinct missions. One is to provide a
central Web site that highlights the distance-learning opportunities
already offered at participating colleges and universities. In this way,
W.G.U. is bidding to become the Amazon.com of distance education, making
it easy for users to search for a college course on line and, with a few
mouse clicks, to enroll and start working toward a degree
(http://www.wgu.edu).
The other mission of W.G.U. is both more unusual and less understood,
especially within academe. Western Governors University wants to help
people get college degrees based on what they already know, or what they
teach themselves, or what they learn by any method they choose.
To get a W.G.U. degree in this way, students simply have to pass enough
standardized tests and complete enough independent projects to convince
the university that they've mastered the required material. No
professors, syllabi, or textbooks are needed -- although a student may
choose to consult those and other sources of information along the way.
Mr. Marshall says the flexibility of W.G.U. appealed to him. Soon after
he heard about the university a few months ago, he signed up to get an
associate-in-arts degree from W.G.U. -- one of the first people to do
so. The university offers 10 degrees or certificates, most of them in
technical subjects like network administration.
Over breakfast at a Denny's -- the omelet and hash browns are a treat,
he says, for someone who usually eats a breakfast bar at work -- he
talks about how he became a virtual student.
Unlike many of his friends, Mr. Marshall didn't head off to college
after finishing high school here. He chose to work full time instead,
starting out as a clerk at a local discount store. But his interest in
computers led him to form his own computer-consulting company.
Along the way, he discovered that his greatest strength was explaining
computers to the uninitiated -- as he puts it, "translating computer
into English." For the past three years, he's taught non-credit computer
workshops at Whatcom Community College, here in Bellingham. He teaches
his students -- most of them middle-aged and new to computing -- how to
use Windows, word processors, tax-preparation software, and other
popular computer programs.
Recently, he dropped his consulting business and began working full time
at the community college, coordinating its computer workshops as well as
teaching about 20 of the six-hour classes every quarter.
A short drive takes him to the college, where his office adjoins his
classroom. Just before his "Introduction to Windows" class starts, a
student wielding a nine iron pokes his head in to ask where
"Introduction to Golf" will be taught. In the other building, it turns
out.
During class, Mr. Marshall is animated, explaining concepts that many
long-time computer users would find frustratingly fundamental: the best
way to grip a computer mouse; what the pointer symbol is used for; and
how to double-click an icon to start a program. The students follow his
lead carefully, laugh at his jokes. They seem to appreciate his
patience.
His new job at the college gives him more free time than he was used to
as a consultant, he says, so he began looking for ways to earn a degree.
"I really, truly miss the fact that I didn't go to college," he says.
"Now is a perfect time to go to school, but I wasn't willing to give up
my job.
"Because of time constraints and how I work, the normal routine just
isn't possible," he adds.
Mr. Marshall says he chose Western Governors because it lets him set his
own schedule, because it allows him to work at his own pace rather than
being locked into a set academic program, and because he feels
comfortable using the Internet to communicate with college officials, in
Colorado and Kentucky.
He does most of his studying in the evenings, in his one-story house a
few miles out of town. His wife works most nights at a local grocery
store, and he doesn't usually watch TV, so he uses prime time to read,
do research on line, or work on assignments from his W.G.U. adviser.
His main classroom is his computer room, a cramped space with a
computer desk, a Dilbert mouse pad, and bookcases. Pictures of his
7-year-old son are taped to the computer monitor. A window opens on a
view of dozens of cedar trees and a small road curving off in the
distance.
"I sit in here, or I sit at the kitchen table," he says, noting that he
can do his W.G.U. work anywhere. "In the summer, I'll probably spend
some time down on the water or up in the mountains." He says he devotes
about five to 10 hours a week to schoolwork.
Today, he's reading Forgotten Algebra: A Self-Teaching Refresher
Course. When he feels comfortable enough with the material, he plans to
take a standardized test, approved by W.G.U., to show his mathematics
"competency." The examination, the Work Keys applied-mathematics test,
is offered by ACT Inc. and administered at sites around the country.
He'll have to drive to Edmonds Community College near Seattle, about 90
miles away, to take it.
Another "competency" he plans to work on soon is Western civilization.
He might ask a friend who's taken a course on the subject what textbook
he used, and read that. Or he might just read a faded two-volume set on
his bookshelf: Civilizations Past and Present, published in 1944 by what
was then the U.S. War Department. "I picked it up at a garage sale
somewhere," he says.
To earn credit for that subject at W.G.U., he has to take a
College-Level Examination Program subject test, on Western Civilization
I. CLEP tests are sponsored by the College Board, and they are accepted
at 2,800 traditional colleges and universities, the board says.
Does Mr. Marshall miss the kind of guidance he'd get from a professor?
"It would be nice to have a little interaction, but I can make that
myself," he says. "I can go find the person who teaches Western
civilization in this town, and buy them lunch, and get the information I
need to know out of them. I'm not afraid to do that."
If he decides he needs it, he might even take an on-line course from one
of the W.G.U. partner colleges before trying the standardized test, he
says.
