With an academic background in Curriculum and Instruction and a teacher for many years, program development is a favored area of my leadership and an especially fitting match for an entrepreneurial unit. As staff identifies educational needs of West Virginia communities and through our collective research on emerging trends and demands, Extended Learning matches educational needs with WVU programming, often initiating new programs or new delivery options.

• In 2001 with the cooperation with Vic Baker, I developed a proposal to initiate a video game minor. Faculty resources were not available at the time and, since then, we have watched many institutions launch programs in the educational arts and game design areas. Interest in the minor has had resurgence as a December 2006 article in the Daily Antheneum reported on the Virtual Reality Lab and WVU’s CAVE technology. 
   
• Efforts to migrate the Charleston based Master of Legal Studies to an online program was initiated by Pam Cutright, Extended Learning Program Coordinator. Extended Learning funded the course development and provides ongoing support through the Instructional Technology Resource Center. 
  
  
• Through a variety of instructional technologies, Extended Learning provides leadership and support in teaching and learning pedagogies.  Our most current project is planning and organization for redefining the Cultural Resource Management Certificate into a blended graduate program to attract federal and state employees in parks, tourism, historic preservation and museums.
  
  
• Instructional Technology Resource Center has dual reporting with OIT and Extended Learning. While the personnel report to OIT, the budget is funded through Extended Learning. This co-oversight offers technology applications through a focus on teaching and learning.
  
  
  • ITRC  held an Open House and is posting monthly podcasts featuring faculty and staff on topics related to teaching and learning.
    
    
  • ITRC Staff organized a tract of 8 sessions at the Computing Technology Symposium
    
    
  • Three staff members presented at the WebCT Conference to very high acclaim for the multimedia learning objects
    
    
  • Develop a "showcase of courses" and faculty guides for pedagogically sound instructional design. The showcase was demonstrated at WV Technology Fair and with faculty visiting ITRC.
     
    
  • In collaboration with Forensics, the ITRC has assisted in content and graphic design for online non-credit programming. Extended Learning registers, enrolls and distributes completion certificates in active courses (Automated Fingerprint Identification System, Hair Evaluation for DNA Analysis). Since April 2006, 133 students from New York to Washington have completed one or more courses.
    
    
• The Initial Substitute Teacher course for certification of new substitute teachers was awarded the overall top award for creative and innovative programs by the North American Association of Summer Sessions in November, 2006. This program is an excellent partnership between k-12 and higher education that serves a critical need in the state. (link) It is also one of the first online Continuing and Professional Development courses available through Extended Learning’s e-Commerce portal.
  
  
• IViN is WVU’s Interactive Video Network that delivers two way interactive audio, video and data. Extended Learning provided fiscal management and investments into new electronic classrooms across the state for instructional outreach. The Engineers of Television Productions provided their planning expertise, technical management and staffing to keep the system operating at 97% efficiency. The partnership has been a strong one that reaches back to the 1988 and satellite delivery. In November 2006, Extended Learning transferred the network valued at over $500,000 to TV Productions for their management. Extended Learning will continue to be a participant of IViN services, but will no longer be responsible for budgetary oversight.
  
  
• A knowledgebase has been established for all off-campus programs and is being refined for consistent information about WVU online/off-campus programs. The data-gathering process was laborious due to the lack of concrete information.  Many graduate programs and faculty have not been involved in market research or fundamental market data.  Our goal over the next months will be to standardize and link this data to our web page in a manner that provides important facts about each program.
  
  
• WebCT Vista – Through collaboration with OIT, the Vista Course Management System has demonstrated significant increase in number of courses using technology enhancements, overall system stability and variety of instructional tools. Fall traditionally hosts the most courses of all terms. In fall 2005, the following VISTA statistics highlight the use of e-learning: 19,177 unique student users, 48,447 student “seats”, 1,331 course sections, 1,559 instructors, and the largest section has 377 students. By Fall2006, WVU implemented WebCT Vista enterprise course management system with 1,898 course sections that hosted 23,617 individual students or a total of 77,984 “seats” taught by over 650 faculty – a major jump in technology enhanced e-learning from the previous year https://ecampus.wvu.edu. New upgrades and tools have been added to increase instructional delivery and effectiveness. These tools are:

• eCampus Design – develop new name and template for WVU online course environment (January, 2007).
  
  
• Turnitin – a plagiarism self-check tool for students and faculty (Fall, 2006).
  
  
• Horizon Wimba Voice Tools – allows voice recording and interaction (Fall, 2004).
  
  
• Horizon Wimba Live – a synchronous streaming video and whiteboard tool for real time instruction (Fall, 2006).

• Summer has shown steady growth from the initial days of the entrepreneurial model (circa 1998). Many personnel, from the Provost’s Office to Assistant/Associate Deans, have contributed to the success of this incentive model. The Summer program has made a significant transformation from a “select” faculty driven option to a high demand, student driven planned program.  In its support of all funds budgeting, the Provost’s Office has kept the central commitment constant for over six years without an increase even as tuition and fees increases returned larger amounts to Colleges. While institutional leadership for Summer Sessions lies with the Dean of Extended Learning, Assistant or Associate Deans are the primary persons responsible for course planning in their Colleges. Assistant and Associate Dean receive detailed Summer data and annual reports from Margy Pinnell in Extended Learning. The fiscal return to Colleges is impressive and speaks well to the engagement of many across the University.
  
  Enrollments have increased over 18% since 2000, currently serving more than 14,800 students.  With the addition of online courses and minors available in the summer, we have experienced increased numbers off-campus (+4.30%) and in the “both” category (+21.15%) in the last year alone.
  

• Summer 2006 was a transition year with “A & B sessions” to the one 12 week session in Summer 2007 with an array of course lengths. In this interim period, the 12 week session was used primarily for online courses that needed a longer timeframe for course progression. Grades were available to faculty for all courses at the end of each 3 week parts of term.  This was an excellent transition period for faculty into the One Summer model for 2007.  It is important to note the diligence of the Student Systems Development personnel who work behind the scenes to make sure all of the Banner/Star systems are aligned for this “term” migration. As evidenced by the tasks in Donna Hylton’s project list, many people work in strong collaboration to make the transition occur smoothly. The annual Summer Luncheon was held at the end of November this year to better prepare advisors and to initiate marketing prior to the holiday break.