Appendix A
Accreditation Report 2002 Addendum
Evaluation of Distance Learning
In September 1999, North Seattle Community College/Seattle Community College District received approval from the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges’ Commission on Colleges to expand its distance learning activities to include offering the Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree using multiple modalities of electronic delivery. As requested by the Commission at the time of the approval, a subsequent full evaluation of the current state of distance learning at North Seattle Community College has been prepared. As recommended by the Commission, this report addresses aspects of the distance-learning program such as operational budget, assessment of student outcomes, student satisfaction with the program quality and delivery, library and learning resources, and student services.
Distance learning at North Seattle Community College (North) has grown significantly in the last eight years with respect to its focus, its operational infrastructure, its faculty involvement, the level of its district-level coordination, and the nature and size of the community of students it serves. This current report reiterates some of the information presented in the College’s “Distance Learning Substantive Notification Prospectus” presented in 1999 and also describes the many refinements to the distance-learning program resulting from its ensuing development.
Distance Learning is significantly impacting the College as a whole. There is an increased demand for distance-learning courses, higher use of educational technology in the traditional classroom, increased faculty/staff training needs, and a call for flexible student support services. The expansion of distance learning has been closely monitored by several administrative and instructional bodies ranging from the College’s own Curriculum and Academic Standards (CAS) Committee to the Seattle District’s Board of Trustees. The ongoing incorporation of new technologies has been carefully guided by faculty and by solicited student feedback, and the success of distance learning modalities has been assessed through documented student outcomes and completion rates. The measured growth of the program has followed a sensible investment of available funding and the application of a stable financial model. As requested by the Commission on Colleges, details on several specific key organizational aspects are provided in this report.
Distance Learning Growth in the Context of Institutional Mission and Strategic Plan
North Seattle Community College’s distance delivery programs have a clearly defined purpose congruent with its mission and strategic plan. North Seattle Community College’s vision is focused on opportunities for a diverse population to achieve educational and personal goals through accessible education. Offering programs designed for student convenience rather than institutional convenience is essential. North has been increasing its course offerings for time- or place-bound students to help meet the needs of those who are not otherwise able to attend college-level courses onsite.
Serving the Seattle area is, and will remain, the first priority for the College. Distance learning demographics indicate that most students (about 65%) choose the College’s “distance-learning” courses because of the convenience and time flexibility suited to their external work demands and/or their onsite course schedules. The technological ability to provide broader access potentially increases the local community of learners at the College in many ways, for example by providing greater educational ease to people with disabilities and alternate learning styles. Full results of quarterly student surveys, distributed to students since 1994 for anonymous feedback, are available through the College’s Distance Learning Office.
A significant portion of distance learning students also come from outside the immediate area. Some of North’s online courses serve students throughout the State of Washington via the Washington Online Consortium. Online courses, designed and delivered directly by the College itself, have attracted students from across the state and as far away as Alaska, Florida, New York, Japan, Jordan and Pakistan. As a key element of its five-year Strategic Plan, the College has embraced the challenge to promote and foster multicultural understanding by infusing multicultural perspectives across the curriculum. Online classes open up participation amongst students living across the globe, an effective means for increasing awareness of cultural differences and reducing prejudices.
Distance learning technologies preserve the viability of the institution by providing new opportunities for faculty and staff to serve students in new and innovative ways. Online technology is having a significant impact on classroom-based instruction as more and more faculty utilize websites to post syllabi and other class materials and to directly connect students to rich global sources of information.
“Distance Learning” sounds inherently remote and isolating whereas North faculty have designed online classes which engage learners in asynchronous and synchronous class discussions, peer project collaboration, and expanded opportunities for individualized instruction. The College is moving toward a “paradigm shift” in which categories such as “online”, “video-based” and “traditional” learning modalities are being replaced by a continuous spectrum of learning tools. These technologies also help the College’s evolution toward a more efficient and “paperless” environment.
Distance Learning Growth in the Context of the College Curriculum
North Seattle Community College offers college-level transfer courses throughout Washington (and beyond) via the Internet, the K-20 Interactive Television (ITV) system, videocassette / videostreaming technologies and varied combinations of these modalities. The College offers its videocassette classes under the coordination of the Center for Information Services (CIS), a public corporation of the Washington Community and Technical Colleges.
