NC State's Training & Development Online Program Receives the North Carolina Distance Learning Association Program Award

NC State University’s Training and Development Online (T&D Online) program was awarded the 2007 North Carolina Distance Learning Association (NCDLA) Program Award on May 25th at the NCDLA annual conference in Asheville, North Carolina. This award acknowledges outstanding accomplishments in the area of distance learning for the state of North Carolina. Dr. Tim Hatcher accepted the award on behalf of Dr. Diane Chapman, Director of the T&D Online program accepted the award during the awards ceremony held at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.

NC State University’s Training and Development (T&D) program in the Department of Adult and Higher Education has provided the citizens of North Carolina quality educational opportunities for over 25 years. In 2002, the program began offering an online M.Ed. in Training and Development (T&D Online). T&D Online was the first completely online degree offered by NC State. Program graduates include professionals from Fortune 500 companies, North Carolina state government, the U.S. Military, and other organizations both for and not for profit, in and outside of North Carolina.

The T&D Online program has made national and international impacts in distance education through venues that extend beyond North Carolina State University. As an online program residing within a state land-grant university, the impact of the T&D Online program is far-reaching.

In the past 5 years, The T&D Online program has become one of the most recognized Human Resource Development (HRD) programs in the United States. In addition to the online M.Ed., the T&D program offers a 5-course online certificate in training and development and is in the process if offering a blended program that results in a M.S. in HRD.

Dr. Diane Chapman, Director of T&D Online said, “We continually assess the quality of our program and make changes in response to the needs of business and industry, our current students, and our potentials students.” All of these programs offer high quality learning opportunities for students who may not otherwise have the opportunity to pursue their education through traditional means. Many of the online program characteristics developed by the T&D faculty and staff have served as models for other programs, both at NC State and beyond.

The program and its faculty are leaders and innovators, with a national and international reputation in distance education. Although the program relies on full-time faculty to teach the majority of courses, adjunct faculty from around the country that are specialists in their fields are used to supplement instruction. The program faculty has made a substantial impact presenting at workshops, national conferences, and meetings by sharing their innovative methodologies and experiences. T&D faculty have also consistently published and presented their research and findings in the area of distance education, including foundational work on online help, documentation, usability, and training design and evaluation.

The faculty have also won many awards including; the Marlowe Froke Award for most outstanding article published in the Journal of Continuing Higher Education, distinguished award articles on online informational design and evaluation in the Society for Technical Communication, the Gertrude Cox award for Innovative Excellence in teaching and Learning with Technology, and the International Conference on College Teaching and Learning’s award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning & Technology. Dr. Chapman said the T&D Online faculty “keep up with what is going on in the field through associations, memberships and working relationships with professional organizations and people in the field.”

One of the largest impacts of T&D Online is a result of its graduates. Graduates with a degree in T&D are responsible for the development of human resources, and have substantial impact in the working lives of citizens. Skills acquired by some students in the program resulted in the development of an online educational benefits website used throughout North Carolina state government.

Even greater in significance than flexibility of time and place is the recognition that online learning and the accompanying instructional technology result in a high-quality learning experience for students. Courses employ well-designed course websites that integrate features of the Vista Enterprise learning management system with custom designed html content modules. Students engage in regular class discussions through chat, e-mail, and Vista’s discussion board. Many of the courses also incorporate two-way audio, video, and visuals over the internet via the synchronous communication program, Elluminate Live. Courses are designed to provide students the opportunity to interact with course content and their classmates. The T&D program provides students with access to the same level of support services that would be available to on-campus students.

One T&D online student said, “When searching for an online program, accessibility and interactivity is a primary concern. The NCSU T&D Online program supports students through many components.  The program uses Vista, which not only includes a discussion forum, but also a chat room, links to library resources, and integrated email for the students in the class. The online help desk timely responds to technical difficulty not only with the Vista environment, but also with connectivity problems that students may encounter.”

T&D Online course development takes place in a collegial atmosphere involving, instructional designers, distance education librarians, instructional technologists, and multiple faculty members. This collaborative process facilitates the opportunity to capitalize on the individual expertise of each development partner.

Another T&D online student said, “The distance librarians are great assets to the program. They provide help to students as they navigate the extensive NCSU library.  Tools such as RefWorks and Citation Builder help students attain proficiency in writing standards. Students may have books mailed to their home at no cost and a pre-paid return label is included. However, if you reside locally, you have full access to the library.”

This program has made innovations in online learning for the state of North Carolina and continues to have immeasurable impact in the lives of its students and graduates, many of whom would not have been able to pursue degrees in any other way. The program continues to be regarded as a model of excellence and success in online education.

Receiving this award also qualifies T&D Online to be nominated for the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) national program award that will be presented later this year.