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By Cheryl
Peed
Coordinator of Instructional
and Research Services
Office
of Distance Learning
& Computing
College of Engineering,
Virginia Tech
The
year, 2003 will
mark the 20th anniversary
for the Commonwealth
Graduate Engineering
Program (CGEP),
a state-wide distance
learning program
designed to provide
working engineers
and scientists with
convenient access
to post baccalaureate
education. This
program has had
many changes throughout
the 20 years from
satellite transmission
in the early days
to streaming media
received on home
computers in present
day. The program
itself reaches across
the state of Virginia
and to the far reaches
of our continent
on military vessels
out to sea.
For
the second consecutive
year, Virginia Tech
will host the state
director position
for CGEP with Dr.
Glenda Rose Scales
serving in that
post. Dr. Scales
is the Assistant
Dean for Distance
Learning and Computing
in the College of
Engineering. During
her first year as
state director,
a CGEP
state web site
was developed and
went live May 2002,
in order to promote,
the state-wide program
comprised of George
Mason University,
Old Dominion University,
University of Virginia,
Virginia Commonwealth
University and Virginia
Tech. This web site
provides easy access
to information from
all the five member
institutions in
a unified format.
Also, under her
leadership, the
2002
CGEP Strategic Plan
was developed based
upon the 2001 Market
Research Study for
CGEP. Key findings
from the Market
Research Study were:
interactive videoconferencing
on NET.WORK.VIRGINIA
was very popular
with many, but it
also showed a demand
for asynchronous
learning on the
Internet. Still
students interviewed
wanted to be part
of a learning community.
The strategic plan
will help guide
this program into
the future. At the
first annual conference
held at Virginia
Tech, June 2002,
subcommittees were
set up to implement
the strategic plan
initiatives during
the 2003 year. The
six subcommittees
will evolve around
the goals of the
strategic plan:
increase the diversity
of CGEP curricula,
raise the incentives
for development
and delivery of
CGEP curricula,
enhance the technology
infrastructure,
develop ‘Just-in-Time’
delivery opportunities,
expand product advertising
and create more
outlets.
Virginia
Tech CGEP continues
to look for ways
to work with industry
to help provide
working engineers
with flexible solutions
for their post baccalaureate
education. New areas
forthcoming will
be to increase our
industrial partnerships
with Naval Surface
Warfare Center -
Dahlgren, NASA Langley,
and Lockheed Martin.
Also over 15 industrial
partnerships have
been formed to keep
Virginia Tech abreast
of the trends and
needs of the industrial
community. Along
with our industrial
initiatives, new
technology changes
will be implemented,
additional off-campus
PhD programs will
be studied, and
an online Masters
degree program will
be designed. Wearing
her second hat as
VT CGEP director,
she has launched
several new continuous
process improvement
projects for CGEP.
Additionally, the
CGEP web site was
redesigned to improve
the presentation
and content of information.
The success of the
CGEP program, over
the past 20 years,
is clearly because
of our dedicated
faculty and their
on-going support
to the off-campus
students. We have
extremely talented
faculty some of
which have been
apart of our program
from the early years.
Dr. Scales, also,
has formed a Distance
Learning Council
with faculty representatives
from each engineering
department and key
university personnel
to give guidance
and set policy for
Virginia Tech CGEP
to provide the best
service with the
intention of increasing
enrollment and furthering
economic development
in Virginia. If
you would like more
information on how
to participate or
take classes through
CGEP, please send
email to cgepvt@vt.edu.
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