DISTANCE EDUCATION / ONLINE LEARNING ANNUAL REPORT

Transcription

1 DISTANCE EDUCATION / ONLINE LEARNING ANNUAL REPORT Chabot College Report prepared by Minta Winsor, Chabot Web Services, Coordinator Significant report content provided by: Jan Novak, Committee On Online Learning (Chair, ) Lisa Ulibarri, Chabot Web Services, Instructional Designer Ramona Silver, Committee On Online Learning (Chair, 2009-present) Thomas Clark, Dean of Business & Applied Technology

2 Contents Introduction... 2 Growth of Online and Hybrid Course Offerings... 2 Hybrid Online Learning; Blended Learning to Meet Student Learning Needs... 3 Online Course Development Incentives: Training and Multimedia Pilots... 4 Substantive Change Proposal: Online Degrees and Certificates... 5 Program Review, Year Three (Final Year)... 7 Rock #3: How can we improve online student retention?... 7 Rock #5: Are online and on-campus courses truly equivalent?... 8 Program Review Conclusions... 9 Additional Updates... 9 Blackboard Upgrade and Increased Usage during Streamlined Blackboard Course Site Setup District Implementation of the Zone web portal and Student Zon Future Plans Continued Growth in Online Learning Course Offerings Online Learning Student Support Upgrade to Blackboard 9, "Blackboard Learn" Research and Pilot of Online Tutoring Chabot Web Services Revisions to Course Proposal Process Online Learning Unit Plan Page 1

3 Introduction This report provides a comprehensive summary of the Chabot College distance education program during , and includes the following significant achievements & updates: Continued substantial growth in online & hybrid (online courses with meetings) course offerings. Online course development incentives, including training and multimedia pilot opportunities. Approval of the Substantive Change Proposal for offering a significant number of certificates and degrees where at least 50% of the courses are offered in online format. The completion of Program Review for Distance Education, with a focus on student retention and success, and the initiatives implemented to address student needs. Blackboard upgrade to version 7.3, followed by a continued increase in Blackboard usage. Streamlined Blackboard course request and setup for instructors. District Implementation of the Zone web portal & student Zon Growth of Online and Hybrid Course Offerings According to the California Community Colleges Distance Education Guidelines, distance education means instruction in which the instructor and student are separated by distance and interact through the assistance of communication technology. Chabot College distance education courses include fully online courses, hybrid courses (online courses with required meetings), telecourses, and other multimedia courses. Compared to the previous year, represented an overall 16% increase in all distance education sections and an overall 24% increase in student enrollment (headcount). In the spring of 2009, Chabot College offered 135 sections of distance education courses with an overall enrollment (headcount) of 5,224 students, compared to 113 sections and 4,522 students in the spring of Figure 1: All Distance Education Course Sections and Enrollments, Page 2

4 Looking at online and hybrid sections only, there was an annual 23% increase in sections and a corresponding 30% increase in enrollment. In the spring of 2009, approximately 4,983 students were enrolled in 127 online & hybrid course sections, up from 101 sections and 4,161 students in the spring of At the end of spring 2009, 79% of all distance offerings were fully online, 14% were hybrids, and 9% were telecourses and other mixed modes of technology-enhanced or web-enhanced learning. Figure 2: Number of Distance Education Sections by Section Type, Hybrid Online Learning; Blended Learning to Meet Student Learning Needs Compared to , hybrids (online courses with meetings) have experienced the greatest rate of increase, representing 14% of all DE courses in versus 9% in As many faculty have come to realize, hybrids combine the benefits of face-to-face learning with the flexibility of online learning. Interestingly, this increase in hybrids at Chabot coincides with a report by the U.S. Department of Education which attests to the value of online and blended learning. The report, titled "Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies concluded that learning in online college courses is slightly better than in face-to-face courses, and that hybrid online courses are better still. The report concludes that blended instruction has actually been more effective than traditional face-to-face courses. This report supports the rationale for the substantial effort required to design and implement blended approaches, which is indicative in the Chabot DE/Online Course Proposal process. The link to the complete report can be found at: Page 3

