THE "ONE" PROJECT (OREGON NETWORK FOR EDUCATION)
July 9, 1998

Goal: Develop Oregon Electronic University (OEU) for implementation in 2000-01, operated by a consortium of Oregon postsecondary providers. OEU will offer access to college-level distance education courses, degree programs, and a range of services (e.g., admission, registration, financial aid, library, electronic advising).

Key Objective #1  

Common Catalogue of Oregon Postsecondary Distance Education Courses and Degree Programs: During 1998 and 1999, the project will develop/implement a searchable, Web-based common catalogue of distance education courses, degree programs, courses recommended in a selected number of degree pathways, and services available from Oregon's postsecondary institutions and collaborating institutions in other states.

Expected Outcomes

Catalogue will include about 1,100 courses available from both 2- and 4-year institutions -- 150 video-based/ED-NET, 78 interactive video courses/PictureTel, 280 Internet, 375 telecourses, 28 correspondence, 200 videotape, 20 CD-ROM; and several (10-15) degree programs (plus courses recommended for several degree pathways).

Database will be searchable --- major categories to include courses, degree pathways, degrees available by campuses, services. Course information will include:

• course title, level/number, description
• mode of delivery/access format (e.g., videotape, interactive video, Internet, CD-ROM, telecourse) and technological specifications needed by students
• time (when offered, how many weeks, self-paced, asynchronous)
• location within state (receive sites); discipline (e.g., business, nursing, social work, sciences, teacher education)
• transferability (if lower division is a part of AAOT general transfer degree)
• fits within degree pathways.

OUS Information Technology Services will design/implement products for portability (replicability) using industry standards (UNIX-based WEB services, ORACLE database management system).

Institutions will annually check their entries and add/delete courses/programs.

Database updated on regular basis by ITS, and refinements made in the format as needed.

How Progress Will Be Evaluated*

Database (catalogue) will be available electronically on a pilot basis, fall 1999.

University provosts/community college vice presidents of instruction (or designees) will review the prototype catalogue to verify that their campuses have been included fully in the process, and approve the catalogue for use on a pilot basis.

Community college/university students will try out catalogue during pilot phases, providing opportunity for assessment of user friendliness, identification of additional options which should be considered, etc.

OPEN (K-12 technology consortium) will review the prototype catalogue to advise about usefulness for high school students (also teachers, counselors, etc.)

Quarterly assessment (including how up-to-date and user friendly the catalogue is) by project staff and evaluator.

Key Objective #2

Common Course Marketplace: Between 1999-2001, the project will convene faculty teams from a variety of Oregon postsecondary institutions to design, develop, and implement the Common Course Marketplace (CCM).

Expected Outcomes

14 institutions will provide two-person teams -- 6 from public universities, 2 from private colleges/ universities, 6 from community colleges. Teams will represent large/small institutions, urban/rural.

28 faculty (from the teams) overall will participate in the CCM component, having reviewed courses, degree program requirements, articulation, agree-ments, etc.

Faculty teams will participate for 24 months (half of first year of project, entire second year, half of third year).

Teams will develop the criteria for CCM courses, review courses (e.g., syllabi, course materials, faculty expertise) that have been identified for inclusion in the common catalogue, and develop agreements among campuses regarding courses to be authorized to join the CCM.

CCM courses will be able to be taken for credit at any Oregon institution for residence credit.

It is estimated that 35-40% of courses in the common catalog may receive CCM designation.

How Progress Will Be Evaluated*

University provosts/community college vice presidents of instruction (or designees) will review the criteria for the CCM courses recommended by faculty teams. Determinations will be made as to level of approval needed by OEU consortium board, campus faculty committees, etc.

Criteria for CCM courses will be posted on the OEU web site for review by participating campuses, others.

The number of courses incorporated into the CCM will be monitored, as well as courses appropriate to various degree pathways (e.g., are sufficient number of courses available in a range of college majors, is there sufficient diversity of offerings leading to a range of degrees?).

