Dr. David N. Beyer
President of Everett Community College
Olympus Hall 203
Dear Dr. Beyer,
Since its founding in 1941, Everett Community College has continued to develop from its first location in
a renovated elementary school to its 46 acre campus with a headcount of over 20,000 students. Online
classes provide a beneficial aspect of taking a course that allows the student to complete college courses
without having to commute to the campus, thus reducing overcrowding issues. The drawback of these
online classes is the impersonal interaction between students and instructors. Without meeting face to
face students may lose the ability to achieve complete understanding and obtain quick responses from
the instructor. Increasing the effectiveness of these courses is essential.
Continuing to advance is the way in which students are able to attend class. Students have had the
choice of the way in which the take a course, either online or in a class. But is there a third option? By
allowing courses to be taught through live telecommuting, Everett Community College can expand its
method of distributing knowledge to its students. The purpose of this proposal is to recommend the
implementation of telecommuting courses using video and audio as another method of teaching a
course. Telecommuting courses will function as both a regular class and an online class. Class will be
taught at a designated time but through a video and audio feed between students and instructor. This
will allow the quality of communication as attending class on campus as well as the convenience of an
online class.
Benefits of telecommute courses include:
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Allow student who are unable to attend normal classes due to disabilities or injuries the chance
to take the course online.
Reduce the chance of traffic accidents by reducing the number of students who have to
commute to campus.
Allow students to focus more on their studies than spending time commuting to campus.
Allow students to study in the environment of their choosing.
The only cost would be the purchasing of the equipment such as web cameras and microphones
required for taking part in this kind of course. The equipment would be available for rent or purchase at
the Everett Community College Bookstore.
Jennifer Howard, Vice President of Administrative Services is a prime director to begin the establishment
of this program at Everett Community College. With a Master of Education Degree from University of
Alaska and a Juris Doctorate Degree from Lewis & Clark Law School, Jennifer Howard is more than
qualified. The collaboration of Jeffrey Pearce, Director of Logistic Operations, Susan O’Guin, Director of
Finance, and Susanne Streby, Director of Budget, the implementation of telecommute courses can be
included in Everett Community College’s catalog of available courses. Through these four individuals, the
financial end of this proposal, such as cost of equipment and potential additional charges for students
wanting to take part in this type of course, can be accounted for. On the other hand there is the
technical issue of installing the proper programs and connecting each student video and audio feed to
the instructor. Such a job would be appropriate for Rosalie L. Madison, IT Specialist 4, in the Information
Technology department.
In the first stages of implementing these courses, the use of video and audio devices would be only used
with already approved online courses. By doing this we will be able to test the effectiveness of live
interaction between student and instructor. After year of successful testing and positive feedback from
enrolled students in the course, EVCC could move from offering courses usually taught in a classroom
setting to teaching them through telecommuting methods. Unfortunately, courses that require handson learning, such as lab sciences or engineering courses, will be unavailable to be taught through this
method.
By including telecommuting courses in Everett Community College’s lists of available courses, students
will have more opportunities to advance towards their academic goals.
Thank you for considering this proposal. Jennifer Howard will contact you to go over the details of this
proposal. We look forward to your response.