Report of VCT Coordinators’ Summer Meeting
Holiday Inn Emerald Beach
June 17-18, 2002
Colleges Represented:
Alamo Comm. Col. District
-Northwest Vista College
-Palo Alto College
-San Antonio College
Austin Comm. College
Blinn College
Central Texas College
Coastal Bend College
College of the Mainland
Collin County Comm. College
Dallas Comm. Col. District
Del Mar College
El Paso Comm. College
Galveston College
Kilgore College
Laredo Comm. College
Lee College
McLennan Comm. College
Navarro College
N. Harris Montgomery Comm. Col.
Odessa College
San Jacinto College
South Texas Comm. College
St. Philip’s College
Tarrant County College
Temple College
Trinity Valley Comm. College
TSTC-Harlingen
TSTC-Marshall
Tyler Jr. College
Victoria College
Weatherford College
June 17 Morning Session: VCT Basics
This session was directed to new or recently appointed VCT Coordinators who could benefit from a
systematic review of VCT’s foundational understandings, agreements, practices and operational
procedures. Ron Thomson conducted the session.
Fundamental VCT Principles. The session began with an affirmation of two fundamental principles
that undergird VCT’s operation as a member-driven organization:
1. VCT is first and foremost a service of the Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC).
2. It is a collaborative of all Texas public two-year colleges.
VCT History. VCT began as an initiative of community college presidents. They saw that distance
learning was changing the face of higher education, and Texas two-year colleges needed to respond
proactively. In meetings during the summer and fall of 1996, they conceived the host-provider model
under which VCT operates, and they appointed a TACC Distance Learning Advisory Committee
(DLAC) to address issues that the model posed. Meeting frequently between February 1997 through
summer 1998, the DLAC delineated the responsibilities of host and provider colleges and resolved
VCT operational issues in preparation for a three-year pilot project. The pilot project was launched in
the fall semester of 1998, and it came to a successful conclusion in August 2001. VCT began operating
as an on-going service in the 2001 fall semester.
Mission. The mission of VCT is to enhance access to higher education by sharing distance learning
resources among member colleges. Those resources include courses, faculty, student services,
technology, and administrative support.
Host-Provider Model. The host-provider model is the strategic foundation that makes distance
learning resource sharing possible on a statewide scale. With this model, local (host) colleges enroll
students to take courses offered by remote (provider) colleges. The host provides student support
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services and transcripts the course. Collecting all tuition and fees, the host college pays the provider
college an instructional lease fee, an amount determined by the provider, which typically does not
exceed what the host receives in contact-hour reimbursement from the state. (Note: This fee structure
may need to be modified for Continuing Education).
Critical Key. A critical key to making VCT’s host-provider model work is the common course
numbering system. Without common course numbers, it would be much more difficult to transcript
courses locally that are provided by remote colleges.
Governance. Governance of the Virtual College of Texas rests squarely with the Texas Association of
Community Colleges. For operational guidance, VCT relies upon the counsel of the TACC Distance
Learning Advisory Committee, the Distance Learning Advisory Committee of Texas Administrators of
Continuing Education (TACE), and extensive input from member colleges.
After reviewing what VCT is and how it operates, Ron emphasized what VCT is NOT:
• a maker of policy or regulations
• a decision-maker regarding its role or scope
• a referee among member institutions
Ron called attention to the foundational VCT documents listed below. He then presented a synthesis of
basic VCT agreements contained in all of them, followed by a more detailed look at the VCT
Operations Manual. Each document is available at the VCT website (www.vct.org). The slides used in
the presentation may be viewed by clicking here: Ron’s PowerPoint Slides
VCT foundational documents:
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VCT MOU
o One-page document specifying basic VCT agreements
o Signed by all Texas two-year college presidents or chancellors
“Guidelines for CE Provider and Host Responsibilities”
o Summary of issues and responsibilities related to VCT and who (host or provider) is
responsible for addressing them
VCT Operations Manual
This document delineates actions that various categories of college personnel need to take to
make VCT work at member colleges serving in both host and provider roles. Personnel include:
VCT Coordinators, Advisors and Counselors, Instructors, Registrar’s Office, and Business
Office. VCT actions are to be taken in these four time periods:
o Before a semester begins
o During advisement and registration
o During a semester
o End of semester
Trust among member colleges, Ron emphasized, is essential for VCT’s success.