To help him decide what subjects he needs to study and what tests he
needs to pass, Mr. Marshall consults Dianna Loder-Pituch, the
"advisor/mentor" assigned to him by W.G.U. "If I have a question, I can
e-mail her, and she e-mails me back," he notes. Sometimes she responds
within 10 minutes, he says.
The requirements for an associate-in-arts degree are also outlined on
the university's Web site. They are broken down into six major areas, or
"domains," and students must prove competency in each.
For the Collegiate Reasoning and Problem-Solving Skills Domain, Mr.
Marshall is working on a course of study designed by university
officials. The W.G.U. course is still under development, so Mr. Marshall
is a "beta tester" as well as a student. In exchange for his feedback,
he gets to take the course free of charge.
Cyndi Lynch, a consultant for W.G.U. who is helping to design the
problem-solving course, serves as Mr. Marshall's instructor for this
domain. She sends him assignments by e-mail, and he e-mails his
completed work back.
"This is the closest thing right now I'm doing to a real class," he
says.
Mr. Marshall estimates that he'll spend about a year and a half -- and
take from 30 to 40 standardized tests -- to earn his degree. He must
also complete a "portfolio," a final project that will be designed based
on what subjects he decides to study. The total cost will be about
$2,000 to $3,000, he estimates.
"It's not as easy as I thought it was going to be, doing it this way,"
Mr. Marshall acknowledges. He suspects that the standardized tests will
be more difficult to pass than a test given by a professor in a
traditional course.
"If I took it as a class, I'd have a lot better idea when I took the
final of what's going to be on that final," he says. "I think these
tests are pretty accurate, and you probably have to learn a lot more
than you need."
Mr. Marshall says he's excited to be one of the first students in the
experimental university. And that's had its benefits, aside from the
free course.
In January, the university flew him to the other Washington, to
represent W.G.U. at a White House event to unveil Access America, the
federal government's new Web site for financial-aid information. He's
posted pictures from his trip on his personal Web site for other W.G.U.
students to see (http://computergy.2alpha.com/family.htm).
Some of Western Governors University's methods have been used by
traditional universities for decades. Many colleges have offered
correspondence courses, and many have allowed students to earn at least
some college credit by passing standardized tests. In fact, some
observers question whether W.G.U. brings anything new to the table.
"There has been a very strong debate within the continuing-education
arena about whether there is something significantly new being offered,"
says Arietta Wiedmann, director of extended studies at Colorado State
University's Division of Educational Outreach.
But Western Governors officials say they are the first to offer degrees
primarily based on third-party testing. They call it a "competency-based
degree," deriving from demonstrated abilities, as opposed to a
traditional, "credit-based degree," built on the accumulation of credit
hours.
"W.G.U. says, 'We don't care how you get the information or the
competencies. We're going to find ways to assess whether you have the
competency -- whether you have the knowledge and skills,'" says Greg
McAllister, who sits on W.G.U.'s Assessment Council. The council is
charged with deciding what tests or other measurements the university
will use to determine competency. Mr. McAllister is also a program
manager at the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, which
describes itself as a national non-profit organization devoted to
expanding lifelong-learning opportunities for adults.
Such a change is revolutionary, says Marcia Bankirer, W.G.U.'s senior
academic officer. "What we've done is unbundle the faculty role," she
says. Instead of entrusting a single person -- the professor -- with the
authority to design a course of study, deliver information, and test
students on their knowledge, W.G.U. divides those tasks among several
groups, she says.
To opponents of standardized testing, W.G.U.'s methods are fatally
flawed. "I wouldn't give a lot of value to a degree awarded on the basis
of standardized-test scores," says Monty Neill, executive director of
the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, which frequently
criticizes the College Board and other groups that promote or rely on
standardized tests. Mr. Neill says he doubts that a standardized test
can measure what he calls the "higher-order thinking" that a university
should foster.
But Robert W. Mendenhall, who took over as president of W.G.U. in March,
says third-party testing is more reliable than traditional methods of
evaluation. "The fact that students sat through courses and sat through
enough credit hours and crammed for the test doesn't prove that they've
learned the material," he notes.
"We're very confident and have spent the money and got the experts in
order to assure them and ourselves that these assessments measure
competency," he adds.
W.G.U. officials have long maintained that they're not competing with
traditional institutions, but instead are offering a new kind of
education for people not well served by the old model.
"I think it's a huge audience, and I think it's a growing audience," he
says. "We think there are a lot of students out there who are trying to
figure out how to find the time and place and money to advance their
expertise and credentials."
So far, however, students don't seem to be rushing to the virtual gates.
Initial enrollment was lower than expected. University officials refuse
to give exact figures, but Mr. Mendenhall says that "hundreds of
students in 26 states" have signed up for either a competency-based
degree or a course listed through the W.G.U. Web site.
For Mr. Marshall, at least, W.G.U. is just what he was looking for.
"This just fits my life style," he says, walking from his computer room
back to his den.
http://chronicle.com
Section: Information Technology
Page: A31
Copyright © 1999 by The Chronicle of Higher Education