Rationale

The Higher Education Telecommunications Association of Oklahoma was formed to promote utilization of new technologies (including but not limited to, television, computers, satellite and video-discs) to offer alternative methods of instruction and delivery to the traditional classroom. The consortium is open to all interested public and private colleges and universities in the state.

Purposes and Goals

The purposes of the association are to meet the following educational and administrative needs:

serve as a vehicle for shared information
share the costs of leasing materials
share administrative costs regarding any shared delivery systems
be the liaison with extra-institutional agencies and groups, i.e., producers or other consortia
cooperate on publicity
prevent duplication of effort
work together to plan schedules and course selection
interact on professional development for faculty and staff
share grant writing and spending on telecommunications form subcommittees such as the following: Faculty/Student interaction; Curriculum; Quality Control; Research; Production; Telecommunications Legislation (local, state, federal)
serve as a resource group to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education
preview material
provide periodic forums with or for broadcasters and educators in the state
participate in relevant national consortia and other conferences

Organizational Structure

An officer is chosen to be responsible for ongoing organization of the group. This officer is designated as the Executive Director who reports to an Executive Board that is representative of the various types of member institutions. The current Executive Director is Terry Britton, Rose State College.

A central office is established at a member institution for ease of communication within and outside the state. Rose State College located at 6420 SE 15th St. in Midwest City, Oklahoma, is currently serving as the central office and the business manager of the association.

Background

In the early 1970's Northern Oklahoma College (NOC) in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, began using locally produced telecourses through cable systems in Ponca City and Blackwell. Early delivery methods involved parking a station wagon near a pole where both electrical power and a cable access point were available and playing the tapes from the vehicle. Other efforts by NOC to use broadcast series as wraparound courses were made during the decade. No such dedicated efforts were being made by other colleges and universities. But by 1988-89, more than 10,000 enrollments in telecourses were achieved. What changed?

The change began in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1979, with the cabling of the entire metropolitan area. Tulsa Junior College (TJC) started using their chartered access channel for five courses that year. Rose State College (RSC) of Midwest City began transmitting courses in the spring of 1981; and sixteen miles away, Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) licensed its first telecourses the following fall. The proximity of the latter colleges sharing virtually the same market finally drew attention to telecourses in two very different ways: First, the possible competition between RSC and OCCC caught the eye of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education (OSRHE) who were concerned about possible "turf issues," not only between the two community colleges, but among other higher education institutions in the area such as Central State University (CSU), the University of Oklahoma (OU), Oklahoma State University Technical Branch COSU Tech), and two private universities. Secondly, TJC, OCCC, and RSC became aware that the institutions were leasing some of the same courses. In hastily called meetings in early 1982 the colleges' representatives agreed to act as a cooperative (rather unofficial, at that point) whenever possible to share than costs of licensing. OCCC agreed to act as a central business office for the joint venture.

The three member representatives of that early group - Bill Sutterfield from TJC, Barbara Gellman-Buzin, OCC, and Terry Britton, RSC - realized that sharing costs was only one issue. For the programs to be successful, the turf matter would have to be resolved. Also, a suspicion by some institutions of the academic integrity of telecourses would have to be directly addressed, since all, the colleges, including NOC since 1972, were under the constraints of using telecourses only as "experimental," a designation which increased data collection and report writing. Therefore, invitations were sent to all public and private higher education institutions, as well as to staff from the OSRHE, inviting them to a meeting in Oklahoma City to discuss a possible telecommunications consortium. Six other colleges responded, including NOC, and a foundation for the Higher Education Telecommunications Association of Oklahoma CRETA) was laid.

The tasks the group set for itself were formidable: recruiting, spreading the gospel of telecommunications, orienting faculty and administrations, keeping in touch with, new developments, locating new products and more. But the most crucial task was to discover - distribution mechanism for those colleges outside metropolitan areas who did not have access to dependable cable networks. The group determined that the most sensible way to reach students is through broadcast television. Negotiations began in early 1983 with the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA), which manages the statewide network of broadcast towers repeaters. By the fall of 1983, free time for four telecourses was made available. Since then, the time available has fluctuated; however, by fall, 1988, the agreed time was extended to thirteen telecourses during the fall and spring semesters. More importantly, 200 hours was allotted to HETA in the summer so that a "Summer College of the Air" was made possible. By 1995, HETA could depend on 13.5 hours each regular semester and the continued allotment of the summer hours.

The OETA/HETA connection is of central importance. With broadcast opportunities statewide, all "turf" is protected. Each college knows that the courses will be available to its clientele. The number of courses - 13 to 14 in the regular sessions and 21 in the summer-give an adequate menu for selection.

HETA has succeeded in its basic mission to promote and provide higher education service to the citizenry of Oklahoma through telecommunications. As the consortium matured, it was faced with the problem of all associations -increased formality of operation. However, the volunteer spirit and camaraderie of the representatives still exist. The group has proved that cooperation works better than competition when it comes to serving students. It has received recognition as most of its representatives serve on various statewide telecommunications advisory committees. In 1988 the group received a Distinguished Service Award from the OSRHE for the promotion of telecommunications in the service of higher education. In 1992 HETA received the Outstanding Organization Award from the Instructional Telecommunications Consortium, now a Council of the American Association of Community Colleges.