University Business - September 2006 - (Page 46)

Learning After Loss Well-planned online and distance offerings can give institutions of higher education the ability to keep education going in the wake of disaster. By Chelan David T H E FAMILIAR RHYTHMS OF ACADEMIA LEND A COMFORTING presence on college campuses. Each autumn as summer temperatures begin to fall, days shorten, and leaves flutter down, fresh-faced students arrive en masse, their fu- tures pregnant with possibility. Last year, however, as students and educators in the Gulf Coast region prepared for the onset of fall classes, an unexpected visitor interrupted the traditional pro- ceedings: Hurricane Katrina. In the storm's wake, nearly 1,600 lives were lost, property damage numbered in the tens of billions of dollars, and educational institutions found themselves in disarray. Ground Zero port of a reliable and flexible network infrastructure. We've developed short-term plans as well as long-term Elizabeth Moore Rhodes, the director of distance learning and plans on how we can get communication back initially and the educational technology support specialist for Xavier Uni- then get our course management system software running versity of Louisiana, vividly remembers the destruction that again with the expectation that students could continue with the hurricane left behind. Practically every building on cam- their distance learning programs, says Rhodes. pus had water in it, she says. My office is in the library, and The university is putting arrangements in place to provide the library had 4 to 5 feet of water on the first floor. faculty members with internet access at predetermined evacu- The office spaces and holdings in the library were com- ation sites. Faculty members are also being trained extensively pletely destroyed. A large computer lab on the library's ground in the Blackboard course management system so they will be floor was also ruined. Teachers and students alike sought safety able to deliver content and administer tests in the event of an- and classes were canceled. All of our academic programs were PHOTOS BY IRVING JOHNSON III. other disaster. As for more long-term plans, the preparation interrupted, even the distance courses. Everything was down is focusing on data transfer and the coordination of remote until January 2006, says Rhodes. locations where if the campus must be closed all data car- Once faculty and staff members finally reconvened, it was tridges and systems will be taken and where host servers will clear that a new disaster plan had to be formulated a plan have already been lined up. with which, even if the campus' brick and mortar facilities were Katrina changed the scope of Xavier's distance education again damaged, distance learning could continue with the sup- 46 | September 2006 universitybusiness.com DistLrng.indd DistLrng.indd 46 8/21/06 3:47:44 PM http://universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - September 2006

Contents
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Editor's Note
Behind the News
Viewpoint
Marketing
Human Resources
Money Matters
Community Colleges
Summer Conference Report
Learning After Loss
Not Your Typical Textbook Advice
A Greener Attitude
Mobile Technology: One For All
Lessons in Landlording
Business Technology
What's New
Calendar of Events
Direct Connect
End Note

University Business - September 2006