NC Distance Learning Association PowerPoint

Due to the file size restrictions on the NCDLA discussion board, here is a link to the presentation via Google Docs:

Click here to view presentation.

I hope everyone enjoyed the conversation yesterday, as well as those that continue to emerge.

Out on the Edge of the Loop

As stated in previous posts, distance workers are at a disadvantage when it comes to meetings, especially large ones. This past week my new division held its inaugural division-wide meeting. Because of the logistics over phone service in the location of the meeting, I was unable to attend. While I was not too upset over getting to miss a meeting, the event did provide me with another example of how organizations who employ distance workers must make concessions in order to include everyone in events.

Overall, my college has gone to great lengths to provide support on several fronts to make sure this work environment remains productive and enjoyable. However, I do think for an institution to make telecommuting a long-term employment method, considerable policy decisions must be made early to ensure a comparable experience for all employees.

When I consider the impact full-time distance working will have on faculty, the communication aspect becomes very important. Colleges will have to devise ways to get information to remote workers in very timely fashions. One method that comes to mind is platform such as WebEx (http://www.webex.com/) where colleges could hold large virtual meetings with presentations. WebEx offers service for $375 a month for five users, $75 for each additional user. There are other companies with different prices and services, but the benefit of web meetings over missed interactions can cost more. It is in my nature to find a low-cost mid-tech solution to problems such as this, and if the college’s Voice over IP system could do multiple site conference calls, one could use free Google Presentations as the delivery method instead of a WebEx-like service.

None of the above-mentioned issues is without a solution. It simply comes down to the institution committing to the idea of telecommuting and devoting time, money, and human resources into the planning and execution of the initiative.

Internship Presentation

This Friday, the internship class will present to each other about their experiences. Because of the distance to the nearest ITV site, my professor has allowed me to send a narrated presentation. I have moved a non-narrated version to Google docs (located here).

This week has been very busy. I traveled to Florence Darlington Technical College in Florence, South Carolina to tour their Math Hub with nine others from HCC. The Math Hub is a lab-based learning environment we hope to simulate for our Quality Enhancement Plan. Along with learning about FDTC’s success in lab learning, I was very interested in learning about the differences between our two community college systems. In South Carolina, they are funded each year based on their fall enrollment, whereas our schools are funded based on fall and spring term. The FTE funds are distributed by the SC System Office to each of the 16 schools, and the colleges keep all proceeds from tuition.

Another interesting discussion I had with the VP of Academics was the notion of developmental education at the university level. I asked if the local four-year schools had remediation programs to which she replied, “Not ones they will tell you about.” While this policy is great for the community colleges, it can send some students into “provisional” purgatory while they try to get prepared for college work.

Back at the college, we are preparing for the SACS review with back-to-back meetings. I am able to multi-task other work items while the conversation is off of my areas, so it is working to my advantage.

Quarterly Review

I am happy to say I will be continuing my work with the college as a distance worker. I met with the President for a little over two hours last week, and she did not have any negative comments regarding my performance. In fact, she admitted later concern that I was going to announce I had found other employment closer to home during our meeting. During the meeting, I asked her questions, which will be used for my interview, paper later this semester but I can give a few highlights for this post.

The President stated a non-work related concern for her was my interactions with the college at large. She did not want me to feel isolated and distant for the rest of the college when it came to events, convocations, and gatherings for information dissemination. While she did not state the actual legal precedent, there is apparently a legal requirement to give all employees access to information in some formal structure.

The President would like for me to work towards documenting my experience so that the college can have other workers work remotely. When I told her about the blog, she was more than pleased. An interesting benefit of distance working for small rural colleges, especially those located in less areas lacking diversity, is the ability to hire faculty and staff from other cultures without requiring relocation. The President stated telecommuting will be a piece of her plan to bring greater diversity of employees to the college in the future.

The President was also pleased in the performance of my department, including the Quality Liaison who reports to me. This part of the conversation was a clear indicator of her approval of my management style and outcomes.

Overall, the entire trip back to the college was a success. My review with the President went well: I was able to meet my new Executive Director in person, I met with the SACS Vice President who apparently was so impressed with my data collection and reporting methods for the QEP she wants me to help lead a roundtable discussion at the annual SACS meeting this year, and I was able to see some old friends amid everything going on.