5 Figure 3: Comparison Online and Hybrid Sections, to Online Course Development Incentives: Training and Multimedia Pilots Much of the growth in online learning can be attributed to the strong leadership and support of the Dean of Business & Applied Technology, Tom Clark & the chair of the Committee On Online Learning Committee (COOL), Jan Novak, and the multiple initiatives from the (COOL). Since 2006, the committee expanded their scope beyond curriculum approval to include a much broader involvement in several aspects of online learning, such as providing online teaching skill development opportunities and mentoring for faculty, recommending and assisting in implementation of online student support programs, and coordinating the evaluation of DE delivery instruction. The program has included monetary incentives for faculty to develop new online course offerings, as well as attend training programs such as those offered According to the Online Student Survey for students conducted in the Spring of 2008 (detailed in the Annual DE Report), students reported that they miss hearing the lecture when they take an online class. As a result, the COOL decided to make multimedia development in online courses a priority. An overwhelming 28 faculty and staff attended Northern California Winter Institute at the Ohlone college Newark Center in January The 3-day hands-on session included several workshops such as Creating Interactive Learning Content Using Camtasia Studio, vodcasting, and other topics related to supporting online teaching and learning. The COOL provided reimbursement for the winter institute as well as 4-week online courses in podcasting and vodcasting. During , at least 35 Chabot faculty and staff participated in online courses and web-based seminars (Source: Lenora Project). In addition to providing reimbursement training opportunities, faculty currently developing online courses were offered the opportunity to submit proposals for multimedia grants. Approximately five faculty submitted proposals, each covering a range of multimedia approaches and a range of technology expertise. All proposers were asked to assess student engagement and learning, and report back to the committee. Page 4

6 As an additional incentive, several faculty who attended Winter Institute or who submitted a proposal for a multimedia grant were provided accompanying software and recording devices for either their Chabot office or home computer. Approximately 20 faculty were provided a copy of Camtasia, SnagIt, MP3 Maker, Dragon Naturally Speaking and hardware such as a MP3 recorder and microphones). To encourage faculty to pursue the many skill development opportunities available, the COOL and the CWS staff worked collaboratively to create a recommended schedule of workshops which included a mix of Chabot-developed workshops as well as training provided and SLOAN geared towards online teaching. Chabot-developed workshops included: Developing an Online Course Proposal Transitioning Your On-Campus Course to a DE Hybrid or Online Course Introduction to Blackboard Quickly Publish Your Tests and Surveys to Blackboard using Respondus SafeAssign: The New Blackboard Plagiarism Detection Tool Adding Audio to Your Online Course: Podcasts, Narrated Audio in PowerPoint, and More In addition to the scheduled workshops, faculty have the ability to request workshops and one-on-one training & assistance on a variety of topics, ranging from initial consultation for teaching online, to creating tests and surveys within Blackboard, throughout the year. Most of the Chabot-provided workshops were also provided online as self-paced, available to all Chabot faculty in an on-demand basis. During , approximately 38 Chabot instructors enrolled in the Introduction to Blackboard course, which has been offered in an online format since August The instructional designer also meets with faculty for initial consultations, formative evaluations, and a wide variety of topics on Blackboard, which totaled approximately 100 training and consultation appointments throughout the year. Substantive Change Proposal: Online Degrees and Certificates According to the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) Policy on Distance Learning, Institutions are expected to give the ACCJC advance notice of intent to offer a program in which 50% or more of the courses are electronically-delivered, through the Substantive Change process. As part of program review, the Committee On Online Learning (COOL) initiated a continuous review of the number and scope of distance learning course offerings, including courses needed to offer students a completely online degree. In the fall of 2008, research and review revealed that Chabot offers online courses in all divisions, and almost all AA/AS degree General Education and transfer (CSU-GE Breadth) requirements can be fulfilled online with the exception of Math. In addition, there are now thirty-one program in which at least 50% of the courses are offered in the online format. These online programs include major-specific certificates and degrees in addition to General Education (Table 1). Chabot offers several fully online certificate programs in Business and Computer Application Systems. Consequently, approximately10% of Chabot s enrollment is in online courses. To meet the ACCJC policy, the Vice President of Academic Services, Dr. Gene Groppettii, formed an ad-hoc group to prepare the report, which included CWS staff members Lisa Ulibarri & Minta Winsor, and the current chair of COOL, Jan Novak. On April 13, 2009, Chabot College officially submitted a Substantive Change Proposal to the ACCJC, and on May 21st the V.P. was notified that the proposal was approved. Page 5

