FAQ
FAQ.
Q. How can career colleges take advantage of Distance Learning Systems without teaching distance learning in the classroom?.
A. There are a multitude of ways to use a quality distance learning environment without using it to teach students, some examples are categorized by department below:
Academic/classroom
Online study groups. Students can connect with fellow students from home in a live collaborative study-group environment exclusively setup for their course.
Guest speakers- The Q-room provides access to anyone with a computer thus a plethora of professionals are eligible to come face-to-face with students live in their residential classrooms
Sick students can still listen to the live classroom but their interaction would not count for attendance, only education.
Placement- Placement departments can use their own Q-rooms to coach grads anytime especially prior to interviews. Placement people can hold live, open interactions with grads and recruiters live online, they can hold self-help sessions per program area on a regularly scheduled basis that will help the graduates but also help maintain contact with the students for the all important annual report. The placement department Q-room can act as the conduit for all job listings, websites, videos, resume repository, etc. Of all the areas of a school that would realize an improvement with the implementation of Q-rooms, we believe the placement department would see the greatest increase in improvement.
Administration:
Multi-campus institutions would of course benefit the most if they had access to Q-rooms. They could conduct meetings on all levels of the institution. Q-rooms are available 24/7/365, so that means that Directors, Department Chairs, Admissions, Financial Aid and Student Service from all campuses have the ability to meet live with all their resources (all the stuff on their computers) at anytime. The Q-room if used correctly is a very powerful and productive tool, it can cuts costs and improves productivity like nothing else.
When and if, an institution chooses to offer distance learning to students the majority of the schools employees will already know how a live online distance learning environment works thus the transition to teaching will be a natural and easy process.
Q. What is the value to an accredited institution in having the ability to offer distance learning courses or programs?
A. If an institution was anticipating going up for sale and wanted to put their best foot forward being approved for distance learning would definitely be worth something. It is kind of like a pool when one is selling a home. It will turn some people off and others will purchase the home because of the pool. Another way of looking at the questions is what are some of the advantages by having the ability of offering only one distance learning course? One positive scenario would be if an institution had one or two elective courses that were available via distance learning many students over a years period of time needing a short break to resolve an immediate and highly critical problem, would have an avenue to stay in school and at home and handle the emergency instead of taking a leave of absence or quitting. How many students seem to hit their largest problems just before the 60% completion point in their current payment period? Wouldn't it be better to eligible for 100% of the Title IV funds instead of doing a refund calc? Only the individual institution can put a value on that equation but I'm confident the cost of getting a couple of courses approved would pay dividends for years.
Q. How is it possible to put a toe in the distance learning pond instead of having to dive in head first?
A. Quopax has come up with a couple of solutions to very vexing question. See Option A and BClick here to review our explanation to this thorny question.
Q. What are the advantages of easing into distance learning?
A. Risk reduction is the major advantage. Committing the least amount of resources and funds to test the waters is the goal of any company going into a adjunct adventure. What is the downside? Are the costs and time frames realistic and will they present a significant upside if accomplished? Quopax is happy to say it offers all of these attributes to any career college wanting to ease into the Distance Learning world. Quopax takes all the risks out of the equation. Worst case scenario is that the institution will be eligible to offer courses or programs, a sellable value worth the price of admission.
Q. Is it possible to get everything necessary to establish a high quality state-of-the-art DL course or program from one entity?
A. Yes, but Quopax is not cognizant of any single entity other than itself that can make such a claim.
Q. Do all accrediting bodies treat Distance Learning the same way?
A. Yes and No. They get their marching orders from the Secretary of Education but they all put their own twist on things. The good news is that expected levels of quality are well below the standard products and processes Quopax employs thus the only real difference we see is the minimum length of time each Agency sets for each part of the process. Quality educational environments will never find it difficult to meet accrediting body standards.
Q. What is a Q-room really like, to what does it compare?
A. It is like a swiss army knife, everything you need and a couple of things you know you will need someday but at the moment you can't figure out what. It is difficult to find a peer to the Q-room. It always has to be compared to three different products simultaneously. It is like iVocalize, ellluminate, Wimba, etc for the live collaborative tools but then it is like Blackboard, Angel, WebCT etc. for the learning management system. Then last it is like Maxknowledge on steroids for training. Steroids because Maxknowledge does not offer any of its course in a live environment.