All programs will be accessible through a portal, the U of A degree programs. Students will have the ability to take courses and receive student services away from a site. Robin Walz said that for his faculty there are insufficient faculty numbers to support the number of programs being offered and he strongly recommends hiring full time fully qualified faculty for the distance BLA and AA programs. Brendan Kelly questioned the economic viability of taking faculty out of classrooms to teach smaller number of students on-line in view of the small population of rural Alaskans. Robbie Stell said the vision is to make a specific number of educational programs accessible in rural areas to provide degree and credential programs that will serve the economic needs of the rural communities.
Environmental technician is one example.
The State Board of Education and the Native Community in rural Alaska have said they must have a BA degree in elementary education. The University has already developed the BLA and now must look at developing a BA in elementary education. However the proposed BA shares a lot of the BLA courses. The vision for the BA in education is for a higher content degree than the old BEd. Dave Marvel spoke of the problem of finding placements in the Juneau School District for both MAT elementary students and BA elementary students.