7 Table 1: Certificates/Degrees Offering 50% or More Online Courses Type Program Percentage of Courses Offered at a Distance Degree AA-Behavioral Science 100% (6 of 6 courses) Certificate AS-Accounting 90% (10 of 11 courses) Degree AS-Business 100% (11 of 11 courses) Degree AA-Business Administration 55% (5 of 9 courses) Degree AS-Retail Management 66% (6 of 9 courses) Certificate Accounting Technician 85% (6 of 7 courses) Certificate Marketing 100% (7 of 7 courses) Certificate Retail Management 80% (8 of 10 courses) Certificate Management 100% (6 of 6 courses) Certificate Retailing 100% (5 of 5 courses) Certificate Small Business Management 66% (4 of 6 courses) Certificate Bookkeeping 83% (5 of 6 courses) Degree AS-Software Specialist 90% (9 of 10 courses) Degree AS-Administrative Assistant 100% (12 of 12 courses) Certificate Administrative Assistant 100% (7 of 7 courses) Certificate Office Technology 100% (7 of 7 courses) Certificate Software Specialist 88% (8 of 9 courses) Certificate Office Technology 100% (4 of 4 courses) Degree AA-English (Emphasis in Literature) 50% (3 of 6 courses) Certificate Writing 80% (4 of 5 courses) Degree AA-Ethnic Studies 57% (4 of 7 courses) Degree AA-Liberal Arts 83% (20 of 24 courses) Certificate Fitness Instructor 50% (3 of 6 courses) Degree AA/ AS-Human Services 72% (8 of 11 courses) Certificate Case Management for Human Services 60% (3 of 5 courses) Certificate Multicultural Awareness/ Relations for the Service Provider 50% (3 of 6 courses) Certificate Multicultural Awareness/ Self-Reflection 71% (5 of 7 courses) Degree AA-Real Estate 66% (6 of 9 courses) Certificate Real Estate 77% (7 of 9 courses) Degree AA-Social Science (general) 83% (5 of 6 courses) While Chabot College now offers several certificates and degrees where 50% or more of the courses are offered in distance education format, many challenges remain. Given the absence of course offerings in key degree and transfer requirement areas, neither a fully online degree nor a complete list of online transfer GE is yet a possibility to students. Also, not all online courses directly meet the requirements of a degree, and some are prerequisite, preparatory, or supplemental courses. The challenges faced to meet these goals are addressed in detail in Program Review, which is summarized in the section below. Page 6

8 Program Review, Year Three (Final Year) In Fall 2006, the Distance Education program began its first program review, with a clear focus on online teaching and learning. The COOL chose to pursue five different areas of inquiry, including: Rock #1: Who are our online students? Rock #2: How can we improve online student success? Rock #3: How can we improve online student retention? Rock #4: How can we motivate faculty to teach online? Rock #5: Are online and on-campus courses truly equivalent? In June 2008, COOL reported on rocks 1, 2, and 4. In the final program review report, the COOL discussed questions 3 and 5, and provided recommendations for future work. (This report contains a summary of the Program Review. The complete Program Review can be found at Rock #3: How can we improve online student retention? The withdrawal rate in online classes is consistently higher than in similar face-to-face classes, ranging from 2-11 points higher over the past 10 semesters. Pre-census withdrawal rates are slightly higher, and in one indepth study of this, that rate was 3 points higher. This coincides with rates at community colleges nationwide, where the reported retention gap is approximately 8 points. Figure 4: Withdrawal Rates, Online vs. Face-to-Face of Similar Courses Fall 2004-Spring 2009 There are many theories about the reason for this retention gap. One theory is that online students are taking an online class as an extra class to try to achieve their academic goals more quickly, and may be less emotionally committed to the online class if their workload becomes overwhelming leading them to drop the online class and stay in the on-campus classes. Another theory is that online students might actually be more responsible, and thus choose to drop online classes rather than risk failure. However, As long as success rates Page 7

