Technology Plays Larger Role as Spring Semester Classes Begin
January 06, 2006      

Bloomington, Indiana—Ivy Tech Community College will begin its spring semester on Monday, January 9th and technology continues to play an ever increasing role in the delivery of the College’s instruction. New methods of instructional delivery that utilize technology, as well as courses where technology plays the primary role, are changing the way in which the region’s community college teaches its students.

Ivy Tech is using three primary instructional delivery methods that utilize technology – Internet, hybrid, and two-way video. These e-learning courses accounted for 2,297 course enrollments during the fall semester. Ivy Tech officials expect that number to increase during the spring semester. There has been a 107% increase in enrollment for e-learning courses since 2003. Much of that increase is due to new courses that have been developed utilizing technology as the method for instructional delivery.

Ivy Tech-Bloomington currently leads the Ivy Tech system in the number of hybrid courses being offered. Hybrid courses combine face-to-face classroom instruction with computer-based learning. In a hybrid course, a significant part of course learning is computer-based and as a result, the amount of classroom seat-time is reduced. Hybrid courses have been shown in studies from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Central Florida to have a higher success rate than entirely online courses because they allow the student more flexibility while maintaining face-to-face contact.

Ivy Tech –Bloomington’s Dean of Academic Affairs, Jim Smith, says the increase in e-learning courses has not been an accident. “Students were telling us that they wanted convenient alternatives that did not necessarily involve the traditional classroom structure. A concerted effort was undertaken to develop new courses utilizing technology, and to train faculty in how to deliver quality instruction using technology. In addition to adding Internet only courses, we have been able to leverage the Internet to combine technology with face-to-face instruction.”

Chancellor John Whikehart says that the addition of such courses fulfills Ivy Tech’s mission of changing lives. “Many of our students have jobs, families, and other responsibilities that prevent them from attending courses during traditional hours. E-learning courses have allowed students who would not otherwise receive an education to have the flexibility to pursue a degree or to complete courses that will transfer to other institutions. Internet delivery of course materials increases the student’s ability to access education, and makes Ivy Tech a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week community college”

Sarita Overton, President of Ivy Tech-Bloomington’s Student Government Association, says students appreciate the flexibility that e-learning courses provide. She took a hybrid early childhood education course earlier this year and found it to be very convenient. “The ability to interact with an instructor, while still having the convenience to do most of your work on the Internet, was a very flexible way to complete a course toward my degree.”

Ivy Tech-Bloomington offers e-learning classes in English, accounting, business administration, communications, computer information systems, criminal justice, early childhood education, health & human services, history, math, office administration, psychology, sociology, and other disciplines. Faculty teaching traditional face-to-face courses are also increasingly using e-learning delivery methods to enhance their courses.