It has been my privilege to serve as the first Director of University of Nebraska Online proposals

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1 3835 HOLDREGE STREET P.O. BOX Lincoln, NE FAX October, 2010 Vol Holdr P.o. B lincoln, ne Fa x: Distance UNIVERSITY Education OF NEBRASKA Program ONLINE WORLDWIDE INITIATIVE of Nebraska Online Worldwide is offering grant funding to support the January, 2011 It was two years ago this month that the structure was put in place to begin implementing development of the new online of Nebraska programs. Online This Worldwide includes Business undergraduate Plan that was developed degree in comple Vol. 3 Issue 1 graduate degree, Development and undergraduate of the business plan and with graduate consultant Gary certificate Miller, Executive program Director Emeritus, developmen and collaborative Penn program State World Campus (IDEA) was grants. preceded by For the detailed of information Nebraska Distance about Education the Univ Situational Analysis report developed under the leadership of Bob Brock, President, Nebraska Online Worldwide Program Development visit the website: ONLINE WORLDWIDE Educational Marketing Group, Inc. in Time spent in 2007 and 2008 working with the Arnold J. Bateman consultants to define the issues and recommendations was an important step in laying the Director SUPPORT Online Worldwide TEAM Grant proposals ground will work be for reviewed the development by the of the Online Worldwide of Nebraska Online Worldwide Review Initiative. Comm (Larry Arnold Dlugosh, J. Bateman UNL, Chair; Kenya Taylor, UNK; Oren Yagil, UNMC; and David Boocker, UNO). Director It has been my privilege to serve as the first Director of of Nebraska Online proposals abateman@nebraska.edu received by 5:00 PM Friday, November 19, 2010 will be considered for funding. The facu Worldwide, implement the business plan recommendations, develop the Rolling Three-Year committee chair will be notified before Strategic Plan the and end work of on December implementation regarding of the strategic the goals. funding Good progress status in several of the gran areas has been achieved and a solid foundation has been put in place to build upon, but there Kristin Distance K. Grosskopf Education remains Collaborative much work to be done. Seed The NU Online Worldwide governance structure consisting of Distance of Education Nebraska Specialist faculty, staff and administrators from each of the of Nebraska campuses serving on Online Worldwide is requesting applications for funding to support new or e kgrosskopf@nebraska.edu the NU Online Worldwide Steering Committee, Executive Committee, Marketing Committee; collaborative educational or scholarly and the programs. Student Services, Awards Instructional will Design be and for Faculty projects Support, that enhance and Research, the prospe obtaining competitive extramural and support Infrastructure for distance and Systems education Communities of initiatives. Practice have Online each contributed Worldwide to these Seed are available Jennifer L. to Schrodt accomplishments. faculty from all disciplines and NU campuses. Recipients are required to submit a p for competitive Administrative external Assistantfunding within 12 months of the end of the Online Worldwide Seed Grant p jschrodt@nebraska.edu As many of you know I will be retiring from the of Nebraska on January 14. In Awards will be made up to $5,000 reflecting (the average back over the range last two anticipated years, I feel a sense is of between gratitude for $3,000 the opportunity and to $5,000). serve Fo as the first director of this exciting of Nebraska initiative. I have enjoyed working information about the of Nebraska Online Worldwide Seed refer to the attached c with all who have been involved in this initiative and I thank you for your commitment proposals or visit the website: and support. It has also been a great learning experience for me. I am optimistic about the Grant proposals will be reviewed by the of Nebraska s opportunity of Nebraska to build a higher Online profile Worldwide in online education and grow and Rese this program significantly in the next few years. Community of Practice Subgroup: (Dawn Mollenkopf, Chair, UNK; John Markwell, UNL; Lynn Ha UNO; and Oren Yagil, UNMC). Other members of the Community of Practice include: (Marie Barb Chair, John Falconer, UNK; and Cheryl Thompson, UNMC). A special thank you is given to the Co Arnold J. Bateman of Practice members for their hard work and leadership in developing the Seed Grant application m Director proposals received by 5:00 PM Friday, October 29, 2010 will be considered for funding. The seed g committee chair (lead PI or PD) will be notified before the end of November regarding the funding grant proposal. Standard Reports The Educational Marketing Group, Inc. (EMG) in the of Nebraska Distance Education S Analysis report completed August of 2007, stated that one of the significant barriers to growth in Un of Nebraska s distance education was the poor quality of managing information for decision-making

