ITEM #5.c.

South Central College Online Action Planning Meeting – November 7, 2014

In attendance: Lisa Lamor, Peter Johnson, Kurt Dershem, Lynn Michels, Sandi Myers, Becky Miller, Solen Fayissa, Cassandra Labairon, Summer Gioffre, Johnna Horton, Anne Gainey, Juliann Brueske, Wes Taylor, Tony Bryson, Deb Salmon, Amy Miller, Jane Greathouse

Overview of Meeting:

Faculty from across programs came together to create a working plan to support online education. The planning process was framed around a desire to create a “culture” around online education. Specifically, the group explored three questions:

  • What current SCC policies, processes, and practices around online education should be PRESERVED because they are supported by best practices research and/or we know we are doing them well based on outcome data?
  • What current SCC policies, processes, and practices around online education should be ENHANCED because they are supported by best practices research but we know we aren’t doing them as well as we could at this time?
  • What are some best/promising practices happening in online education we are not doing at this time but should be doing?

Using the ideas generated about the questions above, the group brainstormed strategies to preserve, enhance, and add to current policies, procedures, and practices. The facilitator took the list of strategies and organized them around seven goals (see next page).

The next step will involve seeking feedback from the work team to ensure that nothing has been missed or incorrectly represented. Adjustments will be made and, when acceptable, the plan will be adopted by the Online Education Committee to guide their work.

Agenda:

Time / Activity
9-9:55 / Discuss Articles, Data, Personal Experiences
Brainstorm Strengths & Areas for Improvement & Opportunities
9:55-10:30 / Group Share
10:30-10:45 / Break
10:45-11:30 / Brainstorm Goals/Outcomes/Strategies to Address Strengths, Needed Improvements, and Opportunities
11:30-12:00 / Group Share

South Central College Online Action Planning – November 7, 2014

Goal 1: Enhance communication and collaboration among online faculty and Learning Central Staff.

Strategies / Steps / Timeline / Cost/Responsible Parties
1.1 / Identify and develop online methods of communication among faculty and Learning Central staff to share best/useful practices, exchange ideas, and celebrate successes.
1.2 / Develop faculty mentoring program to support new/adjunct online faculty.
1.3 / Create formal/informal face-to-face support groups of online faculty to share ideas and practices.
1.4
Content shared during the meeting that fits under this goal:
  • Best practices
  • Communication of best practices – best practice meeting before our regular meeting
  • Forum for faculty to share their best practices and a place to share them
  • Communicate best practices (2x)
  • Online info sharing - Upload examples - Instructor lounge curated
  • See online activity
  • How to build an online community
  • Best practices 30 minutes before online committee – put online
  • Support groups
  • Transfer of ideas -- Increase faculty morale
  • Create formal and informal support groups
  • Create a more communicative environment for faculty
  • Mentor program in an official capacity (paid or release time)
  • Information sharing – AMA on Reddit (maybe in conjunction with D2L)
  • Celebrate successes
  • Create mentoring process for online/hybrid faculty with time and/or compensation

Goal 2: Review, refine, and formalize policies and procedures for new online/hybrid development.

Strategies / Steps / Timeline / Cost/Responsible Parties
2.1 / Review and refine existing policies and procedures for new course development. (Including clarification on LDA.)
2.2 / Seek official approval of policies and procedures.
2.3
Content shared during the meeting that fits under this goal:
  • Develop/refine policies and procedures for online/hybrid intention/development/review
  • Update online development process (Include LDA clarification from SAC)
  • Update current online development process
  • LDA
  • Moving process to an actual policy

Goal 3: Create procedures and practices to encourage continuous improvement of established online/hybrid courses.

Strategies / Steps / Timeline / Cost/Responsible Parties
3.1 / Develop formal procedure/practice for reviewing existing courses.
3.2 / Implement a dedicated in-service every ____ years that is focused on online/hybrid delivery.
3.3
Content shared during the meeting that fits under this goal:
  • Continuous review and development of online and hybrid
  • Develop a formal process for continuous improvement (lead to consistent quality courses, increase student satisfaction)
  • QM rubric to all faculty
  • Make it easier for peer assessment
  • Self and peer assessment – content, delivery, and assessment (funding)
  • Online informal student feedback
  • Dedicated in-service for course improvement and development – best practices

Goal 4: Enhance technology support to faculty for online/hybrid development and delivery.