9 remain roughly equivalent in online and on-campus courses (as indicated below for rock #5), there is no disadvantage for students in online learning vs. on-campus learning. Over the past few years, a number of programs have been designed to improve both student success and retention, including campus-wide online learning orientations, extended Blackboard student support hours, an Introduction to Online Learning course, online learning information web pages for each course, and minitutorials on online learning and Blackboard that instructors can add to their courses. There is some evidence that the use of multimedia tools in online courses can improve retention (although no evidence of improved learning) by engaging students more in the course, and development of multimedia training is a current priority for the Committee on Online Learning. Rock #5: Are online and on-campus courses truly equivalent? According to a faculty survey on online learning conducted during fall 2007, a number of faculty indicated concern that student learning in online courses does not match that of an on-campus course. Fortunately, based on Chabot success data, student self-reports, and national research, there is no data to support this concern. A major survey of 1000 Chabot online students conducted in Spring 2008 revealed that online students believe they spend an equivalent amount of time completing online and on-campus courses, and that the oncampus and online courses are identical in terms of level of difficulty. Figure 5: Success Rates in Online vs. Face-to-Face of Similar Courses Fall 2004 to Spring 2009 Notes: Data is from courses that were offered both online only and face-to-face (hybrids were not included). Success is a grade of 'A', 'B', 'C', or 'CR'. In fact, as mentioned above, the report released by the U.S. Department of Education, Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning concluded that learning in online college courses is actually slightly better than in face-to-face courses, and that hybrid online courses are better still. The complete report can be found at the following link: Page 8

10 Perhaps the final piece of evidence to support what appears to a consensus among educators nationwide that online learning is equivalent will be our own assessment of Student Learning Outcomes (SLO s), which is underway. The Committee on Online Learning will continue to monitor success rates and student perceptions, and will ask for input from faculty once SLO assessment data is available. Program Review Conclusions Chabot College began the first program review of online learning in Fall At that time, Chabot offered 51 sections of 37 online and hybrid online courses. As the program review concluded, 158 sections of 110 courses scheduled to be offered for fall Along with this incredible growth in online course offerings has been the incredible growth in understanding of online students and their needs, and significant growth in support programs available to those students. For online faculty, strong internal training and incentives to encourage faculty to participate in external training opportunities were provided. Future challenges are many, but key issues appear to be: uncertain institutional commitment to online teaching and learning, demonstrated by the absence of an ongoing budget commitment A lack of integration of online learning into all facets of the college, which needs to parallel staff development, academic services, counseling, possibly tutoring, retention efforts, and many other student support services. Near-term priorities include: Development of online tutoring and online academic advising critical support services for students; and providing an adequate number of staff to support faculty development in a rapidly changing online world. Providing more support to faculty for using online teaching such as multimedia (video, podcasts, narrated Powerpoints), online journaling, blogs, wikis, and more, including preparing for the upcoming changes to Blackboard. Additional Updates Blackboard Upgrade and Increased Usage during On June 6, 2008, the CLPCCD Blackboard Server was upgraded to version 7.3. The upgrade included several enhancements to existing tools which can significantly improve the communication of course information for students. Enhancements included improvements to tools such as announcements, , assessments, the gradebook, and the discussion board. Instructors gained the ability to simultaneously post an announcement within the course as well as send an to students. Instructors also gained the ability to add individual comments to grade entries, providing more detailed information and feedback to students. Also included is a new feature called The Early Warning System, which enables instructors to quickly and proactively monitor and communicate student performance. While the upgrade provided increased functionality, usage of Blackboard continues to grow at a steady rate. By the middle of spring 2009, requests for Blackboard sites totaled 495 course sections and 15,270 students. Compared to , represented a 13% increase in the number of sections requested and a corresponding 24% increase in student headcount. Fortunately, a new streamlined course site request process implemented in October 2008 has assisted in maintaining the demand for timely course site setup. Page 9

