Our state community colleges formed a consortium in 1999 to
offer freshman, sophomore, and technical courses throughout
the state. In addition, the system was set up so that a
student at one community college could take courses offered
not only by the home college but also with colleges in the
consortium. By the second semester, not only were community
college students taking classes, but students enrolled in
state and private universities were taking classes through
the Mississippi Virtual Community College system. I started
teaching online Summer 2000; in my first online American
Literature I survey class, one of my students was in
Germany; she taught in the elementary school on a USAF
base. She took my course to keep her teaching license.

MSVCC is a 2-platform system; using Blackboard and
Desire2Learn software. The MSVCC carries the registration,
scheduling, and grades forwarding. Individual colleges
register students, provide the courses, and pay the
instructors. Each college decides which courses it will
accept; a few college will only accept courses taught by its
instructors, some accept any MSVCC approved course, and some
accept courses after specific review of instructor CV and
syllabus.

Here are the issues any institution should consider BEFORE
starting the plan:
1) Who will teach? Not only must each instructor be
certified for the subject, but that instructor must also be
very skilled with computers, the software, and with
assisting students (talking them through the technology for
the first 2 or 3 weeks). Probably every semester I'll
receive requests from other colleges or universities wanting
to examine my syllabii, and sometimes I get phone calls
asking to justify content. (I'm very proud to say that
almost all university instructors have been extremely
impressed by the coverage, and a few wanted copies of my
lecture notes.)
2) Who will be the "technology wonk"? This person is the
interface with students, instructors, administration, and
the software company. At the MSVCC colleges, this is the
Distance Learning Coordinator (DLC) - it's a multiperson
office. This is much more than just an administrative job -
it's GEEK Squad and Academic VP and student counselor and
software integration engineer and scheduler and registrar
all in one.
3) What's the schedule? This must be set up VERY well in
advance, in order for instructors, proctor sites, registrar,
and advertising to be correct.
4) What are the costs - it should be equal across the board
for all institutions. This is going to require hardware,
software, proctor costs, advertising, paper processing,
textbooks.
5) What PROVES the student is actually doing the work? In
MSVCC, we set up 2 proctored tests per semester. The
student must show up (appointment setting required) at an
approved site, must log in independently under supervision,
and complete an assignment. Normally, that's a midterm and
a final. The software allows instructors to set password-
protected tests. The proctors have access to the password
lists. An instructor can also demand that every assignment
be completed under proctor IF CHEATING IS SUSPECTED. I've
had to do that two times (suspects revealed their guilt in
both cases). I teach in far south Mississippi; my middle
and north Mississippi students visit their home campus
proctor sites for the tests, so I never see them. Possibly
your situation would be something different - you'll want to
examine "hybrid" classes.

Mississippi 4 year public institutions are far behind the
community colleges for organization and reputation.

There is a Mississippi online GED and highschool system,
much smaller, but using the same platform.

My community college online students include:
military
homebound by illness or family responsibilities such as
children
travelers (such as truckers)
off-shore workers (many people around here work on off-shore
oil rigs)
athletes with heavy travel schedules
people with varied job schedules (such as health care)
students who do not want to take a specific teacher, but
that teacher "owns the subject" at a college
students with scheduling conficts - course not offered, must
take a different course only offered that same time (we get
many university students in the summer for this reason)
classroom course overloaded
"learning situations" - My college has a few students with
Asberger's and Tourette's Syndrome - they do NOT function
well in a classroom, but do well in the online environment.
Visual and auditory disabilities - the computer can
seemlessly adapt to these needs.

I suggest googling Mississippi Virtual Community College if
you want more information. You also might contact the
Blackboard and Desire2Learn companies for demonstrations.

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