UConn ecampus Philosophy and Plan: Update for Deans, Department Heads, and Faculty

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1 UConn ecampus Philosophy and Plan: Update for Deans, Department Heads, and Faculty Recent History of UConn s ecampus Efforts Over the last two years, UConn established the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) by integrating staff and resources from the Institute for Teaching and Learning (ITL) and the former Center for Continuing Studies (CCS). We completed this merger by reorganizing and aligning capabilities to support strategic growth in continuing education, entrepreneurial programs, and online education into an innovative new platform, UConn ecampus. Peter Diplock serves as the Assistant Vice Provost with managerial responsibilities for both CETL and ecampus. Mission of UConn ecampus The core mission of UConn ecampus is to provide students with outstanding online courses and programs by encouraging and supporting innovative instruction from faculty-designed hybrid (combination of in-class and online) or fully online modalities. Through UConn ecampus, we will achieve excellence in the following areas: Become the university of choice for students seeking high-quality online educational experiences; Encourage more high demand and high enrollment courses to be taught online; Develop post-baccalaureate and graduate certificate programs with a goal of 10 new certificate programs per year; Provide pedagogical and technological expertise to our faculty so more will teach online and hybrid courses; Increase academic departments ability to flexibly and strategically address enrollment needs through a combination of online and hybrid course offerings. Previous Efforts with Online Learning In 2009, UConn faculty and staff produced a Task Force Report but most of the recommendations had not been implemented and so in 2011, a renewed effort through the ecampus Steering Committee (appendix A) implemented the key recommendations outlined in the report and addressed attendant issues, including: Logistical challenges with Registrar, Bursar, Admissions, Graduate School and the former CCS, which have now been resolved; 24/7 student support for all online courses, which will be finalized by August, 2013; Concerns regarding intellectual property assignments, which were addressed with a new intellectual property agreement that was developed with faculty input; Lack of communication with appropriate University Senate groups on establishing quality and standards for online teaching, which resulted in new standards (Quality Matters and Sloan-C Quality Scorecard) endorsed by the Senate Scholastic Standards Committee;

2 Lack of a coordinated ecampus website and marketing efforts for online programs. We now have a new, robust portal for all ecampus courses: Inconsistent incentive models for encouraging/rewarding faculty to design and develop online courses. The new model provides effective incentives for developing high demand, high-quality online courses. Current Efforts with Online Learning Through the ecampus initiative beginning in 2011, we developed plans to create more online and hybrid classes to be offered during the fall and spring semesters as well as an emphasis to increase the number of general education online courses offered during the summer term. For example, in 2012, we increased summer offerings by 20 courses and in 2013, we increased the offerings by an additional 17 courses. We are also working with a number of departments across many disciplines to develop online graduate certificate programs. In addition to expanding the number of high demand/general education undergraduate classes offered online during the summer term, we have also clarified the ecampus goal, which is to work with faculty to advance the university s online initiatives in the following areas: Clarified the differences between fee-based online programs and tuition-based online programs; Researched various graduate and non-credit programs and identified outstanding opportunities and offerings for new Graduate and Non-Credit Certificates; Identified the use of Quality Matters as the basis for the construction of high-quality online courses and the Sloan-C Quality Scorecard for online programs; Outlined two types of Certificate Programs offered at UConn. 1. Non-degree/Academic Credit (e.g credit certificates that may or may not lead to application for a degree program); 2. Non-degree/Non-credit (no academic credits earned for international or national students who have an interest in the area but do not require or desire credit); Recommended an alternate 10-week calendar to better meet the needs of students in selected online programs (in progress). In these efforts, our goal has been to develop a robust online learning environment for our students and faculty. We have worked with faculty to strategically expand our portfolio of online courses and programs, beginning with summer courses in high demand areas and continuing with certificate programs. We have included key input from deans, department heads, and faculty across all of our schools and colleges in the development of courses and programs in areas of strategic growth. Online Programs The University currently offers the following online programs: M.A. and graduate certificate in Survey Research (Public Policy/CLAS) Graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems (Geography/CLAS) M.P.S. in Human Resources Management (transitioning to SBUS) M.S. in Accounting (Accounting/SBUS) 2

