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TECHNOLOGY FOR PREPARATION PROGRAMS
Placing Human Interaction at the Center of a
Distance Education Program in Educational Leadership
Ted Zigler, Ann Ogletree,
Tracy Pirkle and Carri SchneiderINTRODUCTION
According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) report
(http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d06/tables/dt06_219.asp?referrer=list), the University of
Phoenix online campus more than doubled in size in two years (from 48,085 students in 2002
to 115,794 students in 2004). It is now twice as large as the second largest university (Miami
Dade College) reported by NCES. A regular at the top of the list is Ohio State with 50,995
students. As students move to online courses and programs, a shift in resources occurs, along
with a clash in faculty attitudes. Administrators worry about declining enrollments for on-
campus programs, while faculty questions whether online instruction can be as effective as
face-to-face instruction.
University of Cincinnati administration and faculty grappled with these worries and
questions with the development and growth of their distance learning programs. The number
of graduate students enrolled in the University of Cincinnati College of Education, Criminal
Justice, and Human Services exploded from 876 in the fall of 2000 with no distance programs
to 1,820 in the fall of 2005 with distance programs. This dramatic growth of 944 enrolled
students in only 5 years included just three distance programs in this particular college:
Criminal Justice, Educational Leadership, and Early Childhood Education. The effect on the
departments, the college and the university, as well as on the number of students reached
through these programs, cannot be ignored. A report by the Sloan Consortium (Allen &
Seaman, 2006) found that 58 % of university Chief Academic Officers believe that online
education is critical to the long-term strategy of their institutions, while 62% rated the
learning outcomes in online education as the same or superior to those in face-to-face settings.
The report also noted how attitudes have changed in significant ways since 2003. College
administrators, professors and students now view distance learning in a much more positive
light.
Friedman (2005) in The World is Flat proclaimed that “hierarchies are being challenged
from below or transforming themselves from top-down structures into more horizontal and
collaborative ones” (p. 45). Along this same line of thinking, large bureaucratic universities
are being challenged by students who grew up with the internet and by new delivery programs
that are based in distance programs or reach out with numerous regional branches. Friedman
(2005) continued with the idea that globalization is “not just how organizations interact, but is
Ted Zigler, Ohio Dominican University
Ann Ogletree, University of Cincinnati
Tracy Pirkle, University of Cincinnati
Carri Schneider, University of Cincinnati