Learning by Design

An Interview with Frank Christ By Joe Landsberger

Editor’s note: In January 2005, I attended the Winter Institute for Learning Center Professionals at the University of Texas in Austin. There I met Frank Christ, an Institute co-director, who had been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Arizona and was then a Visiting Scholar at the University of Texas at Austin. His impressive vita notes as “Areas of Special Competence” the “Design and coordination of learning assistance support systems for college students and special adult populations such as veterans and returning adults; microcomputer systems for learning center operations, management, and evaluation; and training programs to develop learning assistance center operational and administrative personnel.” Joe: Frank, welcome. Can you start us out with how you became interested in supporting learners in higher education? Frank: Joe, this question takes me back more than 50 years to 1953. At that time, I had left the military after 12 years of service. My last assignment had been at the United States Military Academy where I taught swimming, wrestling, soccer, and lacrosse to cadets. Then came a radical career change. I relocated to Baltimore, and became an instructor in rhetoric and literature at Loyola College. During Volume 51, Number 5

Jeremy Koester

one of my classes, I asked my students to define some terms that were used in the assigned readings. The vocabulary problem that my students displayed got me thinking about student learning. To determine if this and similar learning problems were discussed in current higher education literature, I went to the campus library and reviewed articles in journals like College English, Journal of Reading, Reading Improvement, and the proceedings of the National Reading Conference. I found that much had been written about student lack of competencies in

basic academic skills – reading, writing, critical thinking, and study skills. Realizing that as much as I liked teaching poetry, drama, and classic fiction, I did not want it to be my life’s work. I felt that there was a need for academicians to help students with learning and study skills assistance. I enrolled in the graduate program in reading at Loyola College, began to attend national reading conferences, and then went to the University of Maryland where, in its doctoral program, I met two fellow students who would impact on my future in higher education. One was Martha Maxwell who had developed the reading and study skills center at the University of Maryland and went on to become the director of the learning center at the University of Berkeley, the founder of the Summer Institutes, and a prolific researcher and author of texts and articles. The other student was Ken Weisbrod, who became the director of the Counseling Center at CSU Long Beach and who in 1972, offered me a position at CSU Long Beach as an outreach counselor with a mandate to develop a campus learning center. This center was the result of a grant from the CSU Chancellor’s Office not only to develop a center but also to be a consultant to the other CSU campuses that might be interested in adapting such a program on their campuses. Awarded an innovation grant from the Chancellor’s Office to develop a learning assistance support system at the university, I became its first director in 1973 and remained as director until 1989. As a result of its management system, program innovations, training, and use of technology, the center received the John Champaign Award in 1983 from the National Association for Remedial/Developmental Studies in Post-secondary Education. Meeting with students, listening to their concerns and helping to solve their learning problems – and noting the change in their grades as they used the skills in time management, lecture notemaking, term paper research, and writing – verified that what we were doing in the center was making a difference in students’ academic success.

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Shortly after retiring, I relocated to Arizona because the University of Arizona was interested in sponsoring an annual institute for learning assistance. I co-directed these weeklong institutes, now named the Winter Institutes, with the Director of the University of Arizona’s University Learning Center from 1991 through 2003. Joe: How would you identify critical factors for an effective program of learner support in higher education? Frank: I see ten factors as critical to the success of a campus learning assistance center: 1) support from central administration to establish and maintain a center where students may be referred or can walk-in for assistance with academic learning and study skills concerns. 2) Center supported programs such as tutoring, supplemental instruction, writing, math, and reading. 3) Ongoing communication between campus programs such as academic advising, office of student disabilities, office of international students, minority initiatives, and campus-wide orientation and retention committees. 4) Early identification of student problems either by observation or the use of a study skills survey. 5) Ongoing publicity and public relations activities. 6) Referral from faculty to learning assistance. 7) Self-referral by students who find that there is on their campus a facility and experienced professionals to help them with their learning and study strategies. 8) A definable and centrally located center with the equipment and materials available that can be used by learning facilitators, faculty, and students to develop and improve these skills, 9) An openness to the value of technology for administrative tasks and for facilitating student learning. 10) A trained and caring staff.

