Giving Distance Users what they want Dan Gall

Giving Distance Users what they want Dan Gall, Distance Education Coordinator Amy Paulus, Head, Access Services The University of Iowa Libraries

Unshelved October 3, 2008 http: //www. unshelved. com/archive. aspx? strip=20081003

What do we mean by Distance Education? �No uniform definition, but studies from the Sloan Consortium and NCES agree the field is growing �Online classes �Classes in remote sites �Self-paced graded courses �May include campus students taking online classes

Distance Education at the UIOWA �Through the Center for Credit Programs/Distance Education Department �Largest program is Social Work, but also MBA, Nursing, undergraduate completion, others �Variety of formats �Remote locations �Online classes �Campus students taking online classes

Survey �Goal: How best to provide services to distributed population �Need to know �Internet Connectivity �Preferences for how to get material and help

The Numbers �Sent to roughly 2000 students on July 22 nd �Responses collected through September 29 th � 222 total responses

Original Idea http: //www. dailyyonder. com/broadba nd-connection-highs-and-lowsacross-ruralamerica/2009/02/11/1921

Problems with Survey �Inherent Bias: Electronic distribution of survey asking about electronic access and preferences �Could not directly ask demographics �Could not differentiate between Johnson County and elsewhere

Rank where you do most of your research or study

Internet connection (Where you do most of your research)

Preference for Contacting a Librarian

Preferences for learning to use library

Useful Comments �If there is any possibility of collaborating with other schools where distance ed. students live, or other libraries to allow for access to computers and online research tools would be extremely helpful. I currently live in Ames, by ISU.

More Useful Comments �I really appreciated when a librarian came to my class and showed us exactly how to find articles/journals through the University Library website. It was awesome and I have used that website for every class since!

More Useful Comments �Sending anything by snail mail involves delays of up to two weeks even for nearby cities!

Survey Conclusions �Even with survey bias, there was a better internet connectivity than expected �As expected, most students did school work primarily from home and… �…had a strong preference for electronic delivery of services and materials

Library Services to Distance Education Users �Delivery of Articles �Delivery of Books � 60 second tutorials �ICON (course management system at the UI)

Delivery of Articles �Both ILL (for items not owned at the UI) and Article Delivery Service (ADS) (for items owned at the UI) � 1997 local service began �Faxing or mailing articles � 2002 Electronic Delivery via email/PDF � 2005 Last time a user requested an article faxed � 2006 ILLiad and all delivered electronically

Delivery of Articles to Distance Education �ADS numbers: 1014 in 2003 to 140 in 2008 �More electronically available journals? �Users finding what they need elsewhere? �April 2005 SFX (open-URL resolver) connected to ILL

Delivery of Books � 1997 began delivering UI books via UPS and continues � 2008 began delivering ILL books via UPS �User must pay for return or get the book back � 110 books (ILL and local) sent since 2006

Geographic Distribution of Requests

Distance Education in Iowa Students Requests

60 second tutorial

ICON �Electronic access to course reserves

Future Services �Book Delivery �Currently through ILL office and ILLiad, would like integrated with online catalog �Streaming �Video content into ICON (course management system) �Screen Sharing �Using DE systems or others

Get the Details �UIOWA survey - https: //survey. uiowa. edu/wswebtop. dll/WSPub. Re port? esid=6425&subaccountid=529

Bibliography �Allen, I. E. , & Seaman, J. (2006). Making the grade: Online education in the united states, 2006. Needham, MA: Sloan Consortium. Retrieved from http: //www. sloanc. org/publications/survey 06. asp �Allen, I. E. , & Seaman, J. (2008). Staying the course: Online education in the united states, 2008. Needham, MA: Sloan Consortium. Retrieved from http: //www. sloanc. org/publications/survey/staying_course �Wirt, J. , Choy, S. , Rooney, P. , Provasnik, S. , Sen, A. , & Tobin, R. (2006). The condition of education 2004 (NCES 2004 -077) No. NCES 2004 -077). Washington, D. C. : U. S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from http: //nces. ed. gov/programs/coe/2004/section 5/indicator 32. asp