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June 17 Afternoon Session
Welcome
Lula Hinton, VCT Coordinator at Del Mar College, kicked off the afternoon session with an
enthusiastic Corpus Christi welcome. She then engaged the group in an ice-breaker that required
meeting participants to find individuals who met certain criteria specified on a grid (such as “owned a
motorcycle” and “speaks another language), with the goal of checking off as many cells in the grid as
possible.
Keynote
Dr. Bud Joyner, VCT CEO from the 1999 fall semester through the summer of 2001, spoke to the
group about reasons that VCT has succeeded, beginning with genuine inter-institutional collaboration
among member colleges. He proceeded to identify advantages that VCT offers both students and
colleges, and he strongly emphasized that inter-institutional trust is the foundation of VCT.
“Collaboratives may develop from necessity and opportunity,” Bud stated, “but they are sustained by
trust, and they fail when that trust disappears.” A full summary of the speech is available by clicking
this link: Summary of Dr. Joyner’s Speech
Star Award: Recognition of Colleges
In the 2002 fall semester, Governor Rick Perry presented VCT a Texas Higher Education Star Award
for increasing access to higher education. Framed reproductions of the award certificate were presented
to an attendee from each college represented at the meeting. Bud Joyner recognized the colleges, and
Mickey Slimp and Ron Thomson handed out the certificates.
FY 02 Accomplishments
Ron reviewed these major VCT accomplishments of the 2001-02 academic year:
• VCT made a successful transition from pilot project to on-going service.
• Enrollments through VCT increased dramatically: 3,437 in FY 02 as of the meeting date—an
increase of approximately 112% over FY 01 enrollments. (Enrollment growth FY ‘98-‘02)
• Colleges continued to participate in VCT at a high rate: 45 out of 51 Texas college
districts/systems participated—an 88% participation rate. (FY ’02 Participation)
• VCT was recognized with a Texas Higher Education Star Award, and it was selected as a
higher education priority by Governor Perry.
• Eleven TCCTA pre-conference workshops attended by 80 faculty members were organized and
coordinated.
• The first annual VCT evaluation by Coordinators was conducted; colleges’ overall satisfaction
with VCT was 5.35 on a scale of 1 (very dissatisfied) to 6 (very satisfied).
• The VCT website was re-designed and new features were added to make it more useful and
powerful.
• Groundwork was laid to facilitate Continuing Education’s becoming active with VCT.
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Texas Partners for Workforce Education Distance Learning
Pat Smith gave an update on this Perkins-funded project that is facilitating Continuing Education’s
efforts to become active with VCT. The project’s goals are to demonstrate that VCT is an effective and
cost efficient for delivering Continuing Education; to develop new CE distance learning curricula for
delivery via VCT; and to demonstrate the benefit of collaborative development and delivery. Pat
reviewed the project’s methodologies and accomplishments:
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Advisory committee to provide overall counsel
Surveys to determine currently offered CE distance learning courses, to identify the CE
requirements for licensed occupations in Texas, and to select courses for development
Development of inter-institutional agreements and operational guidelines
Resolution of VCT issues unique to CE
Development of a course for pilot testing
Identification of potential partners and possible roles for additional collaborative course
development
Determination of differences between offering CE and academic courses through VCT
Identifying changes needed at the VCT website to accommodate CE
The CE/VCT partnership, Pat asserted, holds huge potential.
Statewide Initiatives
Mickey Slimp gave a current report on these statewide initiatives:
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“Internet Teachers at Every College”
Workshops
Licenses for WebCT and QuestionMark
State Distance Learning Plan
Since much of the information Mickey related is time sensitive, details of his report are not included
here. A special update on statewide initiatives will be provided ASAP
Telecourses: Texas Consortium for Ed. Telecommunications (TCET)
Becky Stinson, Manager of TCET, reported on VCT telecourse enrollments for the fall and spring
semesters:
Fall 2001
Spring 2002
11 host colleges
10 host colleges
4 provider colleges
3 provider colleges
16 telecourses
15 telecourses
28 enrollments
47 enrollments
She then reviewed telecourse license issues related to hosting and providing telecourses. When a
TCET member college hosts a VCT course, it does not have to concern itself with any licensing issues.
In this case, the provider college’s license covers the host’s students, and the provider reports the host
college’s enrollments to the telecourse producers. When a college is not a TCET member, it must
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obtain a per-student license to host a course. For instructions on this procedure, colleges should contact
Becky Stinson, Manager of TCET (972-669-6666 or bstinson@dcccd.edu).
Becky encouraged VCT Coordinators not to overlook telecourses as course options. Telecourses, she
reminded, are still very popular, and enrollments in them nationally are increasing.
