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| High Tech Goes High Touch: MCC's Quest to Offer an Online Degree |
Many of us who use technology on a regular basis believe that our entire world has changed as a result of that technology. However, there are some elements of life, such as house-breaking a puppy (Puppy 101 hasn't changed much since we began domesticating those territorial mammals many years ago) that remain relatively static (requiring more touch than tech); clearly MCC positioning itself to offer an online degree program is no exception.
MCC began offering Internet-based courses in 1996 and in doing so set off an explosion of technology related events (purchasing course management tools, upgrading MCC computer equipment, creating a portal, hiring instructional technologists, bribing faculty), all of which were designed to position MCC to offer an accredited online degree. However, all of that technology, techno-babble and buzzwords would be meaningless if the college could not successfully navigate the accreditation process set forth by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of the North Central Association; a process which requires a great deal of social engineering. A committee was thus formed (yes, a committee in an institution of higher learning!) to understand what it would take to become accredited to offer an online degree, which included understanding HLC requirements, outlining available college-based evidence to support those requirements, gathering evidence and writing draft reports; all a product of no-tech human interaction, commitment, teamwork and lots of begging.
The good news is that all of that grinding non-techie work has paid dividends. To date the much heralded committee (the MCC Distance Learning Degree Accreditation Sub-Committee) has made a lot of High Touch progress. Thus far the committee has identified MCC's readiness to offer an online degree (we are but one course away); determined that MCC has a treasure-trove of evidence which matches the HLC's criterion (enough to overload your thumb-drive); illustrated the college's willingness to meet potential challenges; and completed a draft outline designed to convey this to the Office of Research and Planning (and subsequently to the HLC). Consequently, MCC's High Tech machine has been able to employ the old-fashioned High Touch technique of identifying evidence, gathering it and writing it up, as it continues its quest to obtain permission to offer an accredited online degree program. Over the course of the next several months, the draft reports will be refined, edited, scrutinized and spell-checked to prepare them for formal presentation to the HLC. Put that in your Pentium IV Digital Studio PC.
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