A Report to the Council on Aviation Accreditation Board of Directors
from the Ad hoc Committee for Distance Education

Members
Brent Bowen, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Chair
Marc Wilson, Miami-Dade County Community College
Charles Robertson, University of North Dakota
David NewMyer, Southern Illinois University

Presented at the CAA Annual Meeting
February 5-7, 2000
Melbourne, Florida

The committee has continued to explore accrediting issues related to distance education on behalf of the charge given by the CAA Board of Directors. Since the last committee report to the CAA Board, the committee web site was updated to include previous reports. The committee continues to explore issues which should be brought to the attention of the standards committee. We are very pleased to receive Dr. David NewMyer of Southern Illinois University as a member of the committee. Dr. NewMyer has an extensive background in the delivery of extended learning programs and is happy to provide service to the CAA.

During the intervening time since the submission of the committee white paper to the Board we have been accepting comments. Several members of the CAA Board submitted comments to the proposed distance education survey of the CAA/UAA institutional membership subsequent to the July 1999 meeting. The paper titled Accreditation Issues for Distance Education in Collegiate Aviation is serving as the foundation of further research to implement areas outlined therein, and this paper is being updated for rapidly changing issues emerging in the focal area. Both the survey and the white paper are being finalized and administered by two graduate students at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. This is being done in conjunction with the Research Methods course, and it is anticipated that results will be available after the conclusion of the Spring term. The survey will be administer by mail, telephone, fax, and Internet.

Received Dr. NewMyer as a committee member.
Accepting comments on the white paper and survey from the CAA Board.
Revisied the survey per Board input.
Identified two graduate students to implement the survey.
The committee met via e-mail to review progress and plan both the presentation of the committee report to the Board in Melbourne and to determine which committee meetings require member representation for coordination purposes.

Continuous updating of a white paper on CAA issues/implications of distance education with updated information from key accrediting organizations and survey data from CAA/UAA membership.
Continue inquiries as directed by the CAA Board.
Dialogue with CAA Standards Committee on distance education implications.
Advise the CAA Board on distance education issues (previous reports on the web).
Frequently update the committee web page content.
Add web links to key accrediting organizations and related sites.

Requested Board Actions:

1. The Ad hoc committee requests the appointment of one additional member who represents a member institution engaged in the distance/distributed education process. This will help with the increasing scope of work due to the rapid expansion of distance programs and resulting issues.

2. The Ad hoc committee requests that the Board ask standing committee chairs to provide notice of distance education issues as they arise.

Committee Contact:

Dr. Brent Bowen, Chair
422 Allwine Hall, UNO
6001 Dodge Street
Omaha, NE 68182-0508
Voice 402.554.3424
Fax 402.554.3781
Email: bowen@unomaha.edu