Enrollments in CCM courses will be monitored (numbers of students, levels, from which host institutions, etc.).

Student satisfaction with CCM courses will be assessed by using the OUS Distance Learning Student Feedback Form. Note: Form may be updated within the next two years as OEU is developed/implemented.

Key Objective #3

Financial Formula for Common Marketplace Courses: Between 1998-99, the project will work with campus administrations to develop a financial formula to enable the "provider" institutions of distance education courses and the "host" institutions to share in the costs and revenues associated with CCM courses (e.g., who receives student tuition and/or fee payments, state subsidies, and payment for services to students).

Expected Outcomes

Project staff and the steering committee will play key role in developing proposed financial approaches, with consultants within Oregon. Jan Jackson, OUS Budget Director, and Bret West, Deputy Commissioner, Office of Community College Services, will assist with formulation of financial models that will provide incentives to provider and host institutions, and take into con-sideration the different funding mechanisms of the university system and community colleges.

Models to be investigated will include: (1) tuition split between host/provider with the FTE reimbursement counted by the host and FTE reimbursement split by host/provider; and (2) a franchise model in which a provider institution, for a specified fee, works with institutions that wish to offer programs, sharing curricular materials and training faculty to be able to teach the course at the host institution.

Staff will consult with SHEEO, NCHEMS, WICHE, and other key organizations to determine what financial models are in place (or being considered) by institutions and system offices elsewhere. These models will also be considered for piloting in Oregon.

Several "pilots" -- campuses sharing course enrollments -- will try out the above financial models. We will assess which models work best and under which circumstances.

How Progress Will Be Evaluated*

Once financial models are developed, they will be presented to appropriate policy-makers in the educational sectors -- provosts, administrative vice presidents for OUS, community college instructional vice presidents, and the Oregon Community College Distance Learning Consortium. They will recommend which should be moved forward for piloting among participating campuses in the project.

Project will monitor the number of pilots trying out different financial models. A list of key questions/issues will be supplied to campuses to ascertain the workability of the model(s).

A final report on financial models in use in course-sharing consortia in Oregon and elsewhere will be produced within this component of the project, and shared with interested organizations such as SHEEO, NCHEMS, and WICHE to facilitate dissemination.

Key Objective #4

Host Institutions for Students: During 1999-2000, the project will identify from among Oregon's 42 postsecondary institutions those which will agree to serve as "host" for students who do not have a particular institutional affiliation but wish to access postsecondary programs and services through nontraditional approaches.

Expected Outcomes

Project staff working with the steering committee will identify "specifications" for becoming a host institution.

Both community colleges and universities are expected to be identified as "host" institutions.

Host institution specifications are likely to include:

• campus specializes in meeting the needs of non-traditional students (criteria to be further specified during project);
• campus has experience in distance education courses and degree programs, both as provider and host;
• campus provides flexible residency requirements for degree completion through nontraditional means;
• campus participates in distance education developments regionally and nationally and is knowledgeable about accreditation requirements of distance education programs;
• campus participates in online library developments.

Host institutions will become the envisioned members of the consortium to operate Oregon Electronic University, which we expect to become operational during the academic year 2000-01.

Identification of "host institution status" will be voluntary; not all postsecondary institutions will be expected to seek the host institution designation.

How Progress Will Be Evaluated*

Host institutions will agree to a range of specifications to be developed by the project, and students will be referred to them from various sources including the ONE (Oregon Electronic Universities) Web site following a process of designation/approval by appropriate boards (Board of Higher Education, community college boards).

Faculty teams will review host institution specifications, as will university provosts and community college administrators.

A list of institutions agreeing to be host institutions (having agreed to specifications) will be available and approval of necessary administrations and/or boards received.

A monitoring system of the activity level of host institutions will be developed and put into place for use following implementation (this will occur at the end of the grant period and continue thereafter).

Note: Revisons anticipated following review by Peter Ewell, project's external evaluator.