Flashtrack™
Thomas Edison State University has recently received a two-year, $250,000 federal grant that will be used to accelerate the deployment of a new course delivery system that utilizes cloud computing technologies and is designed to increase access and minimize technical issues for adults earning a college degree.
The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), will enable the college to develop 40 courses over the next two years that will be delivered entirely via flash drives that contain similar structure and functionality of the college’s typical 12-week, asynchronous online courses but without the need for a constant online connection. For these new courses, students will need an Internet connection only to submit assignments and participate in online discussions. The remainder of course work can be completed offline.
"This grant enables us to make our courses and degree programs more readily accessible to students in locations all over the world, even where broadband Internet access is limited, including remote rural areas in the United States, in the Middle East and on ships at sea," said Dr. George A. Pruitt, president of Thomas Edison State University.
"The new technology is helping us increase access for our students who cannot be tethered to a computer for long periods of time. It will also allow us to deliver education to students where they are located and in the format they select."
The college launched its first generation of flash drive-based courses, known as FlashTrack™ courses, in spring 2009. They are designed for independent learners and prepare students to take a pass or fail examination without an Internet connection.
The FIPSE grant will enable the college to develop the second generation of its flash drive-based courses and help the college begin to develop courses using cloud computing technologies, which utilize servers in a load-sharing fashion that house all course content and materials required to complete the courses. This will change how the college designs its courses and will ultimately lead to a new, platform-independent course delivery system that enables the college to offer entire courses in more formats.
For example, through the new system, a course like Introduction to Entrepreneurship would have the same content, general structure and materials, regardless of whether a student:
- takes it as an asynchronous online course with discussion boards and class interactions
- takes it as an independent study course or examination program, where students have no interaction with other learners
- has the course delivered entirely on a flash drive, secure digital (SD) card or other removable storage device
- has the course delivered to a smartphone or other Web-enabled device
Dr. Henry van Zyl, the college’s vice provost of Directed Independent Adult Learning, is directing the effort and said the grant helps the college to take course delivery to a new level.
"I think what we are doing is revolutionizing course delivery methods in higher education," he said. "We are going to be able to reach a level of flexibility and access that is unprecedented, and that goes beyond recreating the online experience in an offline setting."
Just as important to access, Van Zyl said that the platform-independent system is expected to help eliminate most of the technical glitches that students taking online courses experience, such as those caused by upgrades to learning management systems and software compatibility issues.
Van Zyl said the new system will be "operating system agnostic" and will work as well with PCs as it does with Apples, regardless of the computers’ operating systems.
"In addition to delivering the entire course and all materials to our students in the format they prefer, our new platform will provide access to all of the software required to complete the course," he said. "Using multiple servers with major redundancies, we expect downtime to be greatly reduced."
Toni M. Terry, BA