Date: Mon, 03 May 1999 11:23:14 -0700
From: ron day <dayr@sirius.com>
To: "Swisher, Bob" <bswisher@ou.edu>
Subject: Re: it-fyi: Virtual WGU Student Teaches Himself (Chron of Higher Ed)
I find this stuff below to be pretty sad stuff and at this point I feel
compelled to respond to this mailing (and even enlarge it to a largely
international group involved in education). It seems to me to be a college
degree for a poor high school education--and that's being generous. The War
Department material tips the balance from sad to ignorant, however. I can
now understand why the university is named "_Western Governors_." As Wiener
named "cybernetics" (fr. kybernan--Ancient Greek, to steer, govern)
following the command and control mechanisms he worked on for the military
during the Second World War--the technology's use, and thus its given
meaning through this context follows the Cold War model. The sadness is
that the Chronicle of Higher Education writes so uncritically about this
(surprise?), that this is said to be academically liberating for the said
student/test taker in all ways (i.e., that the issues of command and
control, technology and technique, are ignored), and that such "education"
has consequences beyond the individual at question. Yes, we are truly
producing "Western governors" with this...even, perhaps, presidents...'here'
and elsewhere.
Ron Day
"Swisher, Bob" wrote:
> 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