Journalism at a Distance: The Oregon Experiment

Abstract

It seemed so clean at start. The Oregon State System of Higher Education (OSSHE) was offering grant money for using technology in service of academic productivity. The School of journalism and Communication at University of Oregon (UO) was looking for ways to make transition smoother for transfer students and to enrich media studies curricula at state colleges that had been battered by cutbacks from Oregon's tax measures. Three journalism professors received a grant to use state's new telecommunication network to deliver some of journalism school's introductory courses to community and state colleges throughout Oregon. The initial proposal looked promising in theory. Prospective transfer students could complete some of their graduation requirements even before they arrived on campus. at other colleges would have opportunity to take media-related courses that were not available at their schools. And students would benefit from smaller classes and easier registration; demand for seats in those required courses on Eugene campus would be reduced because some of enrolled students would be out of town. However, process of planning and implementing project proved much more complicated than anticipated. Difficulties ranged from bureaucratic-philosophical - which schools would get credit with state for students' credit hours - to more prosaic issues posed by daily use of now satellite-based technology, where a snowy morning could bring transmission to a halt. This paper analyzes distance education experience of University of Oregon's School of journalism and Communication during 1995. Our intent is not only to describe practical side of process, but also to discuss political, economic, bureaucratic, and pedagogical implications of adopting and using a new educational technology. Among other issues, we will focus on convergence of media technologies in mass communication education; political and economic imperatives brought forth by that process; implications of use of new technology to curricular changes; and students' response to now technology. Distance education project Distance education. Klesius and Homan (1997) used two criteria to define distance education (DE) programs: Students and teachers are separated by distance (geographical, temporal, contextual), and technology is used to lessen or eliminate distance barrier (207). Using those criteria, they traced distance education's origins to mid-1800s, with emergence of correspondence education in Europe and United States. The University Continuing Education Association (UCEA), which represents some 425 public and private accredited colleges and universities, has updated that concept by acknowledging that, at end of 2Oth century, computer-mediated communication has come to play an important part in most DE initiatives. The association has defined distance education as the delivery of educational programs to off-site students through use of technologies such as cable or satellite television, video and audiotapes, fax, computer modems, computer and video conferencing, and other means of electronic delivery (Peterson's Distance Learning, 1997). The U.S. Department of Education issued a report in February 1998 stating that 33 percent of all higher education institutions in country offered at least one distance education course during 1994-1995 academic year (the most recent year for which statistics were available). Another 25 percent of schools said they were planning to offer distance education courses in next three years. An estimated 25,730 classes were offered in 1994-1995 alone, and education analysts are quick to point out that number has done nothing but go up since (U.S. Dept. of Education, 1998). It is not clear what impact distance education - also known as distributed learning - will have on higher education in next decades. …