From the electronic distance learning classrooms, students and instructors on the Bluefield campus can interact with their counterparts in Beckley, Lewisburg, and Welch. An entire audiovisual suite with document camera, PC computer, videocassette recorder, DVD player and slide projector are available at the instructor's fingertips. A second classroom, just down the hall, can serve as an overflow area for the main classroom, an independent classroom for additional telecourses, a video conference room, or simply as a traditional classroom. in addition to BSC sites, the interactive video network aslo connects New River Community and Technical College site in Beckley, Lewisburg, Pocahontas County, and Summersville.

The Center also features a more traditional television studio with full S-VHS production and editing systems, as well as the Newtek Video Toaster, used by many major studios, and considered one of the mose advanced pieces of equipment available for small-studio television production.

In addition to its classroom services, the Center is also the home of Bluefield State College's many community service television programs. Among the programs produced regularly and aired over Comcast Cable channel 96 are the Bluefield Board of Directors meetings, and "The Bluefield State College Spotlight", a regular series featuring items of public interest originating at Bluefield State College. Other programs of community interest are taped ans scheduled for broadcast on an "as needed" basis. The Center is also the home of BSC Internet radio which produces radio shows available from the BSC website home page .

Print media design services are also available through the Center. A high quality color scanner in conjunction with a Macintosh G6 PC and many of the most popular production programs provide outputs in high-resolution black and white laser print, color inkjet print, or encapsulated PostScript for service bureaus.

Internet web page design services are available on a limited basis. Programs designed specifically for web page production, and others easily adapted for the task are available, as well as limited consulting services.

The BSC videotape collection and CD collection are housed in the Center and are available for faculty checkout and student use in-house.

Hours

• The Instructional Technology Center, including Self-Study and Production areas, is open Monday through Thursday from 8:00am to 9:00pm and Friday from 8:00am to 4:00pm during the Fall and Spring Semesters.
• Weekend hours are sometimes arranged, but are not a part of the regular schedule.
• Hours for the Center for Extended Learning are the same, unless otherwise posted.

Programs and Courses

Bluefield State College offers many courses by distance learning modalities which meet the requirements for the Regents Bachelor of Arts degree. Please e-mail Dr. Tom Blevins at tblevins@bluefieldstate.edu to determine whether a BSC distance learning course is right for you.

Distance learning at BSC is offered by three primary delivery modalities: 1) the BSC Interactive Video Network (IVN); 2)PBS Instructional Television telecourses (ITV); 3)Web-DL or WebCT. Most courses use one of these primary delivery modalities, but many of the courses combine one or more of the modalities with a Web component, a print component, and/or an e-mail component.

BSC Interactive Video Network (ITV) consists of electronic classrooms at campuses in Bluefield, Beckley, Lewisburg and Welch. Faculty orginate courses from one site to other sites. Students enroll in available courses at the nearest site to them which reduces travel time for the student and enables them access to courses which would not normally be available to them.

PBS Instructional Television Telecourses (ITV) are offered throught the West Viginia Higher Education Instructional Television Consotium (WVHEITV). BSC usually offers five to seven telecourses each semester. These are three credit hour courses which require students to attend five to seven class sessions per semester at the campus center closest to them where the classes are offered. Students also view videotapes from the local PBS station feeds fo these tapes, or they view them in the Instructional Technology Center, the Greenbrier Center library, the Beckley Center library, or at home. In addition students complete a paper and at least two exams.

Web-DL courses are offered through 2 different means: 1)WebCt and 2)CART. WebCT is a Learning Management System (LMS) that enables courses to be delivered online through easy-to-use teaching tools, leaning tools, and course management tools. CART, the Center for Applied Research and Technology, has developed an on-line interface for delivering instruction to Bluefield State College students.

BSC is currently devceloping distance learning courses which can be delivered to students at anytime and anyplace. Four courses are currently listed with the Southern Regional Electronic Campus (SREC). ENGL 102: Research; HLTH 110: Health Promotion and Protection; and EDUC 322: Standards, Planning, and Assessment are courses which can be delivered to you in your home. These courses are available in the Spring semester along with ENGL 205: The Modern Tradition in the Fall semester. For more information please contact Dr. Tom Blevins.

Policies

Equipment and materials are checked out to the faculty for periods of one week.
Students are allowed to use equipment and materials in the ITC or CEL only.
Members of the community are sometimes allowed to check out equipment and materials, but must be willing to accept financial responsibility for any losses or damages to equipment or materials in their possession.
Permission to check out equipment and materials by persons outside the college can only be obtained through Dr. Blevins.