higher educational institution, the major current challenge for learning centers is to support online learning and study strategies and to sensitize online instructors to integrate learning and study strategies in their courses. Much of my current writing, presentations, and consulting focuses on this important area. My 2005 article, “Promising Practices for Online Learner Support,” lists 17 practices applicable to learning centers; it is accessible at http://www. pvc.maricopa.edu/~lsche/resources/ otl_guidelines.bestpractices_flc.htm. I also see challenges to learning center administration and staff to become technologically competent so

lent article, “How College Differs From High School?” reproduced from an Indiana State University web site that speaks to this transition problem, can be found at http://web.indstate.edu/ isucceed/differs.htm. Joe: What kind of program would you implement to retain under-prepared students? Frank: Any program that is focused on helping under prepared student must include three phases: diagnosis, prescription, and follow-up. An example of a successful program that I supported was for nursing students at CSU Long Beach. A description of this program, “Learning Assistance Support System for Disadvantaged Nursing Students,” (Moore & Pentecost, 1979; Xenakis, 1979).This program exemplified characteristics of successful programs: orientation, diagnosis, individual prescriptions, weekly follow-up by program staff, and a recognition by staff and students that the program would make a difference. It is important that all students, not just the under-prepared, set academic goals and become aware metacognitively of their learning and study skills needs and options in meeting those needs. They must move from dependency to independence as they begin to incorporate learning and study skills in their academic tasks.

“It may be that…Second Life… will lead to programs and services that will be accepted and used by students.”

Joe: What trends of student academic support do you see in the offing? Frank: With the number of courses being offered online by almost every 

as to get involved in online tutoring, podcasting, and blogging. Perhaps the most important trend is the use by students of iPods and text messaging – technologies that learning centers must understand and develop to capture the attention of college students today. It may be that the highly visible and much used Second Life program will lead to programs and services that will be accepted and used by students. Joe: What is your take on the state of secondary student preparedness for higher education? Frank: I agree with the current criticism that high schools are not preparing their students for the transition from high school to college academics. I also believe that more can be done not only with freshmen in campus orientation programs to prepare them for this transition, but also with special transitional programs in their senior year of high school. Transition programs that are presented two or three weeks before the beginning of the semester can prepare students for the difference between high school and college academic work. An excel-

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Joe: Many institutions of higher education are now contracting for tutoring services from commercial entities. What is your opinion of this? Frank: I have some ambivalent thoughts about commercial tutoring. On the one hand, this is a campus decision. Having said that, I would also add that outsourcing tutoring would result in a loss of income for local tutors, acceptance by faculty, and campus training of tutors, and, most important in my view, loss of oversight by the campus academic assistance program. Volume 51, Number 5

Joe: Would you differentiate learner support within various disciplines, for example, math, writing, reading, etc.? Frank: Absolutely. Although there are learning and study strategies common to most learning tasks, specific learning and study strategies for a content area are best taught in class with the content textbook. Also, on some campuses, separate centers exist for science, math, writing, and individual course assistance. Although these programs may or may not be a part of the campus learning center, they ought to be linked to it and to each other through existing Teaching Learning Technology Roundtables or to a similar campus structure that would promote communication on a scheduled basis.

Student Affairs but with an administrative reorganization was reassigned to the Office of Academic Affairs. The change from Student Affairs to Academic Affairs was a positive move and faculty developed an awareness of what the learning assistance center was doing as an academic support service. Joe: Where are librarians in this picture?

would key their responses to a set of printed prescriptions that was based on their responses to the survey. Later, at CSULB, I tried converting the card program to an Apple-based one. Finally, I had the program written for the university mainframe connected to a scanner that scanned response forms and printed for each student an individualized set of prescriptions. The final transition was to a PC connected to a scanner and printer that returned to students a copy of their responses and a set of prescriptions for activities that they could complete to improve their learning and study skills. This program was used successfully with thousands of students both in cooperation with the university orientation program and with individual counseling with students who came into the learning center for help with their learning and study strategies. I see that my purchase of the Osborne computer in the late 1970’s with its 5” screen, modem, DOS, and 56K of memory was a decision that would affect positively my professional life. Because many faculty and professionals in the Long Beach community owned the Osborne, I founded the Osborne Professional’s and Educator’s Network (OPEN) that met in the learning assistance center monthly. I learned a lot from members what potential this new technology held for teaching and guidance. Later, I upgraded to more powerful laptops for my writing, Internet research, data management, and visual presentations. On a side note, I am keyboarding the responses to your questions using MS Office on a heavy duty Dell desktop which is connected to two screens, two printers, a paper scanner, a slide/filmstrip scanner, a Webcam, and a PDA. At the University of Arizona, I learned about software like Polaris, Web Board, and Web in a Box, which fueled my interest in the possibility for training and information dissemination on the Internet. This interest