Strategies / Steps / Timeline / Cost/Responsible Parties
4.1 / Investigate and provide to faculty a list of open education resources.
4.2 / Provide training to help faculty meet ADA/accessibility requirements.
4.3 / Encourage greater use of LMS and online tools by all faculty, regardless of delivery methods used.
4.4
Content shared during the meeting that fits under this goal:
  • Ongoing support for new faculty/adjunct teaching online and hybrid
  • R&D technology (lead to better quality courses)
  • Open education resources
  • Exploration of different tools
  • Information sharing
  • Meet disabilities guidelines, etc.
  • On-going support for faculty, including adjuncts and new faculty (cohort)
  • Encourage D2L to be used for content across SCC (approaching teaching from an online viewpoint)

Goal 5: Develop and implement practices to help students to become better academically prepared for online coursework.

Strategies / Steps / Timeline / Cost/Responsible Parties
5.1 / Explore use of software to assess student technological literacy and develop policy or procedure for implementing assessment.
5.2 / Explore creating an online “boot camp” for new online students.
5.3 / Identify and/or create videos about navigating online courses for students.
5.4
Content shared during the meeting that fits under this goal:
  • Technology literacy with Accuplacer/Smarter Measure
  • Prepare students for online classes (will increase retention and critical thinking at it pertains to online)
  • Online student open house (w/ accommodations for distance)
  • Evaluate readiness in a more formal manner before they register (Smarter Measure or Accuplacer)
  • Online student boot camp (like the faculty boot camp)
  • D2L sessions at the beginning of the semester for students to ask questions, etc.
  • Videos/YouTube channel with SCC engaging/fun videos or tutorials to help people with their program – MnSCU has many

Goal 6: Provided dedicated (or better coordinated) student support services for online/hybrid students.

Strategies / Steps / Timeline / Cost/Responsible Parties
6.1 / Identify, assess, and improve/create key areas that students need online services.
6.2 / Schedule an online open house (with Skyping option) for online students each year/semester.
6.3 / Explore ways to include students in on campus events.
Content shared during the meeting that fits under this goal:
  • Tie in with other SCC work happening (e.g., AQIP, FYI, Welcoming Environment, advising, online readiness)
  • Coordinate purposefully with other areas – student services/Help Desk
  • Institute an online open student open house/build online student community/participation in college events (ex. Global Conference)

Goal 7: Enhance current data collection, analysis, and reporting methods to provide a more comprehensive understanding of online education outcomes.

Strategies / Steps / Timeline / Cost/Responsible Parties
7.1 / Review and refine current reporting process to ensure that key metrics are included.
7.2 / Explore ways to track student activity online to develop a better understanding of how students work in the online environment.
7.3 / Explore adding questions to PSOL and SSI related to online education outcomes.
7.4 / Conduct faculty needs assessment related to online education.
7.5
Content shared during the meeting that fits under this goal:
  • Collect data for more information/strategic decisions
  • Collect necessary data to address completion, retention, and satisfaction
  • D2L data/Google metrics
  • PSOL, CCSSEE, ISurvey – Add/change questions
  • Student I-survey data (R&P)
  • PSOL
  • Pre- and post- survey of culture
  • Track success
  • Standard metrics

Other suggestions that surfaced during the goal/strategy brainstorming session, but not sure where they fit:

  • Inform administration about the work being done and resources needed
  • Culture (Culture of intentional, purposeful use of D2L and online/hybrid learning experiences of students and faculty
  • Students: Completion, orientation, advising, AQIP/FYI, assessing student’s ability to learn online (like Accuplacer) to support their success
  • Faculty: Accomplishments (QM cert, etc.), sharing of yay! moments formally
  • Focus on culture so adaptation is organic/instant
  • Communicate/market to create culture
  • In-service dedicated to development
  • Education about online
  • Orientation for students and faculty
  • Intentionality in designation of online/hybrid development and delivery opportunities – compensation and scheduling

South Central College Online Action Planning – November 7, 2014

NOTES FROM MEETING:

