The Wyoming Distance Education Consortium (WyDEC) is a standing advisory committee for the council of Academic Vice Presidents of the Wyoming Community College Commission and is made up of representatives from all seven Wyoming community colleges and the University of Wyoming. It was formed to foster cooperation and coordination of distance education opportunities among the seven community colleges, the University of Wyoming and Wyoming Public Television. WyDEC also endeavors to benefit the citizens of Wyoming by coordinating distance education opportunities which are cost-effective and innovative.

The Mission

The Mission of the Wyoming Distance Education Consortium is to coordinate the delivery of quality programs and courses as well as quality student services and instructional support to all our students (potential and enrolled), regardless of geographic or temporal limitations.

The Vision

The Wyoming Distance Education Consortium members will cooperate to increase the number and quality of distance class and degree offerings and student services to each of their student bodies such that a student admitted to any of the member colleges will be able to complete their educational goals (within the legal parameters of the members) in a timely manner regardless of geographic or temporal limitations.

The Goals

To that end, the Wyoming Distance Education Consortium has the following goals:

• Collaborate rather than compete with the delivery of distance education offerings to the benefit of our students.
• Remove the obstacles of time, place, work, and family obligations to education opportunities for our students, particularly from un-served or underserved populations.
• Develop effective assessment programs to insure academic rigor and quality and to provide standards and accountability for all courses and programs.
• Increase students’ full access to quality higher education and student services through coordination of resources and statewide collaboration.
• Improve faculty productivity and effectiveness as teachers through a commitment to development programs and support structures.
• Administer an informational Web site that serves as a resource for students, faculty, and advisors for distance education courses, help, and training.
• Cooperate on the identification and delivery of student services and instructional support areas that need to be developed for distance delivery.
• Support the efforts of the institutions leading to the accreditation of distance programs for WyDEC members.
• Collaborate on external funding opportunities.
• Provide for the coordination and design of professional development for faculty, student and instructional support personnel, and administration.
• Provide for the coordination of an interpersonal network for the dissemination of information to all institutions.
• Foster cooperation among the seven community colleges, the university of Wyoming, and Wyoming PBS to benefit the citizens of Wyoming through educational opportunities.
• Develop links to private and state agencies and organizations in order to meet the training and educational needs of businesses for workforce development and economic development.
• Establish an external consortium structure to achieve the following goals:
  • Develop and demonstrate innovative, cost effective approaches to delivering education through the use of a statewide, user-transparent infrastructure that supports a variety of evolving distance learning advanced technologies.
  • Promote economies of scale and qualitative improvements in distance education through coordination and cooperation on activities.
  • Incorporate institutional missions of all consortium partners.
  • Combine existing resources, which include faculty, services, staff, and information technology to all WyDEC members.
  • Provide staffing to accommodate the needs of students, instructors, staff, and the WyDEC in general.
  • Aggressively market opportunities for post secondary education.

The WyDEC Logo

The WyDEC logo was developed by a student from Western Wyoming community College. It was adopted by the Wyoming Distance Education Consortium due to the symbolism of the eight “rays”