“My purchase of the Osborne computer in the late 1970’s with its 5” screen, modem, DOS, and 56K of memory was a decision that would affect positively my professional life.”

Joe: On large campuses, there are often centers associated with computer labs and technology dedicated to specific areas of academic support. Do you favor this dispersed approach, or a more concentrated center that combines these various functions?

Frank: Where the computer commons is located is less important than the liaison between the computer staff and learning center staff. In the learning center, students are introduced to programs and basic computer competencies but then are generally referred to the computer commons to work on assignments. However, it is critical that the center maintain contact with the students that it refers to track their progress in the assignments that they were given to complete in the computer commons. Joe: How would you administer an ideal program of learner support, through an Academic or Administrative Vice President? Frank: This is a mostly a political or financial decision of upper administration. At CSU Long Beach, I reported initially to the Vice President for Volume 51, Number 5

Frank: I have always considered librarians as partners with the learning center In some institutions, the learning center is located in the library and sometimes even reports to the head librarian. Certainly, workshops in research and term paper writing ought to be co-sponsored and implemented in cooperation with librarians. In addition, learning center professionals who are contemplating research, especially Internet research, will find librarians to be their prime resource to locate and validate useful information. Joe: How and when did you get interested in computer technology for teaching and learning? Frank: My experience with computers began in the late 1960s. It was at when I wanted to convert the Survey of Reading/Study Efficiency, a study skills survey that I had authored for Science Research Associates, from paper and pencil to a computer program that would have students complete the survey on a IBM card which, when read by the computer,

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culminated in my teaching graduate courses in the Education Leadership program at Grambling University and in offering training for faculty in online course activities that I developed for my classes. These included integrating in course design such activities as student learning and study skills help manuals, links to specific learning and study skills Internet resources, weekly prelections, performance tips, and in-basket exercises that were problem-based on real-life situations that students might encounter in their professional work as learning assistance professionals. Joe: What are some successful models for online academic support? Frank: For learning center administrators and staff, a review of their practices by comparing what they are doing with the list of promising practices. At the campus, district, and state levels, more cooperation with learning assistance center professionals. I agree with a recommendation made recently on what is lacking in distance education administration is a central administrative position at a high level and that such a position is needed to raise the level of support for online students. Joe: It seems that the concept of learning objects is becoming more discussed and promoted. What is your opinion of these? Frank: I was gratified to see the development of Merlot as a repository for learning objects. I am also disappointed that within Merlot are very few contributions by learning assistance professionals. However, I am pleased to see the communication and sharing of practices and materials in LRNASST-L, the listserv for learning assistance that was started by Guillermo Uribe, the former director of the University of Arizona’s Learning Center, and is being managed now by Winifred Cooke at the University of Florida. Many of the solutions to questions posed by members of the listserv would gain greater visibility among faculty and adminis

trators were they to be submitted to Merlot. Joe: Do you think the target audience of learning objects is actually learners, or are they more teachers? Frank: Like LSCHE (Learning Support Centers in Higher Education), the web portal for learning support centers in higher education, Merlot, as I see it, is a repository for faculty to share their learning objects freely with colleagues. Joe: Is there a use for learning objects for support professionals? Frank: Yes and I think that the web portal, LSCHE, is the ideal repository for them since it would be specific to the programs and services of learning support centers in higher education. However, I would want learning support objects to be in Merlot as well as in LSCHE. Joe: What do you think of the movement to accumulate these into repositories and referatories? Frank: I can best answer by sharing a quotation included in the welcome message to LSCHE and that I use in my email signature. For me, it affirms a commitment to academic dialogue, networking, and collegiality. The quotation is from Rick Thoman, Xerox Corporation former President and CEO. “For all of us to win in the knowledge economy, we need to unleash the knowledge in our document databases, use and reuse our past knowledge, find ways to create new knowledge and then share it across our enterprise.” Joe: How would you describe your role as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Arizona? Frank: When I began to consider relocating from California, my vision was to find an institution that might consider supporting a doctoral program, a repository of print materials, a model learning support center, and a high level training program for learn-