What do we currently do well that should continue? (Practices, Procedures, Policies, Guiding Principles, etc.) / Why do we believe this is important and should continue? (List research, national trends, internal SCC data, our opinion, etc.) / How do we know we do this well? What evidence do we have that this is going well?
  • Great support for online and hybrid and all areas of D2L support.
  • Peer review process in place but needs improvement.
  • Learning Commons-Help Desk is very supportive for all students and especially online/hybrid.
  • Wide range of online classes. A good mix.
  • Online classes are full because of demand.
  • Online and hybrid welcome letters/website/South Central Online and resources
  • Online course structure and development process is solid
  • Intro module and D2L support
  • Faculty resource course
  • Library resources for faculty
/
  • PSOL Survey continually shows student satisfaction with online courses at SCC
  • Instructors and students benefit from the support that South Central Online provides.
  • National trends are moving towards more online.
/
  • Online Course Review resulted in positive feeback – students and industry
  • JB getting fewer questions (but more questions in Student Affairs). Instructors who direct students to services get fewer questions than before.

South Central College Online Action Planning – November 7, 2014

What do we currently do that is important but needs to be improved or changed? (Practices, Procedures, Policies, Guiding Principles, etc.)
List and describe the changes needed. (Describe the changes in broad terms…this will give us insight about future strategies.) / Why do we believe this is important and should continue?
Why do we think it needs to be improved or changed? (List research, national trends, internal SCC data, our opinion, etc.) / How do we know we don’t do this as well as we could? What evidence do we have that this needs improvement?
  • Procedure for developing new online and hybrid courses and communication
  • Communication of process
  • Mentoring of faculty
  • Procedure/policy for when/how we do things. Right now, no clear sense of administrative support.
  • How do “enforce” or ask for consistent support from admin
  • Consistency of delivery standards/best practices (ex. How to communicate with students
  • How often to communicate with students, etc.
  • Sharing best practices more (How do we keep this going?
  • How to keep going
  • Include faculty who are PT/adjunct/entirely online
  • Online student open house (f2f, Skype)
  • Opportunities for interaction
  • Participation in campus events by online learners
  • More participation in campus events (ex. Skype presentations)
  • LDA – Last Day of Attendance
  • What is acceptable evidence?
  • Active participation
  • How does timing/tracking work with this?
  • Exam proctoring
  • Assessing student readiness to engage in online learning
  • Smarter Measure before enrollment or start of semester
  • Tools – Soft Chalk, etc. How much do we assess to see if it is working, etc. How do we keep these tools as stable as possible.
  • Overall faculty development for online education – do instructors know/understand good online delivery?
  • Hiring practices – selecting people with understanding of online ed
/
  • 1 Consistency of quality education. Alignment of national standards (QM)
  • 2 Administration understanding and support = sustainability
  • 3 Student expectations and experiences are consistent from course to course
  • 4 Faculty morale
  • 5 Building community for students who are online learners and relationships with faculty
  • 6-8 Students have clear guidelines, similar experiences, and are pre-ready for online learning
/
  • Experience/history of faculty
  • Continual changes in structure/leadership
  • Students are not retained or don’t complete courses/program (How much is perception? How much is reality? Need PSOL/Specified query data)
  • Evals from students – establish feelings about delivery style and methods
  • Research and articles support ideologies here (e.g., building community)

South Central College Online Action Planning – November 7, 2014

What are promising practices that we aren’t doing but should be doing? (Practices, Procedures, Policies, Guiding Principles, etc.) / Why do we believe this is important? How might it benefit SCC? What is our evidence for making this claim? (List research, national trends, internal SCC data, our opinion, etc.)
  • Refine D2L tracking to better understand student behavior.
  • Add to current SCC metrics to understand student trends and performance.
  • Explore/Add OER’s (Open Source Resources).
  • Improve student preparedness. (ex. Orientation, computer skills assessment.
  • MOOCS for developmental education only.
  • Create dedicated virtual and online services.
  • Understand needs/usage by ESL/ELL learners. – Prefer online b/c it removes barriers and certain assumptions (ex. Accent); how much of the issues that occur are about not understanding the content versus inability to interact
  • Create formal and informal faculty support groups.
  • Formal mentors
  • Explore instructional design best practices (ex. QM and unofficial practices)
  • Consider on-going course review (student evals of usability, etc.)
  • Keep up to date on new technology (and ask for guidance with these technologies) – Skype, video, voice thread, etc.
  • Electronic form – choose your own technology
  • Digital divide = More skills vs. less skills – Needs to be addressed (ex. How to use various Google elements)
  • 24-hour Help Desk with Adobe Connect
/
  • Logical/good practice
  • 2013 Distance Education Trend Report
  • Advisor and faculty experiences
  • ESL research (Solen)
  • Baran and Correia, A Professional Development Framework for Online Teaching
  • Connie Malamed
  • Anecdotal experience
  • Increase communication, collaboration, and transfer of ideas among faculty by giving them a forum
  • Continuous improvement – content and delivery and assessment
  • Fresh eyes – increased ability to self-assess
  • Similar to ? model – trust student feedback more
  • Meet students where they are – best practices