As of April 2002, the College has developed and offered nearly 100 different distance learning courses (Table DL1). On average, 30 different distance learning courses are offered each academic quarter. Online delivery of several courses is conducted in conjunction with Washington Online (WAOL), a consortium of all 34 Washington State Community and Technical Colleges. The breadth of its online course offerings enables the College to offer an A.A. degree fully online. Specific quarterly course offerings are scheduled to ensure that distance-learning students can meet the degree requirements.
Distance learning classes have robust enrollments (close to or at enrollment caps). For the past four years, the number of sections offered and enrollments in North Seattle Community College’s distance learning courses have grown an average of 20% each year. In terms of state-funded FTEs, distance learning enrollments accounted for 205 annualized FTEs in the 2000/2001 academic year, a growth of 34% over its total of 153 annualized FTEs in the previous academic year of 1999/2000 (data from Seattle Community College District, Office of Education and Planning). It appears that students continue to seek flexible learning alternatives and, in response to these demands, the College is systematically expanding its capability to offer more distance learning opportunities.
On-site and “distance” classrooms have overwhelmingly embraced online learning methodologies. In the 2000/2001 academic year, fully and partially online classes accounted for 88% of distance learning FTEs at the College (data from Seattle Community College District, Office of Education and Planning). A growing number of online classes now incorporate videostreaming and multimedia materials as teaching elements. Student surveys by the College’s Distance Learning Office show that 35% of online students at the college have broadband connectivity.
Nearly 50 different faculty have taught distance learning classes at North. Currently, half of the experienced online instructors are full-time faculty, creating a strong integration of distance learning and traditional curricula within academic divisions. Distance learning skills have advanced significantly because of the inherent continuity provided by full-time faculty participants. These instructors, experienced in distance learning technologies and pedagogies, have been invaluable mentors and supporters of new distance faculty and have enabled a growing sophistication in the use of distance learning tools. Some academic divisions rotate faculty through the distance learning training process and subsequent online teaching assignment, building an auxiliary group of experienced distance learning instructors.
The College has been innovative with the use of significant online components to enhance or fully deliver team-taught, interdisciplinary Coordinated Studies Programs. Participating faculty have received accolades from colleagues at other institutions for this forward-looking work which, to our knowledge, has never been done anywhere else in the world.
The Seattle Community College District has purchased its own television cable channel and has begun broadcasting its own schedule of telecourses to many Seattle area neighborhoods. Recently the ability to videostream these programs as a result of the College’s Internet II (GIGAPOP) broadband connectivity has led to successful delivery of online classes which incorporate videostreaming (“Video-On-Demand”) of pre-packaged and college-produced multimedia materials.
The Interactive Television (ITV) technology has allowed North Seattle Community College to share several courses live with its sister colleges, Seattle Central Community College and South Seattle Community College. In this way, introductory and higher-level classes with lower enrollments at any one particular campus (for example, 15 students) can become cost-effective to offer. Polycom units are now available to provide great flexibility in streaming of live classroom instruction from science laboratories and any other campus location.
Review of Faculty Training Needs and Support Services
Comprehensive faculty training and faculty innovation are essential ingredients of the College’s distance learning program. The Distance Learning Office provides a comprehensive training program each quarter in collaboration with the college’s Teaching & Learning Center, the Library Division, Computing Services, and faculty distance-learning mentors. The College’s Teaching & Learning Center ( ) is dedicated to the professional development of its faculty and staff.
A quarterly series of workshops guides faculty through the technical aspects of online course development as well as the use of online and multimedia components in on-site classes. Course development tools such as FrontPage, Dreamweaver, First Class, and WebCT are emphasized because they produce user-friendly, richly-featured and effective courses for both faculty designers and students users. These and other workshops also cover pedagogical principles, best practices, design practicalities, course development and approval processes, copyright issues, etc. After the workshops, the Distance Learning Office works individually with all instructors to complete online course development, assists with the steps in the curriculum approval process, and expedites the delivery of these online classes.
