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Capturing in one essay not only the uses of various electronic technologies in mentoring, teaching and learning at Empire State College (ESC), but also what they have yielded – for students, faculty and staff – is a daunting task. The technologies used – and by whom and how – all vary tremendously across the College. First, ESC’s geographical dispersal across the state of New York, with centers having differing student demographics, cultures, and pedagogical models emphasized at those centers, greatly influences an individual’s use of technology.

All members of an organization—no matter where they reside on the organization chart—are fallible human beings. Mistakes, therefore, are inevitable. How mistakes are dealt with greatly impacts organizational culture, which is a major determinant of productivity and performance as well as satisfaction and loyalty. We make the case that forgiveness, while seldom discussed in the workplace or in leadership development programs, can be a major contributing factor to organizational success. Evidence will be provided that when mistakes are dealt with in an environment of forgiveness and as learning opportunities, the outcomes are more likely to be positive. Connections are made to employer and employee satisfaction as well as motivation, retention, and loyalty. We further show that forgiveness in the workplace promotes understanding, tolerance, and acceptance as well as the freedom to be creative, innovative, and to excel. Examples are provided from the literature and common situations at work as to how forgiveness can be effective in fueling success.

The Center for Distance Learning (CDL) at SUNY Empire State College offers over 100 undergraduate courses each term to approximately 2200 students located in New York State and throughout the country. These courses are delivered across a range of delivery formats—from tutor telephone and e-mail interaction with students to computer conferencing on the Web. To meet the increasing need for faculty to effectively incorporate computer network technology into its courses, CDL has developed useful instructional activities and materials. These resources outline various instructional design, development, delivery, and evaluation procedures for faculty to follow in using Internet technologies appropriately for student learning. This article presents a typology of delivery techniques and discusses how CDL has trained and supported its faculty with each type of technology.

An exciting option for distance education programs is to incorporate the use of computer conferencing. Yet, the adoption of this format has implications for course delivery. Two essential factors need to be taken into consideration: the increased flexibility provided by the format and the opportunity for student-student interaction. Increased flexibility comes from the ability to introduce new material through the conference that complements the contents of the accompanying text and course guide. Opportunity for increased interaction brings the challenge to make this interaction effective and beneficial. As more faculty move to use online delivery, they need assistance so they can make the most of the advantages of this environment. The Center for Distance Learning of SUNY Empire State College has been offering online courses for a number of years and has recently been developing workshops and materials to facilitate faculty development in this area.

For the past two years, the Center for Distance Learning of SUNY Empire State College has been offering courses to NYNEX employees using the company's videoconferencing equipment. Students were located at four sites and two-hour seminars were held every other week throughout the term. This article discusses my incorporating problem-based learning and cooperative learning into the teaching of Business Mathematics and Introduction to Issues in Telecommunications for the Center for Distance Learning using this equipment. Students at each site were placed in teams of four and these groups engaged in cooperative learning activities at their sites in addition to participating over the network. Benefits of this approach have included: more variety of participation; increased insight in contributions made over the network because of time given to articulating ideas less formally at each site; and an atmosphere of sharing and teamwork.