Leadership from Afar: Distance Education and the Leadership Roles of Those Involved.

In 1990, Wisconsin's Northcentral Technical College began exploring ways to share resources and faculty with other institutions in the state, developing the Multidistrict Dental Hygiene Program (MDHP). The MDHP delivers dental hygiene education through a network of interactive classrooms connected by fiber optics, involving 4 technical colleges, 20 faculty members, and 58 students. One of the participating colleges, Western Wisconsin Technical College, became involved in the MDHP as the result of a severe shortage locally of trained dental hygienists and the high costs associated with establishing its own program. In the program sharing approach, didactic or theory classes are delivered via interactive television, while cooperating districts teach the laboratory segments of courses. Key elements of this approach are well-trained liaison faculty at the cooperating districts and strong leadership to solve crises and logistical problems in the sharing process. Leaders are encouraged to use the Plan, Do, Act, Check (PDAC) model to ensure that a sound educational environment is maintained. This model emphasizes data collection in the Plan phase, the consideration of possible alternatives or solutions in the Do phase, measuring outcomes and expectations of the plan in the Check phase, and standardizing the method and creating future plans in the Act phase. Leaders in this new realm of educational delivery should be innovative and believe that distance education works. (TGI) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** LEADERSHIP FROM AFAR: DISTANCE EDUCATION AND THE LEADERSHIP ROLES OF THOSE INVOLVED