11 Figure 6: Blackboard Course Sections and Students (Head Count) Streamlined Blackboard Course Site Setup In October 2008, faculty gained the ability to quickly & easily request Blackboard course sites within the faculty/staff menu in CLASS Web. This process provides greater automation, increased accuracy and reduces the turnaround time required for setting up Blackboard course sites. With the recent implementation of CLASS Web for Faculty, which requires faculty to submit grades online, this new option was quickly adopted by faculty. This new process was the result of many collaborative hours between ITS staff members Stacey Followill, Pong Pungchai and Chabot and LPC Instructional Technology Coordinators Minta Winsor and Scott Vigallon. District Implementation of the Zone web portal and Student Zon Prior to the start of the spring 2009 semester, district ITS implemented The Zone web portal, which provides access to a variety of services with a single sign-on point for the different web systems on campus. The portal categorizes information based each user role and affiliations, offer different layouts for information and services to students, faculty, staff, and administrators, including student (zon ), calendar, announcements, discussion groups, and CLASS-Web. Included in this implementation was the decision to replace all of the current s in Blackboard with zon , which required students to change their settings from within zon or CLASS-Web, rather than from within Blackboard. After the initial implementation, students could also modify the address in CLASS-Web to any address of their choosing. In an attempt to gauge the student experience with The Zone/Zon , The chair of the Committee On Online Learning, Jan Novak, sent an to all online instructors which provided a link to a survey for faculty to post in their online classes if they so choose. At the end of the survey period, there were 189 student responses to the survey. When asked, "Have you tried to log in to the Chabot Zone web portal? an overwhelmingly 85.6% replied Yes, and I logged in successfully just as a similar percentage, 83.5%, reported that they were able to login successfully to their Zon account. Page 10

12 Whether or not students initially decided to use Zon appeared more divided. When asked whether they have been receiving s from their instructor, only 47.3% responded Yes, I have received s sent to my Zon address while 30.6% received s sent to their zon because they forwarded it to their personal address. Students also provided a wide range of interesting comments including "I personally love zon where you know all school related s will go to that account. And I have it set up on my iphone and I love knowing when I get a new because only school s go there." Other comments from students included frustration with having another username and password to remember. Whether or not the survey is representative of all students remains to be seen, but the COOL will continue to assess the impact of these new tools for students in regards to online learning and provide feedback to district ITS and the district-wide committee dedicated to the Zone/zon . Future Plans Continued Growth in Online Learning Course Offerings For fall 2009, 158 sections of 110 courses will be offered, especially for fully online and hybrid (online courses with meetings). Approximately 24 proposals for online and hybrid courses were submitted to the Committee On Online Learning to be offered for Fall 2009 or later, while approximately 25 proposals have already been received for Spring During the final accreditation report session in October 2009, the spokesperson for the accreditation team acknowledged Chabot s success in increasing student access through online course expansion. The Committee On Online Learning and Chabot Web Services staff plan to continue the many efforts described in this report to encourage faculty to teach online. Online Learning Student Support While online course offerings continue to expand, by the end of spring 2009 the staff allocated to supporting students had remained unchanged. For the past few years, all student support for online learning and Blackboard (over 15,000 students at the end of spring 2009) was provided for by a single staff member, Randi Ray, in a computer science lab. Furthermore, the position was shared between two divisions, so only 50% of the allocation was dedicated online learning and Blackboard support. This lack of complete allocation proved a substantial difficulty in meeting new initiatives such as providing orientations to online learning and providing course information on the website. Fortunately, as of August 2009 the 50% allocation was increased to 100%, which enabled the creation of Online Learning Student Support (OLSS), a part of Chabot Web Services. The OLSS Full-time staff now provides all of the on-campus workshops and orientations to train students in Blackboard and Online Learning, and is working with Chabot TV to provide an on-demand video version of the orientation. In the spring of 2009, over 150 students participated in the 12 different orientations offered. In addition, the OLSS staff member posts an extensive amount of course information on the Online Learning website to assist potential students. Ms. Ray is also working on multiple student outreach initiatives. While the gap between the growth in online learning and the unchanged level of staff support continues, increasing the OLSS allocation directly impacts students, and held the highest priority. Upgrade to Blackboard 9, "Blackboard Learn" Between the spring 2009 and summer 2009, the district-wide Blackboard server is scheduled to be upgraded to version 9, referred to as "Blackboard Learn." Page 11