2 AFFORDABLE ACCESS TO EDUCATION The of Nebraska s highest priority is to provide the opportunity for Nebraskans to enjoy a better life through access to high-quality, affordable undergraduate, graduate and professional education. Online education offered by the four of Nebraska campuses is helping to accomplish this goal. In academic year 2009 there were 5,824 Nebraska residents from across the state enrolled in distance education-only courses offered by the four of Nebraska campuses. These are students who are not taking face-to-face courses on one of the campuses. See map 1 for distribution of of Nebraska distance education students; 24.1 percent reside in the West Central Extension District, 4.3 percent in the Panhandle Extension District, 11.5 percent in the Northeast Extension District, 24.2 percent in the Southeast Extension District, 9.7 percent in the Lincoln/Lancaster County area and 26.2 percent in the Omaha metro area. About 36 percent of these distance education students were enrolled in a College of Education program offered from UNK, UNL or UNO, 12 percent in a College of Business program from UNK, UNL or UNO, 9.2 percent in a program offered by the UNO College of Public Affairs and Community Service, 7.9 percent in a Natural or Social Sciences program from UNK or UNL and 5 percent from the UNMC College of Nursing. The remainder of the students were enrolled in another one of the distance education programs offered by the four campuses. There are more than 265,000 Nebraskans who have completed some college but have not earned an undergraduate degree. Online learning is a great way to reach many of these Nebraskans, who may not be in a position to enroll in traditional on-campus programs. DISTRIBUTION OF NEBRASKA RESIDENTS ENROLLED IN DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSES ONLY AY ,824 Nebraska Residents in Distance Education Courses Only map 1

3 DISTANCE EDUCATION STUDENT CREDIT HOURS of Nebraska undergraduate distance education student credit hours have been increasing at a faster rate than graduate distance education student credit hours in the last two years. In academic year 2009, undergraduate distance education student credit hours totaled 52,510 for the four of Nebraska campuses. Of this group, 19.5 percent were distance education-only resident students (not taking an on-campus course) 3.6 percent were distance education-only nonresident students, 67.2 percent were on-campus resident students and 9.7 percent were on-campus nonresident students enrolled in distance education courses, see figure 1. Graduate distance education student credit hours, for academic year 2009, totaled 45,623, for the four of Nebraska campuses. Over 88 percent of all graduate distance education student credit hours were from resident and nonresident distance education-only students and the remaining 11.6 percent were on-campus students enrolled in a distance education course, see figure 2. The total number of combined undergraduate and graduate distance education student credit hours, for academic year 2009, was 98,133. Distance education-only resident and nonresident student credit hours accounted for 53.5 percent, with the remaining 46.5 percent of the distance education student credit hours coming from on-campus students, see figure 3. The of Nebraska Online Worldwide marketing/recruitment goal is to increase the number of undergraduate and graduate distance education-only student enrollments and student credit hour growth on each campus. This includes increasing the percent of distance education-only undergraduate student credit hours from 23.1 percent in academic year 2009, to at least 50 percent of the total undergraduate distance education student credit hours over the next three years. NU ONLINE WORLDWIDE CREDIT HOUR DISTRIBUTION BY STUDENT TYPE AND RESIDENCY AY 2009 TOTAL - 98,133 SCH UNDERGRADUATE - 52,510 SCH GRADUATE - 45,623 SCH figure 1 figure 2 Distance Only Students Resident All Other Students Resident Distance Only Students Nonresident All Other Students Nonresident figure 3