I will be finalizing my presentation for this course this week, and I will post it to the documents upon completion.

Broken Ladders

As I was preparing for my first quarterly review with the President regarding my telecommuting, I found myself reflecting on the accomplishments I have made in the last four months:

• Successfully, in my opinion, operating the Research Office from 325 miles away
• Competing 65 individual research/data requests (an average of 1.5 each business day)
• Building the beta release of the Workforce Preparedness inventory
• Taking a major role in the implementation of the Informer data reporting tool for Colleague/Datatel

While each of these accomplishments are great and important to the success and progress of the college, I could not help but think about my place among these events; in particular how they impact my relationship with the institution. It was then I realized a significant downside to telecommuting: advancement. Projects requiring large-scale coordination (aka the big projects) will most likely never hit my desk due to the need for personal interactions. I will most likely never rise above the level of Coordinator, even though I have supervisory roles – a major local prerequisite for Directors. If the college moves to having more distance workers, are we creating a class of employees stymied in the career ladder due to their proximity to the rest of administration? I have to admit, there has to be a threshold where yes, one must be on campus to properly assist in the daily operations of the college.

The dilemma I face is a simple one: do I continue as long as I can at my current position, which is a job I can do with a measure of competence while working at home, or do I use these experiences to build my resume and look for local employment? Personally, I would like to work for my current college as long as I can. I know the institution, the employees, and will soon complete work on the SACS re-affirmation as a Core Team member.

I guess I will find out if there are any plans for the future at my review. I will have a report from that meeting, as well as my interview with the President regarding telecommuting in future posts.

A New Boss

My department, which had been directly under the President, has now been folded into a new division of the College: the Division of Information Technology and Instructional Support Services. I am one of four “managers” reporting to an Executive Director responsible for Information Technology, Distance Learning, Library Services, and my department – Research.

To be honest, I was very concerned with how well my working situation would be accepted by someone I had never met. I was pleased to find her to be excited to be working with a telecommuter. For our first meeting we met over video conference, an experience some find to be uncomfortable especially with the bandwidth issues. She was interested to hear my opinions on the new department and my ideas on the community college. We will be meeting each week via video conference, similar to my departmental meetings, and will be working very closely on many projects including SACS.

For the next week, I will be preparing for my first quarterly review with the President. I am not sure if I will be meeting with my new boss from here on out, but for now I am just concerned with getting ready for next week. The President and I will be reviewing her opinion of my work, the “fit” of telecommuting for my position, and reviewing the current research projects. During this same visit back to the college, I will be meeting with our institutional contact from SACS. The representative will be on site to answer any questions and to look over our processes to offer advice.

The cost of travel

As my college and I go through the experience of telecommuting, we learn what works and what doesn’t. After my first trip back to campus, I submitted my request for travel reimbursement, about $280. The following week, the President’s office issued a statement saying they were going to pull the telecommuting policy from the Board of Trustee’s agenda because the college needed to look at the impact of travel on the policy- which had no stipulations or guidelines.

The issue is this: telecommuters are not on campus. The institution has decided to allow this person to work at a location, be it their home or an office somewhere else. In theory, a person who lives very close to the college could telecommuter due to illness or some other event making it unsafe or unwise to come on to campus.

I think the important question should be asked: Why should someone be called back to campus, and is this something that can be done by some other means? I have always been a fan of video conferencing- it’s the Star Trek fan in me. If colleges were a little more creative in planning their meetings, days of travel could be avoided, as well as thousands of dollars each year. When I first started in the community college system, I noticed there were a lot of conferences, seminars, and symposiums. These of course translate to lots of travel. I guess there is, and continues to be a conference culture in the academic world. While I understand the need to physically network with peers, I myself have benefited from the hallway “So what were you describing in the meeting?” conversation, I think a large majority of the one-sided meetings could be delivered in some other way.

We will never get away from the physical meeting, nor will we replace the need. However, if colleges move to distribute the workforce away from the institution, they must be ready to think about the implications of the ad-hoc meeting.