13 Blackboard Learn 9 offers the most significant changes since the college began using Blackboard in From the design, to the user interface, to new and improved tools, this version finally brings the system a modern look and feel. Changes include social learning tools such as blogs and journals, Web 2.0 innovations such as drag-n-drop, as well as the completely redesigned/renamed Grade Center. The Chabot Web Services website provides resources and links for faculty to become familiar with the new tools in Blackboard 9, and an introductory workshop was provided during the October 2009 Flex Day as a collaborative effort by the new COOL chair Ramona Silver and CWS Blackboard support staff. Several more training opportunities will be provided to faculty in the coming months. Research and Pilot of Online Tutoring Currently, there is no completely online tutoring program available to online students, or any students. This is a particularly conspicuous inequity since the tutor program at Chabot has increased in size and use over tenfold in the past few years. As part of the Title III initiative, a proposal for a Faculty Inquiry Group (FIG) to investigate core issues and practices in assessment and student learning, including online counseling was submitted during the spring of In the proposal, the FIG will work with a software program that has been used by other community colleges, TutorTrac, trying the program s features, and test it out by means of pilot studies conducted with Chabot tutors tutoring online. The proposal is currently undergoing revision to include a more specific timeline for a research and pilot timeline. Chabot Web Services In August 2009, the Instructional Technology Center was renamed Chabot Web Services (CWS). This change represents an attempt to more accurately describe the predominance of web-based services provided as demanded by faculty & staff, and the need to focus on those services and tools. This coincides with the proliferation of web-based technology tools and the expectation for the ability to utilize and obtain resources for these tools anytime, anywhere. While CWS continues to provide substantial support for online learning and Blackboard, several other webbased tools are in development, including a very easy to use faculty website builder, an interface to easily post video and audio, and a slideshow generator which allows faculty to easily create photo slideshows for their instructional website without any programming. Revisions to Course Proposal Process All faculty who wish to teach a distance education course must complete the process as indicated on the Online Course Proposal form, submit the completed form to the Committee On Online Learning. The process which Page 12

14 includes doing some background research and obtaining input from colleagues and administrators, and explaining student benefits, how the course content will be delivered, the nature of instructor-student and student-student interactions, how student learning will be assessed, how technology will be utilized, and how students with disabilities will be accommodated. To provide further clarity to faculty submitting proposals, COOL members have made several suggestions to the proposal form, such as asking faculty to 1) provide further description of the requirements for "equivalent instruction", and examples of how these requirements may be met, 2) provide further guidance on the challenges of synchronous instruction, 3) provide further guidance on translating the on-campus course to "classroom activities" that enable students to learn & collaborate with each other, and 4) propose assessment methods that are consistent with course goals, that provide feedback from the instructor on learning, and that ensure academic integrity, along with other suggestions. It is expected that the COOL will revise the proposal according to these recommendations during the year Online Learning Unit Plan The Online Learning Unit Plan, now under the leadership of the new COOL chair Ramona Silver, includes the following goals: Continue to expand our online curriculum to meet student demand for this type of access to education by continuing to provide incentives for online course development and providing FTEF to offer new online course offerings in strategic disciplines (especially Math & Speech). Further invest in faculty training to enhance the quality of online teaching by providing incentives online courses & institutes, as well as offering focused on-campus workshops. Expand the use of multimedia in online courses to improve student retention & success, based on the results of pilot programs. These include providing faculty training on multimedia tools and piloting and possibly adopting classroom lecture capture technology Fully integrate online learning within the college, including funding, facilities planning, grant writing, technology planning, counseling, tutoring, and other online learning support services. Page 13