3 M.A. Gifted & Talented (EPSY/Neag) M.A. Educational Technology Two Summers (EPSY/Neag) Graduate certificate in Postsecondary Disability Services (EPSY/Neag) Post-baccalaureate certificate in Occupational Safety & Health (Allied Health/CANR) Healthcare IT (non-credit) (SBUS) The following online programs are in development or under discussion: M.S. in Nursing in Neonatal Acute Care (Fall 2013) Graduate certificate in Interdisciplinary Disability Studies (PUBH/ Pappanikou Center) (expected Spring 2014) Graduate certificate in Nonprofit Management (Public Policy) (Fall 2014) Graduate certificate in Sustainable Environmental Management & Planning (CANR) (expected Fall 2014) Graduate certificate in Theater Administration (Fine Arts) (expected Fall 2014) Graduate certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis (EPSY/Neag) Graduate certificate in Kinesiology (EDLR/Neag) Graduate certificate in Foundations of Public Health (PUBH) Graduate certificate in Strategic Human Resource Management (SBUS) Graduate certificate in Climate & Population Health (PUBH) Graduate certificate(s) in Humanitarian Services (Allied Health) and/or Global Health and Humanitarian Emergencies (PUBH) Master's in Postsecondary Disability Services (EPSY/Neag) Graduate certificate in Gifted Education (EPSY/Neag) Graduate certificate in Museum & Curatorial Studies (Fine Arts) Graduate certificate program (formerly post-bacc.) in Digital Media & Design (Fine Arts) Graduate certificate in Puppetry (Fine Arts) Graduate certificate in Environmental Journalism (Journalism/CLAS) Graduate certificate in Sport Mgmt. (Neag) Certificate in Business Analytics/Big Data (SBUS) Genomics (Institute for Systems Genomics)(Blended/Hybrid) Process for Faculty, Departments, Schools and Colleges ecampus is committed to supporting faculty and staff in the planning and development of individual online courses as well as online programs. Course Development and Support Participating faculty members will receive instruction in best practices and research-based methodology for the design and delivery of online courses, and the necessary technical and financial support to teach and revise their courses while becoming self-reliant in their online efforts. For individual courses, this process begins with a short proposal submission to ecampus for review. Priority is given to courses that meet high demand and high enrollment criteria, but all requests will be provided with comprehensive evaluation and feedback. More information can be found on ecampus course development page. 3

4 Program Development and Support UConn ecampus will work closely with faculty and departments to explore potential online programs. UConn ecampus will assist faculty and departments throughout the program concept, development, and implementation stages. The support specifically includes market research and positioning, program approval, payment to faculty for course development, course and program instructional design, marketing strategy and operationalization, enrollment management, program evaluation and assessment. UConn ecampus support extends to existing online programs to help ensure the success and consistency of delivering high-quality online programs. New Online Graduate and Certificate Programs In order to achieve our goals, we will need to have the following outcomes approved by the Council of Deans. 1. Proposals for all new credit bearing and non-credit online graduate programs and certificate programs must be approved by the Graduate School and ecampus. Faculty will be encouraged to contact ecampus representatives to assist in the development of all new proposals. 2. Students must apply to, be accepted, and matriculate into the Graduate School to be eligible to receive a certificate for all new credit-bearing programs. 3. All new credit and non-credit online certificate programs will be recorded through the Registrar s Office, ensuring that an official record of the student participation is documented. Departments and programs cannot award unofficial certificates; all certificate programs will be coordinated through the Registrar s Office. 4. Tuition-bearing programs (traditional graduate degrees) contribute to central university revenue. In lieu of tuition paid to the central university, fee-based programs provide revenue sharing for schools and colleges. a. Most graduate credit online certificate and degree programs will be fee-based and for those, a uniform fee (recently BOT approved comprehensive fee of $750/credit hour) will be charged with the following distribution: 20% Central Cost Recovery/Provost; 5% to the Graduate School, and 75% to the School or College for instructional and operational costs. b. In the case of international graduate credit certificate programs administered by the Office of Global Affairs (OGA), the funds will be distributed as follows, 20% Central Cost Recover/Provost, 15% to OGA, and 65% to the School or College for instructional and operational cost. c. Schools and Colleges will be responsible for the cost of faculty compensation and other operational expenses necessary for ongoing and successful program delivery. 5. All non-credit graduate post-baccalaureate on-line certificate programs will follow the financial model in 4a and 4b. 4

5 Appendix A: ecampus Steering Committee Sally Reis Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Peter Diplock Assistant Vice Provost for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Director, ecampus Desmond McCaffrey Associate Director, ecampus Judy Buffolino Associate Director, ecampus Pat Butler Lofman Business Manager, CETL Francine DeFranco Interim Assistant Vice Provost for University Libraries Lauren DiGrazia Registrar Jennifer Dineen Instructor, Public Policy Department Haleh Ghaemolsabahi IT Relationship Manager, UITS Jae-Eun Joo Director, Neag Online Programs Dave Lavoie APIR, School of Business Jean Main Director, Summer & Intersession Programs Dan Mercier Director, Institute for Teaching & Learning Lisa Pane Systems Administrator, Graduate School Del Siegle Professor, Educational Psychology Peggy Selleck Bursar Appendix B: Sample Financials Online Credit Graduate Per Student Per 3 Credit Course Comprehensive Fee 2,250 90, , , ,000 CCR/Provost (.2) (450) (18,000) (27,000) (36,000) (45,000) Grad School (.05) (112) (4,500) (6,720) (8,960) (11,250) School/College (.75) 1,688 67, , , ,750 Remit Online Course (60) (2,400) (3,600) (4,800) (6,000) Fee (per course) Remit Technology Fee (75) (3,000) (4,500) (6,000) (7,500) (per semester) Remit Grad (42) (1,680) (2,520) (3,360) (4,200) Matriculation Fee (per semester) Net Program Revenue (split between Dep t and School/College) 1,511 60,420 90, , ,100 5

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