DISTANCE EDUCATION

What is Distance Education?

ECSU Distance Education: Distance Education at Elizabeth City State University offers students the option to achieve educational goals without attending traditional on-campus classes. Elizabeth City State University offers courses both at off-campus sites and online. Online courses afford students the opportunity to access their courses anytime and anywhere via the Internet. ECSU faculty participate in extensive professional development to enable them to develop and teach online courses. Online courses are equivalent to in class courses for the exception of the primary delivery method, the Internet. All online courses are taught using the Blackboard course management system. A course management system allows each student a unique login access to their courses.

For the purposes of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission's accreditation review, distance education is a formal educational process in which the majority of the instruction (interaction between students and instructors and among students) in a course occurs when students and instructors are not in the same place. Instruction may be synchronous or asynchronous. A distance education course may use the internet; one-way and two-way transmissions through open broadcast, closed circuit, cable, microwave, broadband lines, fiber optics, satellite, or wireless communications devices; audio conferencing; or video cassettes, DVD's, and CDROMs if used as part of the distance learning course or program.

Mission

The Distance Education program supports and encourages collaborative efforts involving faculty, staff, and administrators, working to serve as a model for change and growth at ECSU via distance education delivery methods. Distance education at Elizabeth City State University extends availability and access to convenient course offerings to students who are isolated from campus due to time and/or geographic location, utilizing existing, new, and emerging technological strategies.

Goals

1. To offer an academically sound alternative to traditional face-to-face instruction via distance education technologies to meet the needs of non-traditional students.
2. To provide administrators, faculty, and staff with professional development opportunities and resources essential for teaching and learning in online distance education courses.
3. To increase student enrollment and retention by offering convenient and accessible online course and support services to address the needs of online students which supports the current and future workforce needs of the State of North Carolina.
4. To continuously maintain and upgrade the technologies necessary to deliver quality online courses and to review current and emerging trends in online distance education in an effort to integrate best practices.

For More Information Contact:

Kimberly N. Stevenson, Director 
Distance and Continuing Education, Videoconference Center 
Elizabeth City State University 
Campus Box 924 
1704 Weeksville Road
Elizabeth City, NC 27909
Phone: Toll-Free: (877) 432-7662 
Fax: 252-335-3426
de@ecsu.edu