Placing Human Interaction at the Center of a Distance Education Program in Educational Leadership 171STRUCTURE OF THE PROGRAM
The distance-learning master’s degree in Educational Leadership consists of 54 quarter
hours and mirrors the on-campus version of the degree/licensure program. The faculty is the
same for both the on-campus and the distance courses; both programs are NCATE approved,
and both align with ELCC and ISLLC standards, as well as the written and adopted Ohio
Principal Standards.
The only differences between the on-campus program and the distance program are that
there are no electives in the distance program (two electives in the on-campus program) and
the on-campus has a unique induction program called the Administrator Development
Academy. The Academy is 15 quarter hours and is a six-week, all-day summer experience.
Both programs have an internship that is embedded in the schools, as the online program
supervises and oversees that internship in cooperation with a field mentor in that school or
district, not unlike the campus internship.
The delivery model consists of instructors/faculty who oversee the facilitators who work
individually with students. For example, the program has instructors who teach
approximately 250 students in each class, and they coordinate 15 facilitators who each work
individually with 15–18 students within that class. A visual would be the professor teaching
250 students in a large hall, and then 2–3 times per week, the students are divided into small
groups taught by a teaching assistant. The facilitator position is comparable to a teaching
assistant. The facilitators complete the grading, most of the individual work and the advising
of students.
The program uses the Blackboard framework to deliver the program online. Blackboard
software allows instructors and the director to place instructional materials online, and for
students to place work online to be examined.
Part of that framework is a “discussion board”, which allows for an asynchronous
discussion on a topic between the students and the facilitator and instructor. It allows
questions to be posted, comments placed and others can then read and respond within their
own timeframe. This does not require all students to be online together at the same moment
(synchronous discussion), but allows students the flexibility to respond when they are able
and not at a specific time. The flexibility to choose their own times for learning is a key
factor for students participating in distance programs.
Exit requirements include an electronic portfolio, and an exit interview, which takes place
with two faculty members and the student over the telephone. These requirements along with
successful completion of the coursework qualify the student for the Masters degree and meet
state requirements for the license.
Instructors/Faculty Involvement
The willingness of faculty to accept and embrace distance teaching is also key to the
program’s success. On campus, students experience that if the professor is engaged in his/her
message, the instruction is delivered with more passion and clarity. Students quickly identify
an instructor who does not care about the students or does not know the content. This is true
of distance learning as well. However, many current obstacles prevent some faculty from
becoming completely engaged. According to Davis (2005), “From a faculty viewpoint,
resistance to e-learning will continue until changes are made in the way workload and
compensation and intellectual property are dealt with, and intangible rewards such as personal
satisfaction and a sense of community are felt” (p. 74). Kowalski (2007) stated: