The MSACS is a premium program that includes a number of premium features, including the integrated use of distance learning technology. Students have a choice of attending class on-campus, remote but "live" at the assigned class time, or remote and viewing the recorded lecture at their convenience.

Lectures are viewable through Internet Explorer, and downloadable versions of some lectures are formated for both iPODs and PDAs. The program-provided laptop and PDA allows students to view the lectures either live or archived.

Distance Learning Philosophy
Our distance-learning philosophy is to provide distance students with as close to the classroom experience as possible. That experience focuses on the interaction between the professor and student. Students must be able to see and hear the professor, and be able to interact by voice and text. The live view of the professor is important for non-verbal cues and for maintaining the student's focus on the presentation. The ability of the student to interact in real-time is critical to the student feeling that they are part of the class, rather than spectators on the sidelines. Equally important is that all students must be able to hear the discussions with all students, and to be able to participate in the discussions. So our classroom is set up to capture all in-class student interaction with the professor, and to capture all distance student discussion

All of the classroom discussion is captured and recorded so that the students viewing the recording can hear and benefit from the discussions between the professor and the students. The webcam, voice, text, whiteboard, and live creation of content must be captured and distributed to all students at a high level of fidelity for all students whether they are present in class, live but remote, or asynchronous. Our technology provides all that interaction, and has been a key to the success of the MSACS program.

Our MSACS students generally start out attending classes in person. Once their experience with the technology rises to a level of comfort some students will opt to attend class remotely and by watching the class recordings. Some students continue to prefer to attend class live on campus - which is another great feature of the MSACS - students may chose to attend any lecture on campus, live but remote, or by viewing the recording.

Tegrity
Tegrity supports the streaming of lectures and audio in a low-bandwidth stream over the web. Students may connect at 56K (modem speed) or broadband. PowerPoint slides are combined with streaming audio that provides an experience that approaches the “in-class” experience, allowing the professor to write on the marker-board or touch-sensitive LCD monitor, annotate slides, use the document camera to show close-ups of electronics, and access other resources during a live lecture. Tegrity allows students to view the lectures in real-time (live) and interact with the professor through voice-over-IP or a “chat-type” interface, or students can view the archived lectures at their convenience. A small picture of the professor appears during live lectures for non-verbal cues, gestures and expressions. Tegrity is currently the primary lecture technology used in the MSACS program.

The client computer needs to have MS Internet Explorer Version 6 or later to access the lectures stored on our Tegrity server (a machine at KSU).

You may look at live or archived lectures at:
     msacsonline.kennesaw.edu
In the future, access to Tegrity MSACS lectures may be protected through a WebCT account and password.
      MSACS Technology Support Page | Tegrity Web site

WebCT & Moodle
WebCT supports on-line tests and exams, discussion boards, electronic assignment turn-in, and other important features. WebCT allows controlled access through account/password authentication, and access to Tegrity and Interwise resources will be through WebCT. We are also investigating an alternative system call MOODLE, each class will differ in their use of these technologies.

F1 Students and Distance Learning
The U.S. Citizenshipl and Immigration Services (http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis) lists a policy in regards to F-1 students and distance learning courses (67 FR 76256), which limits how much distance learning F-1 students may include in their program of study. The policy for the MSACS program:

• F-1 Visa students must attend all MSACS regular 3-hour courses physically on campus in the classroom with the professor during their first two semesters in the program.
• For their final three semesters, MSACS F-1 students must attend at least 50% of all class meetings physically in the classroom with the professor.