Best Practices
Selected best practices were shared by Michelle Shoemaker (Blinn College), Donnetta Suchon (Lee
College), Christa Emig (Northwest Vista College, Alamo District), and Lula Hinton (Del Mar
College).
Blinn College: Online Entry of Grades. When Blinn College hosts a course, it issues an ID/password
to the provider’s instructor so he/she can log into Blinn’s registration/information system to record
grades online.
Northwest Vista College: VCT Database. Northwest Vista College has set up an Access database
that facilitates convenient tracking of VCT transactions related to enrollments, invoicing and grades,
among other things.
Del Mar College: VCT Promotional Strategies. Del Mar College uses a variety of techniques to let
students know about the Virtual College of Texas, including: ads in the school newspaper, a television
public service announcement, campus flyers, VCT workshops for staff and faculty, ads in each
semester’s class schedule, informing students about VCT in new-student orientations, and covering
VCT in the distance learning handbook.
Several Lee College practices were reported:
Online Entry of Grades. Provider colleges’ instructors enter grades for Lee college students. This
eliminates tedious paperwork and expedites term grades for the registrar and students. In addition,
faculty members have access to student information pertaining to VCT students. To provide this
service, Lee’s Personnel Director developed a category of non-paid employee. The registrar and
computer center technician also have access to information they need for state reporting.
Textbooks. Lee College’s bookstore manager uses the VCT catalog to order books for students taking
classes through VCT. Since the bookstore has an online service, students may place an order over the
Internet and get their VCT books by mail, or they may pick them up at the bookstore.
Access to Administrative Area of VCT Website. A team of Lee College people have access to the
password-protected administrative areas of the VCT website. The team includes the VCT Coordinator,
secretary, a counselor, and bookstore manager. The expanded VCT team streamlines operations and
supports better student service.
New Activities
Ron Thomson reviewed these new VCT initiatives and activities:
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VCT Portal. The Governor’s Office has indicated that funding may be made available to further
develop the VCT website so that it serves as a portal to an expanded range of services for students,
instructors, and administrators. A prospectus for such a portal was drafted by an ad hoc committee
consisting of Candace Schaefer (Blinn College), John Ray (Brazosport College), Ryan Carstens (North
Harris Montgomery College District), Mickey Slimp (Tyler Junior College), and Ron Brey and Shane
Forrest (Austin Community College). If the portal funding becomes available, colleges will have
ample opportunity for input into determining the specific needs and services that the portal would
address.
Texas Broadcast Education Network. An initiative called Building a Digital Community has been
implemented to use Texas PBS resources as a Texas Broadcast Education Network. It is part of a $20
million dollar grant to Texas PBS stations for digital conversion. The goal of the initiative is to deploy
“. . . a unique, statewide digital broadcasting network that will provide Texans with effective,
efficient, and equitable access to quality statewide and localized educational services.” VCT has a
position on the curriculum advisory committee. The first meeting of the committee was held June 18,
and VCT was represented on it by Candace Schaefer (Blinn College).
American Council for Virtual Education. VCT is one of the charter members of this new national
council, which has a unique membership: entities such as VCT that are composed of multiple
institutions engaged in distance learning. Initial goals of the council are in the areas of marketing and
communication, portal development, public policy, and grants and partnerships. VCT will be
represented at council meetings by VCT member-college representatives who can effectively address
the issues on a given agenda and by Ron Thomson.
June 18 Session
VCT Issues
Ron briefly reviewed a list of VCT issues that became evident this year.
Increasing Enrollments and Workloads. VCT FY 02 enrollments increased more than 100% over
FY 01. This increase, in many cases, stretched colleges’ capabilities to serve students through VCT.
Since Coordinators are already working as hard as they can to make VCT work, and personnel
increases are not likely, the solution to this dilemma is to work smarter, not harder. Ron encouraged
the sharing of best practices at all future VCT Coordinator meetings and stated that most of the current
morning session would be devoted to Coordinators brainstorming ideas on ways to make VCT work
more easily, effectively, and efficiently.
SACS. Coordinators at colleges facing upcoming SACS visits typically become concerned about
questions that may arise regarding VCT. It was pointed out that SACS has found no VCT-related
problems at any college that has undergone a SACS visit since the advent of VCT. Speaking up to
affirm that position were Mickey Slimp from Tyler and Cindy Smith from Northeast Texas, both of
whom represent colleges that have dealt with VCT in the context of SACS visits. Ron also explained
that Rey Garcia, Executive Director of the Texas Association of Community Colleges, deals one-onone with presidents of colleges concerned about VCT as a SACS visit approaches. He gives them
copies of all TACC/SACS correspondence related to VCT and responds to any specific questions.