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ing support administrators and staff. After looking at different institutions, I was invited by Dr. Robert Wrenn to consider bringing the institutes to the University of Arizona to be sponsored by the University Learning Center. The newly named Winter Institutes were co-sponsored with Paradise Valley College and its Learning Support Center, directed by Dr. Rick Sheets. Some of the initiatives that I proposed and helped develop in addition to the Winter Institutes were a listserv, LRNASST-L, as an Internet communications tool; LSCHE; and an annual awards program to recognize outstanding higher education learning support center web sites. When the University Learning Center felt that they could no longer support the institutes, I looked around for a university that had an outstanding learning center and administration that might be interested in supporting a series in the tradition of the University of Arizona’s institutes. The Learning Center at the University of Texas at Austin, directed by Alan Constant, was a model location. When I suggested to Alan that he and his center continue the Winter Institutes, he agreed to do so and for the next two years he and I were co-directors. The Winter Institute, now under the capable direction of Alan and his staff, is held in the first week of January in Austin. Joe: How would you describe the Winter Institute? Frank: The Winter Institute is a weeklong program of workshops, presentations, and individual mentoring focused on the needs and future challenges of learning assistance directors and staff. A detailed history and description of the institutes can be viewed at http://www.pvc.maricopa. edu/~lsche/winterinstitute.htm. Joe: What was your academic path? Frank: Like most learning center directors, I migrated to learning assistance. My academic career began as an instructor in unarmed combat at Fort Holabird with the Counter Intelligence program. Then, I became an Volume 51, Number 5

Assistant Master of the Sword at the United States Military Academy. After leaving the military, I taught rhetoric and literature at Loyola College, a small liberal arts college, in Baltimore. Then, I moved to St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA, where I was the director of the Great Books Program and the summer college preparation program that focused on reading and study skills. My next move was to California as the Director of the Loyola University Reading Clinic and its Study Skills program. While at Loyola, I began consulting and presenting workshops in time management, information processing, proactive listening, and management competencies with corporations such as United Airlines, Magnavox Research Labs, Southern California Edison, Peter Kiewit & Sons Construction, Mattel Corporation, Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company, Ryan Teledyne, and Xerox Learning Systems, as part of the university’s Continuing Education program. My final move was to CSU Long Beach where I founded and directed its Learning Assistance Support System. Joe: What are your primary professional associations? Frank: I am a member of the College Reading and Learning Association, the National College Learning Center Association, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, the American Society for Training & Development, and the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education. In addition to the listservs associated with the preceding associations, I subscribe to the listservs of the United States Distance Learning Association, eLearning Insider, Sloan-C, First Year Experience, and WCET Online Community, Joe: Do you have specific research interests? Frank: I am interested in documenting promising practices of learning center administration and staff in Volume 51, Number 5

supporting online student learning, and in the history of learning and study. And, most important, in getting learning assistance professionals to recognize the value of their research and publication in achieving academic respectability, not only at their institutions but throughout higher education. Joe: Where do you find yourself professionally? Frank: Having become a CSULB Emeritus in 1990, I am officially retired. Since my “retirement,” I have given keynotes and faculty development workshops, co-authored two books, and taught online graduate courses. I am currently working on books and articles that focus on online learner support. Most of my time and energy is dedicated to promoting the recognition of learning support centers in higher education as an important service to retain students and to assist them in developing and improving the competencies that will be useful for them not only in college but also in the marketplace as they move into their careers. In addition, I am dedicated to the training of learning assistance administrators and staff so that they can make a difference not only at their institutions but also in higher education through presentations, workshops, research, and publications. At my professional conferences, CRLA and NCLCA, I volunteer to be a mentor as well as a presenter. My latest projects involve high school learning assistance and Web 2.0, the first project with a publisher who is interested in a computer-based high school study skills program and in Second Life to determine if learning assistance can be ported over to this virtual world to capture the interest and needs of young adults. Joe: What advice would you give to faculty and administration to understand what learning support centers in higher education are and how these programs and services can help students to be more successful in learning and studying?

