Member Services Overview

The Support Center builds the capacity of your staff to be effective distance education leaders

Our Approach 

Support Center staff work with member states to build the capacity of their state staff to design and manage a distance education program from initial experimentation to statewide implementation.  We help state staff identify the unique needs and requirements of their state and develop a detailed plan that addresses research questions, experimental plan, selection of teachers, professional development, evaluation and cost. 

In professional development we work side-by-side with the state's training staff, playing as big or small a role as needed to insure early success while building the capacity of a state's trainers to provide support on their own. Each state receives its own customized Web site for online training populated with courses ranging from a basic introduction to distance education to virtual study groups on specific topics.  We train state staff to facilitate each course and are available throughout the course to help them refine their facilitation skills.  Trainers receive assistance in the design of virtual support activities that help build a sustained "community of practice" where distance teachers can refine their skills and help one another solve problems as they arise.

We provide online tools that teachers can use to collect data on their distance learners.  States receive monthly reports on enrollment and persistence to help them monitor the growth of their programs. Working hand-in-hand throughout the research process, we help state staff identify the data they need to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their program. We provide states with online survey tools to gather feedback from teachers and students, create data tables for states and assist in the writing of an annual report on program progress. 

While technical assistance is available only to states that join Project IDEAL, much of the knowledge gained from years of working with member states can be found in our publications.  These range from a handbook of distance education to technical reports on topics such as measuring contact hours, establishing distance education policy, and selecting distance curricula.  Publications are available for download in the Publications section of this Web site.