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On the Job with Distance and Distributed Education

The Bulletin spoke with Rose Leigh Vines, director of Distance and Distributed Education.

What do people think you do?
I don’t think that most people really know about the Distance and Distributed Education program on our campus or the courses we offer and the support we provide.

What do you really do?
I work in collaboration with a variety of on- and off-campus entities, including the Sacramento Educational Cable Consortium and other service providers, to facilitate the development, delivery and scheduling of all distance and distributed education courses. We offer about 40-45 courses per semester that are televised from our studio classrooms either on cable television or through video streaming technology. In addition, we offer 30-35 online courses.

Describe your office?
My office is located in ARC 3005. I work closely with other members of the DDE staff. The DDE staff is responsible for training faculty, staff and students in the use of and familiarization with technology and systems in our six studio classrooms located in AIRC, Calaveras Hall and the Library.

What surprises people?
Distance and Distributed Education does not exist to replace classroom teaching. It is intended as an option to increase accessibility for students who cannot attend on-campus classes because of personal scheduling conflicts or health issues. Professors are not required to teach these courses, but rather they choose to teach a DDE course and they are supported throughout the process.

What is your biggest challenge?
DDE course scheduling. It is a major job to coordinate studio time and television broadcast time with individual department schedules, the University calendar and the cable television schedules from other community colleges that offer courses through the Sacramento Educational Cable Consortium. It is a difficult task but I really enjoy working with faculty and staff throughout the campus as well as the community so it makes my job enjoyable.

What do you get asked the most?
What do I do if I want to teach a distance course? I tell faculty their first step is to make an appointment to meet with me to discuss your course. To schedule an appointment, please call 278-7948.

You can find out more about the DDE program and see what distance courses are offered at www.csus.edu/atcs/distance.