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WECM Courses and VCT. Any college may host any course in the Academic Course Guide Manual
whether or not the course is taught locally because all ACGM courses are considered to be a part of
each college’s course inventory. This is not true, however, for courses in the Workforce Education
Course Manual. To enroll a student in a WECM course that is not taught locally, the course must be
offered as a special topics course, offered as a local need, or offered under the provision that allows a
college to offer a certain number of hours of WECM courses irrespective of its local inventory status.
In any case, enrolling a student in such WECM courses requires more work than is required for ACGM
courses, and some colleges, therefore, choose not to deal with them. Coordinating Board personnel
have extended hope that CB rules might be revised to make WECM courses more easily accessible
through VCT.
Transcripting Courses Offered Through VCT. Even if a course is in the Academic Course Guide
Manual, some colleges are hesitant to host it through VCT if they do not teach it locally because of
transcript concerns. The concern is that questions about a VCT course may arise some years in the
future and they may lose track of who provided the course. Coordinators at the meeting agreed that this
concern might be alleviated if each college could access at the VCT website the complete VCT record
for a student who has taken courses through VCT. The record would include the provider for each
course. Ron stated that this capability would be added to the VCT website.
Online VCT Evaluation. The second Coordinators’ evaluation of VCT will be conducted in the 2002
fall semester. Coordinators present concurred that they would prefer that the VCT evaluation be
conducted online. VCT staff will work with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness at ACC to
implement the evaluation online.
Course Standards. Interest in the issue of course standards is growing. Candace Schaeffer is working
with a graduate class at A&M to explore this issue and to develop an instrument that delineates course
standards and helps course designers/developers apply them. Results of this research and development
effort will be shared with other colleges.
Frequency of Coordinators’ Meetings. Ron inquired if the current practice of having three meetings
per year (fall, spring and summer) was too many, too few, or about right. There was general agreement
that three meetings per year is appropriate. It was suggested that the fall meeting be devoted almost
entirely to sharing VCT best practices.
Breakout Sessions
Coordinators were divided into three breakout groups and given a charge to brainstorm ways to
improve VCT. They were encouraged to consider new website services, improved practices and
procedures other than web-based, internal practices, or any other approach/strategy that may be useful.
The following suggestions came from the small-group meeting
1. Rosters:
a. Include start and end dates.
b. Add capability to sort rosters by either host or provider.
c. Include host college’s names on rosters.
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2. Work with the Texas Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers (TACRAO) and
Business Offices to get support for accomplishing these activities at the VCT website: generating
official class rolls; creating and transmitting census-date rosters and grade rosters; generating
invoices.
3. Generate from the website database a single invoice for the provider to send to host colleges. Use
TCET as a model.
4. Testing: Include testing contact information along with Coordinators’ information; include testing
information in the reservation notification email; include the comments section of the notification
email in the database.
5. Textbooks: Providers should ensure that ISBN’s are always included and that they are accurate;
include bookstore contact information at the website.
6. Allow colleges to designate how email generated at the website is routed within their own
institutions.
7. Divide the summer standard catalog into two sessions: Summer 1 and Summer 2. Further
discussion indicated that summer does not divide cleanly into two sessions. Including start and end
dates on rosters, it was suggested, would likely eliminate the need for the summer standard catalog
to be divided into more than one session.
8. Allow users to correct a reservation withdrawal that is made in error.
9. Change the provider college reservation override so that the provider can open spaces in a course
that only one specific college may fill.
10. Add capability to search the database for students enrolled at a given college.
11. Add a Best Practices area to the website.
12. Allow SSN’s to be viewable on the student information form accessed from the alternate rosters.
13. If space is erroneously reserved twice in the same course for a student, the second reservation
should generate an error message so the reservation can be aborted.
14. Items related to students:
- Add a comment box directed to students to the reservation notification email.
- Require students to complete and submit their own information forms at the website.
- Require students to verify receipt of an email reservation notification.
15. Encourage instructors to send welcome letters to students.
16. Make it possible to manipulate data in the database for local use.
17. Incorporate into the VCT website the capabilities of the database demonstrated by Christa Emig.
18. Ensure that users always have a way to go directly back to the previous website page.
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19. Increase the time-out before a web page expires.
20. Include a map at the website that shows college service areas.
21. Include college FICE codes at the website.
22. Make available two levels of passwords: write/read and read only.
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