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The real value of Texas Christian Universityís online IEP is learner progress.
Kurk Gayle is Director of Intensive English at Texas Christian University and my be contacted at iep@tcu.edu
"Higher education is in deep crisis. Universities won't survive. It's as large a change as when we first got the printed book."
Peter Drucker (March 1997) noting the threat of e-education to increasingly costly bricks-and-mortar campuses.
One crisis not predicted in early 1997 was the impending Asian economic decline and its negative impact on student enrollment in U.S. Intensive English Programs (IEPs). An apparent result of the Asian financial crisis was "the largest single year fall in IEP enrollments ever recordedÖ. after a 10-year run of enrollment rises." (OpenDoors 98/99, pg.21).
Ironically, what some see as the cause of one crisis, others see as a possible cure to the effects of another. Web-based learning may indeed be the bane of the traditional university, but it might well become the boon of student enrollment in the U.S. IEP, or at least enrollment in the non-traditional IEP. One such IEP is Texas Christian Universityís "eProgram" of TCUóthe first fully online intensive English program (
http://www.eProgram.TCU.edu).The eProgram is designed to allow English learners study from their home countries and thereby to reduce expenses. Motivated students with Internet access can eliminate several costs: 1) round-trip airfare to and from the U.S. , 2) the cost of living in America and 3) the trip to the U.S. Embassy and any other costs of obtaining the student visa.
The real value of TCUís online IEP, however, has been learner progress. Since the eProgram began as an on-campus experiment in March of 1999, web-based IEP students have made more measured progress than their traditional-classroom counterparts.
"To imagine delivery of the IEP fully over the Internet, with appropriate learner outcomes, we had to take our proven traditional classroom approach and turn it on its head. There has definitely been creative thinking outside the classroom box," says Kurk Gayle, TCUís IEP director and eProgram developer. "Weíve begun to abandon traditional notions of ëclassroom,í ëcontact hour,í ëattendance,í and ëclock hourí in favor of new concepts: ëasynchronous interaction,í ëlearner self-pacing,í ëinstant portfolio,í ëand ëstreamed content.í"
Fortunately, Gayleówho in the 1980s designed a CALL lab of Apple computers and DOS-run PCs at another universityóhas been surrounded at TCU by creative, technology-loving teachers. For example, in fall of 1997, instructor Mellanie Shepherd developed TCUís first virtual ESL course, preferring cyberspace interaction with her writing students to a 55-mile commute to campus. Then, Cathy Hutcheson became the online "TOEFL Lady"; Diane Long taught email courses; and Daniel Olson developed WebPages and taught his IEP students to do the same.
One huge leap forward for the eProgram came when TCU received two grants to build an Internet/intranet IEP Lab in fall of 1998. "We digitized everything--audio, video, and textóand made it integrated, interactive, and accessible through WebPages. Our goal was to give students a learning edge, to let machines do what they do best so students get more out of time with teachers, teammates, and conversation partners" remarks Olson, who became full-time lab coordinator and hands-on eProgram developer.
The eProgram puts a high premium on learner goals and on styles of learning. Although there is an intensive daily schedule, the learner is given the job of self-pacing and in many cases of setting the course agenda. "I used to take my Grammar classes through a lock-step syllabus," remembers Hutcheson. "But now the individual student and his or her his/her tests tell me what to teach next; the student whoís mastered the verb-tense system doesnít need to wait for the class to start with conditionals."
And the students express enthusiasm about the on-campus eProgram:
"People like to learn, but the way that schools have been teaching is too old. This new system is so good. In my opinion the school in the future will teach the same way or some thing like we are having nowÖI've never had pleasure in going to school, but this past six weeks in the eProgram was wonderful." Alex of Brazil
"eProgram students can work at their rhythm."
"Everything about the eProgram is good. Nothing should be changed. All the teachers are great, and the webmaster is such a great person, always helping us with the computers. The eProgram is the best experience." Daphine of Uganda
"Learning English in the eProgram is better than in the traditional systemÖ.the only problem is that we do not have time to do everything." Maria of Colombia
The next challenge for TCU is seamless Internet delivery of its eProgram. There have been some technical difficulties for students returning home from Fort Worth to log in from Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. "My countryís www connection is only catching up with the eProgram," emailed one optimistic student from home.
As large changes sweep the world, so do hopes for improved connections between the student and the U.S. IEP.
As Delia Pitts TCUís Director of International Education noted "Global higher education and technology are intersecting as never before. Innovations like the eProgram appear to be at the vertex."
References:
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/97/0310/5905122a.htm#alre
http://www.opendoorsweb.org/Lead%20Stories/iep.htm
http://www.lindentours.com/univ_officials/linden_letters/winter_1998_article.htm
http://www.nafsa.org/retrieve/3.27/327.2.txt