Last summer, the College hosted a “Summer Institute on Distance Learning” for 28 part-time and full-time faculty members from the district’s three colleges. This week-long workshop was primarily organized and directed by faculty and brought together many faculty with different experiences and skill levels in online learning. Participants could choose from different development “tracks” and attend alternate sessions offered simultaneously. Sessions comprised technical workshops on introductory-to-advanced web learning tools, roundtable discussions on pedagogical issues, and open lab time with individual faculty mentoring. The Final Report on this workshop documents the specific proficiencies that were developed ( The Summer Institute received commendations for its success at cultivating distance learning communication and collaboration amongst the three colleges in the District. More of these institutes are planned on an annual basis.
The Seattle Community College District’s Faculty Development Advisory Committee initiated a “faculty mentor program” at the three colleges. Each year, two faculty members serve as “on-call” mentors (with a commitment of 3 hours per week) for faculty who are developing or delivering online classes. At North, as appreciated by the Distance Learning Office, the faculty mentors have enthusiastically adapted their roles to include workshop presentations on different coursewares, co-development of online coordinated studies courses, and technical and logistical support of faculty at all hours. As a result, many more faculty have taken their first steps to learn new technologies.
The Seattle Community College District's “Distance Learning Consortium”, approved by administration and the faculty union in 2001, is a plan for collaboration and cooperation among the three college distance learning programs. The Consortium vision includes creation of a centralized place where multi-campus student enrollment and learning experiences are seamless and where faculty from all three colleges have an opportunity to research best distance learning practices. The College’s Summer Institute and faculty mentor program described above may serve as models for this district-wide endeavor to expand learning options for students and faculty. Faculty are seeking grant opportunities to finance the Consortium undertaking.
Review of Student Support Services
Distance learning students are eligible for all student services, and the College’s advertising and admissions materials (printed and online) clearly and accurately publicize these services. Since a substantial number of North’s distance learning students are local residents taking onsite classes too, the same student services will frequently be shared by the on-campus students and distance learners. As for all students, distance learners can access Academic Advising via online, telephone and email.
The College has a secure online registration system. Students’ records are kept in the College’s computing system. After students complete their distance learning courses, their records are entered into the degree audit system. This enables distance-learning students to see what courses remain for completing the degree and provides the transcript evaluator with verification of degree completion.
With a focus on its growing distance learning program, North has also allocated funding and staffing toward expanded student support services. Specific staff members are designated to work with distance learning students. Potential distance learners are able to receive complete information on course prerequisites, entrance testing, academic advising, degree audits, and personal counseling, and also can receive assistance on financial aid application, textbook purchasing, transfer procedures, and options for contacting teachers. Online tutoring is offered college-wide through the Loft Writing Center Plus, housed in the College library. The College’s Distance Learning Office readily assists potential, enrolling and ongoing distance learning students by email, telephone, and in-person communications.
Distance-learning students are now able to purchase all books and classroom materials for distance-learning courses from the College bookstore via online, telephone, and fax. The new online service ( is in partnership with the College’s on-campus bookstore operated by Barnes & Noble College Bookstores.
Students remote from campus are also helped with queries and the registration process by a centralized service operating through a district-wide website ( Two district-sponsored registration and advising personnel, familiar with enrollment procedures at all three district colleges, assist students who are new to distance learning and/or wish to take distance learning classes at more than one Seattle community college. These staff acts as intermediaries to facilitate communications between distance learners and individual college student services. However, most new and all returning distance-learning students interact directly with each college’s own student support services as described above.
The College’s Distance Learning Office maintains North’s own “Virtual College” website ( to guide interested and enrolled students successfully through all aspects of distance learning at North. Students have access to: A self-assessment test that covers technical as well as learning style considerations for online courses; answers to frequently asked questions; a list of minimum hardware and software requirements; online tutoring and library resources; registration steps; “netiquette” and privacy statements; people to contact; and other skill-building distance learner links. Some instructors schedule optional on-campus orientation sessions in order to meet their distance-learning students and to provide a personal introduction to course content and student expectations. Alternatively, students receive their orientation fully online.
Through student surveys conducted college-wide (as explained in the main report) and by the Distance Learning Office, the College continually revises its student success strategies for both online and on-campus students. Staff representing the distance learning, registration and advising departments meet quarterly to discuss issues, resolve problems and improve processes.