PROMOTING QUALITY KEEPS WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY ONLINE AHEAD

PULLMAN, Wash., Jan. 18 -- Washington State University issued the following news release:

You may have seen him striding across the Pullman campus, a tall athletic man, his bald head always cocked to the left as he sandwiches a smart phone between hand and ear.

David Cillay needs to stay connected. He recently became executive director of WSU's Center for Distance and Professional Education, which includes WSU Online and the conference management group.

He had been CDPE's associate dean and director of instructional development and technology. Cillay replaced Muriel Oaks, who retired at the end of November.

The change comes amid tumultuous growth for online education. In 2010, online enrollments increased by a record 21 percent, while overall higher education enrollments grew by less than 2 percent, according to the 2010 Sloan Survey of Online Learning.

WSU Online has about 3,000 enrolled students, more than any campus except Pullman.

We managed to persuade Cillay to disconnect long enough to answer a few questions.

What made you decide to go into online education?

I used to teach face to face and loved it. I liked watching that light come on in students' eyes when they understood an idea or concept. When I moved online, I was hesitant. But it took just one semester to make me realize that this was for me.

In the physical classroom, my interaction with students usually centered on the 15 to 20 percent of students who dominated the discussion. In the online classroom, all students have to participate - they can't just sit there; they have to voice an opinion, an idea, an explanation.

Also, in the physical classroom, it might take until the midterm to see if a student understood the materials. In the online environment, because everyone has to participate, you know immediately if a student is struggling.

Is there an equivalent to "watching that light come on" for online instructors?

You see it in students' writing and communication and interaction. You can wander through various conversations and discussion threads, and you also have the ability to stop, go back and review how students got on the right path - and where they went astray.

How long have you been at the Center for Distance and Professional Education?

Almost seven years, but it feels like a week and a half. Things change so quickly in this field that there's little time for the work to grow familiar. I am reminded daily of things I don't know.

Why has online education taken off?

I see two main reasons. The first is social change. Look how the Internet has changed how we shop, communicate, search for information, interact. Online education is part of that revolution.

The second is quality. At WSU, we give students access to high quality learning resources, no matter where they live. And the educational environments we create are rigorous and relevant.

We also have the great advantage of working with WSU faculty who know how to engage students.

Do you expect WSU Online enrollment to continue to set records?

Not if we continue doing business as usual. We've got a lot of new competition, although much of it can't offer the prestige of a degree from WSU.

But if we are strategic in the way we position our programs, expedite the development of timely online programs, then we could continue to see impressive growth.

How can WSU compete against other online programs, especially the for-profits that have extensive ad campaigns?

We start by talking about who we are - who we have been for more than a century. We are WSU, a high quality university with a respected diploma and alumni who've become leaders across the world. We talk about the excellence of our faculty and the way online tools preserve and enhance that excellence.

But all those messages won't do much good if we don't offer what a student is looking for. We need to expand the number of online programs so more people can have access to the best of WSU.

I hear you play a good game of noon basketball in the Faculty/Staff Fitness Program. Ever draw blood?

I am as gentle as a lamb, but the guy you need to watch out for on the court is Ken Struckmeyer. The lack of color-coordination in his outfits is very disorienting. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com