South Central College Online Action Planning – November 7, 2014

Brainstorm Goals/Strategies to Preserve, Enhance, and Create an Online Culture:

  • Update online development process (Include LDA clarification from SAC)
  • Develop/refine policies and procedures for online/hybrid intention/development/review
  • Create mentoring process for online/hybrid faculty with time and/or compensation
  • Institute an online open student open house/build online student community/participation in college events (ex. Global Conference)
  • Technology literacy with Accuplacer/Smarter Measure
  • Ongoing support for new faculty/adjunct teaching online and hybrid
  • Encourage D2L to be used for content across SCC (approaching teaching from an online viewpoint)
  • Communicate best practices (2x)
  • Online info sharing - Upload examples - Instructor lounge curated
  • See online activity
  • How to build an online community
  • Best practices 30 minutes before online committee – put online
  • Inform administration about the work being done and resources needed
  • Continuous review and development of online and hybrid
  • Dedicated in-service for course improvement and development – best practices
  • Collect data for more information/strategic decisions
  • Create formal and informal support groups
  • Create a more communicative environment for faculty
  • Mentor program in an official capacity (paid or release time)
  • Information sharing – AMA on Reddit (maybe in conjunction with D2L)
  • Prepare students for online classes (will increase retention and critical thinking at it pertains to online)
  • Online student open house (w/ accommodations for distance)
  • Evaluate readiness in a more formal manner before they register (Smarter Measure or Accuplacer)
  • Online student boot camp (like the faculty boot camp)
  • D2L sessions at the beginning of the semester for students to ask questions, etc.
  • Videos/YouTube channel with SCC engaging/fun videos or tutorials to help people with their program – MnSCU has many
  • Develop a formal process for continuous improvement (lead to consistent quality courses, increase student satisfaction)
  • QM rubric to all faculty
  • Make it easier for peer assessment
  • Self and peer assessment – content, delivery, and assessment (funding)
  • Online informal student feedback
  • Best practices
  • Communication of best practices – best practice meeting before our regular meeting
  • Forum for faculty to share their best practices and a place to share them
  • Collect necessary data to address completion, retention, and satisfaction
  • D2L data/Google metrics
  • PSOL, CCSSEE, ISurvey – Add/change questions
  • R&D technology (lead to better quality courses)
  • Open education resources
  • Exploration of different tools
  • Information sharing
  • Meet disabilities guidelines, etc.
  • Update current online development process (incl. LDA)
  • Moving process to an actual policy
  • On-going support for faculty, including adjuncts and new faculty (cohort)
  • Support groups
  • Transfer of ideas -- Increase faculty morale
  • Culture (Culture of intentional, purposeful use of D2L and online/hybrid learning experiences of students and faculty
  • Students: Completion, orientation, advising, AQIP/FYI, assessing student’s ability to learn online (like Accuplacer) to support their success
  • Faculty: Accomplishments (QM cert, etc.), sharing of yay!moments formally
  • Focus on culture so adaptation is organic/instant
  • Communicate/market to create culture
  • In-service dedicated to development
  • Education about online
  • Orientation for students and faculty
  • Celebrate successes
  • Intentionality in designation of online/hybrid development and delivery opportunities – compensation and scheduling
  • Tie in with other SCC work happening (e.g., AQIP, FYI, Welcoming Environment, advising, online readiness)
  • Coordinate purposefully with other areas – student services/Help Desk
  • Encourage D2L to be used by all faculty

Data: