Building a Distance Education Program through Collaboration and Combined Technologies.

Overview & Synopsis

The Collaborative Early Childhood Special Education Program provides training to students from rural and remote areas in Utah that leads to a certificate in early childhood special education. The program represents a collaborative effort between Utah State University, the University of Utah, and the Utah Office of Education. Contact with special education directors in rural school districts revealed that only 29 percent of preschool teachers in Utah's rural areas had received required special education certificates. It was apparent that to accommodate rural teachers, an effort had to be made to provide requisite classes in rural areas. The Utah Office of Education organized a consortium of faculty and agency personnel who met regularly to discuss both preservice and inservice teacher education. In addition, the state office funded a yearlong planning and development grant to support a faculty member who was instrumental in formulating agreements between the two universities responsible for program implementation. In light of limited university resources, faculty and administrators agreed to assign delivery of core courses to one institution and specialization courses to the other. Core courses were led by trained facilitators and delivered to rural students via videotapes. In addition to two specialization courses that were already adapted for delivery in rural areas, six additional specialization courses were offered via interactive television. Program staff assisted students in accessing the necessary technology for participating in the program and hired an instructional technologist to help students learn to use computer technology to communicate with university faculty. (Contains eight references.) (LP)