Dr. John Taylor, Director - Postsecondary & Secondary 120 Morris Ctr Provo, UT 84602-2801 Document Generated On April 8, 2014
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Description of the School 2 School's Purpose 4 Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement 5 Additional Information 7
Introduction Every school has its own story to tell. The context in which teaching and learning takes place influences the processes and procedures by which the school makes decisions around curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The context also impacts the way a school stays faithful to its vision. Many factors contribute to the overall narrative such as an identification of stakeholders, a description of stakeholder engagement, the trends and issues affecting the school, and the kinds of programs and services that a school implements to support student learning. <br><br> The purpose of the Executive Summary (ES) is to provide a school with an opportunity to describe in narrative form the strengths and challenges it encounters. By doing so, the public and members of the school community will have a more complete picture of how the school perceives itself and the process of self-reflection for continuous improvement. This summary is structured for the school to reflect on how it provides teaching and learning on a day to day basis. Page 1
Description of the School Describe the school's size, community/communities, location, and changes it has experienced in the last three years. Include demographic information about the students, staff, and community at large. What unique features and challenges are associated with the community/communities the school serves? University and Department History Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) was established October 16, 1875. BYU is a four-year private institution located in Provo, Utah, owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as part of the Church Educational System. Approximately thirty-three thousand (33,000) students from all fifty (50) states and many foreign countries study under the direction of approximately thirteen hundred (1,300) fulltime faculty in thirteen (13) colleges. In addition to the undergraduate and graduate studies in these colleges, the university has a continuing education division. Approximately eighty-five percent (85%) of BYU students are enrolled in one (1) of the one hundred and eighty (180) different undergraduate programs. BYU offers master's degrees in more than sixty (60) programs, and doctorates in twenty-five (25) programs, including a juris doctorate degree. The university functions under the direction of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through a board of trustees that includes the First Presidency of the Church, the general presidents of the Church's auxiliary organizations, and selected General Authorities. BYU Independent Study BYU Independent Study, a department within the Division of Continuing Education, was first organized in 1921 as the Bureau of Correspondence. Its original purpose was to assist faculty members and students at Brigham Young University with correspondence instruction, which previously had been individually administered by faculty. Some of the earliest courses were created with the intent of preparing missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At its inception, the Bureau of Correspondence offered only university courses; it was not until the 1940s that high school courses were added to the curriculum. Early high school courses were closely tied to Brigham Young High School, the university's laboratory high school. After BY High closed in 1968, efforts were made to ensure that Independent Study's high school curriculum was closely aligned with the standards of local school districts, and the curriculum was expanded to reflect the offerings of a large public high school. This action also permitted the program to address curricular options for students in small rural schools that lacked resources to provide diverse and advanced offerings. While the department's roots are founded in correspondence and independent learning, and self-led courses, in 1995 the department introduced its first online course. In its history Independent Study has undergone three name changes. Beginning as the Bureau of Correspondence, the name changed in 1948 to the Bureau of Home Studies. It was at this time the first full-time department head for the Bureau was employed. In 1978 the name was changed to Independent Study. During its life, Independent Study has occupied several buildings on the BYU campus. Presently, the department is housed in two locations, the Morris Center and Amanda Knight Hall. Customer Support, Testing, the Director's Office, Marketing, and Educational Services staff are all located in the Morris Center. The Amanda Knight Hall houses the design and production teams as well as administrative support. It is also worthy to note that the rest of the Division of Continuing Education is located in yet another structure, the Harman Building. Page 2