Frank: I advise faculty and campus administrators to access LSCHE at http://www.pvc.maricopa.edu/~lsche. By reading the section “Why and How to Use LSCHE,” and following the recommendations, they will get acquainted with the vast potential of LSCHE. Also, by looking at the section “Typical Uses of LSCHE,” they can determine how they might use LSCHE to help student be more successful in their courses and programs. Beyond their roles as program administrators and learning assistance facilitators, I would like learning assistance administrators and staff to join and attend associations like AECT, and present and publish on their programs toward publicizing the role of learning assistance.

References Christ, F. L. (1969). The SR/SE laboratory: A systems approach to reading study skills counseling. In G. B. Schick & M. M. May (Eds.), The psychology of reading behavior, eighteenth yearbook of the National Reading Conference (pp. 212-216). Milwaukee, WI,. Christ, F. L. (1971). Systems for learning assistance: Learner, learning facilitators, and learning centers. In F. L. Christ (Ed.), Interdisciplinary aspects of reading instruction, Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Western College Reading Association (4th, Los Angeles, April 1-3, 1971), (pp. 3241). Christ, F. L. (1972). Preparing practitioners, counselors, and directors of college learning assistance centers. In F. P. Greene, (Ed.), College Reading: Problems and programs of junior and senior colleges. Twenty-first yearbook of the National Reading Conference, Vol. II, (pp. 179-188). Christ, F. L. (1973). Technological alternatives in learning. In G. Kerstiens (Ed.), Technological Alternatives in learning, Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Conference of the Western College Reading Association, Vol. VI, (pp. 37-44). Christ, F. L. (1980). Learning assistance at a state university: A cybernetic model. In K. Lauridsen (Ed.), Examining the scope of learning centers. New Directions for College Learning Assistance, Vol. 1 (pp. 45-56). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc. Christ, F. L. (2005, November). Best and promising practices for online learner support. Presentation at College Reading Learning Association, Long Beach , CA. Christ, F. L. (2007). Performance Tips. In Patti Shank (Ed.), The online learning idea

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book: 95 proven ways to enhance technology-based and blended learning (pp. 20-21). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Christ, F. L., & Ganey, L. R. (2007). 100 things every online student ought to know (2nd ed.). Williamsville, NY: Cambridge Stratford Inc. Ferris State University’s Structured Learning Assistance. At http://www.ferris.edu/sla/ homepage.htm Ganey, L.R., Christ, F. L., & Hurt, V. R. (2006). Online student skills and strategies handbook. Boston: Pearson/Longman. Garcia, S. (1981). The training of learning assistance practitioners. New Directions for College Learning Assistance (4), pp. 29-37. Havens, R. I. (1970, November). A walk down Sesame Street. The personnel and guidance journal, p. 174. Indiana State University. (2003). Choose it: Transition help - how college differs from high school? At http://web.indstate.edu/ isucceed/differs.htm LSCHE. (2006). History of the Institutes 19772005. At http://www.pvc.maricopa.edu/ ~lsche/wiarchives/history/index.htm LSCHE. (2007). Learning Support Centers in Higher Education. At http://www.pvc.maricopa.edu/~lsche LSCHE. (2007). Why and how to use LSCHE. At http://www.pvc.maricopa.edu/~lsche/ whyandhow.htm LSCHE. (2007). About LSCHE “nearby history”. At http://www.pvc.maricopa.edu/~lsche/ aboutLSCHE.htm Olson, X and Magero, X (1976). Audiovisual Instruction. October issue Moore, B., & Pentecost, W. L. (1979). CSULB nursing: Educationally disadvantaged students can succeed. Journal of Nursing Education 18(6), pp. 50-58. Xenakis, F. S. (1979). Learning assistance support system for disadvantaged nursing students. In G. Enright (Ed.), Multicultural diversity and learning. Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Conference of the Western College Reading Association, (pp. 128-132).

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