Provost candidate Elizabeth Langland answers questions from junior public relations major April Samuelson. Langland is currently the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Purchase College in New York. ABBY FISHER | DAILY KENT STATER

Credit: John Proppe

Elizabeth Langland, candidate for senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, showed interest in Kent State’s regional campuses during the student forums held earlier today.

“They’ve got one-third of the entire student population, so they are very important,” Langland said. “They have to fund themselves off of student revenue.”

She also said only 10 percent of students who complete two years actually move to Kent to complete four years.

To increase the success of regional campus students, Langland suggested using distance learning technologies and hybrid classrooms, a technique she knows Kent is investigating.

She also said online learning enhances education. Online discussion threads focus topics and allow professors to require each student to make at least one post.

A hybrid system also tends to work for any age group, she said, noting the significant non-traditional student population.

“Those who are over 30 tend to prefer face to face learning,” she said. “But younger students prefer online – because your generation grew up with it. But at the end of the day … they might prefer a hybrid.”

Contact general assignment reporter Amadeus Smith at [email protected].