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School's Purpose Provide the school's purpose statement and ancillary content such as mission, vision, values, and/or beliefs. Describe how the school embodies its purpose through its program offerings and expectations for students. BYU Independent Study's Purpose Brigham Young University (BYU) Independent Study's mission statement says "BYU Independent Study partners with students, teachers, and educational organizations to extend the blessings of learning beyond the traditional classroom." BYU Independent Study can be best described as a supplemental provider of online and paper courses for secondary and higher education curriculum. Independent Study is a department within the Division of Continuing Education at Brigham Young University. The Independent Study department is not a school; rather, it is a department of the university and does not grant secondary education diplomas. The Independent Study department is regionally accredited by the Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC, now a part of AdvancEd) and the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). The department began in the 1920s as a university correspondence study program and later began offering a comprehensive high school curriculum in the 1960s. The department's mission is not to become a secondary school separate from the university. Rather, as the name suggests, it continues to be an independent study department that provides online courses to secondary and higher education students globally. BYU Independent Study works in partnership with educators around the world (universities, colleges, department heads, districts, principals, headmasters, teachers, academic counselors, etc.) and contributes to their respective educational objectives for their students. The department does this by providing online courses outside the brick-and-mortar classroom or in a blended learning classroom setting to matriculated students that can achieve their educational goals through taking online courses. Presently, BYU Independent Study offers both university- and secondary-level courses. Most of its junior high and high school courses are for 9th-12th grade students. Through these courses students can meet core and elective requirements as determined by their local school district's administration as an alternative to satisfying graduation requirements of their particular school. A large majority of counselors, parents, and students also choose BYU Independent Study to satisfy the need for credit acquisition or recovery. A few of the more than 200 secondary courses are also designed for 7th and 8th grade students. The curriculum is designed for students who fit one or more of the following: will be successful in an online course environment are already enrolled with a local district, private, or charter school, or are being home schooled want courses not offered by their local school lack credits needed to graduate on time have schedule conflicts want summer school opportunities need to repeat a course wish to move more quickly to their graduation than a typical school schedule permits Page 4
Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement Describe the school's notable achievements and areas of improvement in the last three years. Additionally, describe areas for improvement that the school is striving to achieve in the next three years. Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement Notable Achievements BYU Independent Study has been deeply and constantly absorbed in major initiatives since at least 2010. Major initiatives have included the accomplishment of the following significant projects that are helping to recast the future of the department: The decision was made to acquire and use a robust Learning Management System (LMS). BrainHoney was selected by the administration with input from staff following the review of a variety of potential systems/vendors--it has been integrated with Orion, a homegrown student information system. With the acquisition of the new LMS, four hundred (400) university and secondary courses were converted to the new system and integrated with Orion over the course of a two-year period with a majority of the work having been completed in a year and a half. To provide more administrative support to meet regulatory and service demands, the university approved the addition of the following positions: Associate Director of Academics, Educational Services Manager, Faculty Consultant, and Proctor Specialist. A simple, functioning two-level assessment plan was designed using a "Course Improvement Community" to provide data and perspectives to provide continuous improvement in courses and student academic achievement. New math courses have been sequenced so students can learn concepts either through a traditional sequence (one course at a time-- Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra II) or an integrated sequence (algebra and geometry concepts are explored side by side in the same course). New project management software (TeamworkPM) has been implemented to manage and track the complex work involved in creating and revising courses. New CRM software has been approved, and conversion and implementation is just beginning. BYU Independent Study has created a number of derivative courses to meet unique regulations and needs of various states. As an example, for California's two-step approval process for "A-G" subject requirements and as of 12/31/2013, the department had received approval from the University of California for 40 courses, and CLRN had approved 21 courses with 16 additional courses still under review. The department is rightfully proud of the fact that it has a 100% approval rate for courses it has submitted for CLRN approval, while most other providers fall well short of that mark. (See CLRN documentation within the study.) BYU Independent Study has begun a number of pilot projects related to the delivery of its courses. These efforts include the following: Developing teacher-led courses, in addition to our traditional self-guided courses, incorporating a variety of interactions between the student and teacher including a teacher-led orientation, teacher-delivered weekly lessons, webinars, discussion boards, etc. Instituting a flipped classroom effort with a few courses in conjunction with Timpview High School and Springville High School in Utah. Developing a school district contract model where a local school district utilizes content developed by BYU Independent Study and our Brainhoney LMS, but the school district provides direct teacher-to-student instruction and support, including the use of the district's own student information system. Piloting this concept is presently being conducted with Barron School District in Wisconsin and Denali Peak School District in Alaska. Page 5
