FPC Technology and Distance Education Committee
Committee Report
2011-2012 Academic Year
Official Members:
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Other Members:
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Background: The FPC Technology and Distance Education committee had a change in leadership from the start of the 2011-2012 academic year to the finish. Cathy Cavanaugh was serving as the liaison between FPC committee and the FPC Technology and Distance Education during the Fall semester. She was also serving as the Chair in this capacity. Later, after Dr. Cavanaugh left the UF, Albert Ritzhaupt was elected as Chair of the committee (Spring Semester) and Holly Lane was appointed as the liaison.
Current Year: The committee this year had several important objectives – all of which are interrelated. The first was the review of the US News Best Online Programs report. Starting this year, US News began ranking online programs in education. UF was ranked and it was the belief of the committee that UF could rank better. Our goal was to examine the ranking system used by US News and determine what could be done to rank better.
Our second objective was to conduct a technology Needs Assessment for the College of Education faculty. This charge came later in the academic year (January). In response, a survey was generated to gather this important information. The survey is currently being revised by the committee to ensure that we collect all the necessary information from the faculty.
Our third objective was to revise the working document for Advisory Guidelines for Distance Education to the FPC Committee. This document was generated last year by the Distance Education Task Force. We decided to wait on this revision as we have to incorporate the findings from the US News Ranking system and the result from the Needs Assessment into the final document.
Next Year: In the upcoming year, we will address the following: 1) we will administer the Needs Assessment early in the fall semester to gather faculty technology and distance education needs, write up the results, and present the results to the FPC Committee; and 2) we will update the working document for Advisory Guidelines for Distance Education to incorporate the findings from the Needs Assessment and the US News Best Online Programs report. These are both action items carrying over from the previous year’s work.