4 HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SLOAN-C CONFERENCE, NOV. 3-5, 2010 ENROLLMENT (BABSON SURVEY RESEARCH GROUP) Distance education enrollments in 2009 increased 21 percent over the previous year. The Babson Survey Research Group reported that an additional 1 million students (totaling more than 5.6 million) were taking at least one online course during the fall 2009 term. Nearly one-third of higher education students enroll in at least one online course. ONLINE LEARNING OUTCOMES COMPARED TO FACE-TO-FACE (BABSON SURVEY RESEARCH GROUP): The 2010 results revealed improvements in the views of the relative quality of online instruction as compared to face-to-face. In 2003, 57 percent of academic leaders rated the learning outcomes in online education as the same or superior to those in face-to-face. This percentage increased to 66 percent in Over 75 percent of public institution academic leaders reported that online is as good as or better than face-to-face instruction. Experience correlates with reported value! Academic leaders at institutions with online offerings had much more favorable opinions of the learning outcomes in online courses and programs than did leaders at institutions without online offerings. The more extensive the online offerings are at an institution, the more positively people rate the relative quality of online learning outcomes. * To see a video presentation on instructional differences, go to our faculty resources page where you will find a Magna online seminar. Teaching Online vs. F2F = 15 Differences that Affect Learning SRI International s meta-analysis indicated a lack of meaningful outcome distinctions between face-to-face (F2F) and online learning environments, except that online students learned faster. Online students completed courses faster, with the same learning outcomes as those in F2F learning environments. But on average, purely online learning produces outcomes equivalent to F2F. Audience discussion included views that the online versus F2F distinction has lost its research and practical relevance; instructional delivery venue is not what determines educational value or learning outcomes; and the more productive questions focus on course design and instructional practice.* RETENTION Shifting focus from access to success speaks to retention. A resounding theme placing value on knowing your numbers was ubiquitous; efforts to gather and maintain new data were reportedly underway at every institution represented at the Conference. If you don t know your numbers, you don t know who s leaving your pipeline, you don t know when or why they leave. A presentation by Wayne Smutz included a multi-prong approach to success/retention at the Pennsylvania State World Campus: INFRASTRUCTURE Make visible the length of time required to complete any program Don t offer courses only to cancel them Offer flexibility such as online or blended options Have a means for all campuses to communicate with each other MARKETING Market to the students you seek to attract RECRUITMENT Have staff common to multiple campuses Use common approaches Use common technology FINANCIAL AID Have dedicated staff for distance education students Ensure staff are versed on issues unique to distance education students

5 *Click here to find a research - based assessment for online learning readiness. HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SLOAN-C CONFERENCE, NOV. 3-5, 2010 (CONTINUED) ORIENTATION/READINESS The SmarterMeasure tool was under consideration (SmarterMeasure is a web-based tool designed to assess a learner's likelihood for succeeding in an online learning program. It is intended to identify the degree to which an individual reports attributes, skills and knowledge that contribute to success in online learning. This is another way of referring to self-regulated learning, attributes and skills displayed by students that are linked to success in any educational context, but are arguably more important in an online environment. Examples of readiness assessments abound*.) Advisers provide feedback and resources based on an applicant s responses to a readiness assessment to ensure optimal readiness before classes begin. ADVISING The ratio of students to advisers at the World Campus is currently 500:1, with a goal of achieving 250:1. Advisers develop relationships with academic departments. They create agreements telling academic departments what the advisers will do, outlining the services provided. A team of 45 professional academic advisers and staff are considered to be critical liaisons. INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS (Mark Parker, of Maryland College, reported findings from his mixed method, grounded theory research study.) Discussions about optimizing success with international students included the following points and recommendations. Asynchronous learning environments serve to support non-native English speaking students who benefit from having more time to read and respond to educational tasks in writing. Asynchronous environments also reportedly lessen cultural notions of power differentials between teacher and student. When the time pressure is off, students reported using English to think, as opposed to translating things mentally first, as they reported doing in face-to-face environments. Non-English native students reported significant value in the permanence/ability to retrieve communications. Synchronous opportunities, while creating some stress, also serve to benefit students. Students reported enjoying the challenge of practicing their conversational English skills. Have student-support staff members who speak the students language. Offer an ESL writing service (most important in an undergraduate environment). Offer a remedial writing course. Make expectations explicit. Understand learning styles/cultures of non-nationals. Make courses friendly for ESL students. (Offer inclusive warm-up activities, consider language usage, instructor immediacy is important as is instructor presence, offer faculty training and support.) Presentations from the November 3-5, 2010 Sloan-C Conference are available at: In many cases, presentation videos are available. In most cases, presentation PowerPoints are available. SOCIAL MEDIA Phenomenal success using Facebook as an instructional tool in a metropolitan college was reported (sophomores and juniors); audience discussion revealed differences in experience using social media, resulting in a consensual theory in that digital immigrants may be more likely to thrive with social media course components, where digital natives may be more likely to experience this as an intrusion on their privacy/social lives. Alternatively, students who experience an intrusion effect may benefit the most from structured efforts to explore applications of course material with everyday life, using their own preferred communication methods. (Shelly Nice, from Berkeley College in New York, provided some interesting statistics on how her students accessed Facebook, as well as the impact it had. Click here for these figures.)