The department has also been piloting a new instructional model for its world language courses. The approach includes considerably greater scaffolding, more speaking practice and student language immersion and interaction. This is occurring because of the structure of the course, and in some cases the inclusion of a conversation café concept that utilizes the course's teacher and prospective world language teachers (TAs and students studying to teach a foreign language from the BYU's McKay School of Education), as the courses move to align more closely with national ACTFL standards. The conversation café provides students with real-time speaking practice with other students and language teachers using distance delivery technology. BYU Independent Study is piloting an interactive delivery approach with some courses, which has spawned an increased interest and involvement of some campus departments and faculty. For example, the McKay School of Education and other departments who prepare future teachers are now working with Independent Study to establish distance learning teaching assistants and interning opportunities for their students. In turn, Independent Study is working to provide distance learning teaching opportunities for their students in working to support the department's instructors and students. There is also interest from some campus departments to help build an integrated highschool-through-college curriculum for their discipline. Areas of Improvement As change has occurred, potential improvements have been identified, and some are outlined below. Each will be meaningfully addressed and woven into future strategic plans: BYU Independent Study has not been as explicit about its improvement goals as it might be. Inclusion of goals related to continuous improvement is an area where formalization within the department's strategic plan could provide both awareness and transparency. For example, while quality control occurs on a number of fronts (review of courses as they are being developed/revised, making course corrections as issues are identified, etc.) including improvement goals as part of strategy, resource allocation, reporting, and follow-up will strengthen BYU Independent Study. Instructor training has received administrative attention recently. Keeping an unwavering focus on expanding and improving instructor training is critical to improved student performance. With movement toward more student-teacher engagement, the potential for studentteacher interaction training needs have expanded from technical training on software and delivery mechanisms to topical training on issues such as helping students remove distractions from learning, minimizing cheating, creating and sustaining online discussions, assessment challenges, helping students develop note-taking skills, engaging students, etc. As we have worked to prepare our self-study, it has become evident that our LMS and student management systems (Orion) are poor at providing regular and consistent management reports in which the data can be sliced down to the course and section level. Additionally, as we improve our assessment efforts, we will continue to discover additional data needs for decision-making and, more importantly, for measuring and reporting gains and improvements in student learning. Almost all organizations struggle with improving communication, and BYU Independent Study is not exempt. At times Independent Study lacks unit-to-unit communication and intradepartmental support. In spite of existing processes and formal structure to reduce oversight, unawareness, and misunderstanding, there are times when information doesn't get shared. Some examples include a) staff is asked by someone other than his or her direct supervisor to do something without the staff member's supervisor being aware of the request or being a part of the assignment decision, b) one unit within the department takes action that causes different/extra work on the part of another unit without communication with the affected unit, c) etc. Due to the department's history and the independent study design of its courses and instructional delivery, communications with stakeholders has been minimal. Should the instructional methods the department is piloting expand, Independent Study will need to review its abilities and devise a concerted means of providing consistent and thorough communications to stakeholders. Page 6
Additional Information Provide any additional information you would like to share with the public and community that were not prompted in the previous sections. Additional Information Self-Study Objectives As the department began its self-study process the following was outlined as objectives for the effort: 1) Fairly and factually present BYU Independent Study's High School program, courses, support services, data, and its responses and evidence within the self-study to the visiting team. 2) Clearly provide information surrounding BYU Independent Study's instructional delivery models so the team is able to understand the thinking and basis upon which the department's delivery and design models work. 3) Learn all we can from the study and from the team in order to evaluate and continually improve our processes and practices. 4) Achieve re-accreditation. Page 7