Ohio Online Quality Learning Community (OOQLC): Phase II, Enhanced Articulation And BS Degree, Electronic Completion Model Dr. John W. Sinn, Professor Quality Systems Specialization Technology Systems Department Spring, 2002 www.bgsu.edu/colleges/technology/qs The Ohio Online Quality Learning Community (OOQLC) is a consortium of two-year educational institutions, the American Society for Quality (ASQ), and BGSU. Two year institutions currently engaged in the development of OOQLC with BGSU are Firelands College, Lima Technical and Community College, Northwest Community College, Owens Community College, and Terre Community College. Toledo Section ASQ, one of the largest ASQ Sections in the society, has also been engaged in OOQLC developmental stages. More about ASQ can be studied and learned at www.asq.org. The OOQLC has developed over many years, with transfer and articulation systems in place, working successfully for many students transferring from two year colleges to BGSU. Strong foundational transfer systems, existing regionally, are referred to as phase I, primarily in northwest Ohio. Developing the systems around one discipline, Quality Systems (QS), at the state level for degree completion, electronically, is phase II OOQLC as proposed. Phase III, not currently proposed, is developing the model nationally. The OOQLC is a framework for collaboration around several important future areas, acknowledging that much is changing, culturally and in the quality field. The OOQLC is primarily electronic since e-commerce and electronic distance education are increasingly relied upon. The OOQLC is a community of learners, academicians and practitioners in the quality field focused on engaging students, faculty and others electronically in direct support of students. All systems are aimed at enhanced recruitment and retention of quality-related students as aspiring professionals, regardless of geography. Provided initially in QS, OOQLC may be generalizable to other programs. OOQLC can be interdisciplinary for students in related programs such as Applied Statistics and Operations research; Technical Writing; Engineering Technology and others. Primary OOQLC focus is initially undergraduate, although it is relevant to graduate education. This proposal outlines several important areas in the OOQLC. These are organized according to background on OOQLC, the targeted student; OOQLC focus, main objectives, evaluation; and, OOQLC Phase II funding and plan. Background On Phase I OOQLC, The Targeted Student The QS Programs, both graduate and undergraduate, are undergoing substantial curriculum change within a context of Phase I OOQLC as a response to changes
culturally. Phase I OOQLC and QS changes facilitated a broader, more mature, online offering, proposed strategically to be increasingly competitive via technological systems. Created in the late 1980 s at BGSU in response to demands from quality professionals, the QS, undergraduate and graduate, reflects American Society for Quality continuous improvement mission based on disciplined analysis of systems in technical environments. The QS undergraduate program has evolved from the Applied Quality Science Option in Manufacturing. The undergraduate QS has been offered 100% online since about 1999. Based on recently approved curriculum changes (spring, 2002), the QS curriculum at BGSU now has four undergraduate courses designed as online offerings. These are: QS 326. Data-based quality improvement. QS 327. Process and productivity documentation QS 426. Quality change services QS 427. Synchronous quality planning Courses reflect ISO 9000 standards and team-based problem solving and improvement projects in manufacturing and service environments. Quality principles collaboratively applied are documented and assessed in electronic portfolios of project work, findings. Courseware has been developed over the past several years which embodies and facilitates the QS curriculum. The courseware is currently available through the BGSU bookstore as a CD, shipped to most locations within days of when it is ordered online. The courseware is based on MS Word Office Suite using Excel, Power Point and Front Page, with students guided by Table functions to guide and facilitate electronic teams. Examples of this can be noted at www.bgsu.edu/colleges/technology/qs, at teaching and courseware examples, as well as student project examples shown in team portfolios. At the graduate level, the QS is proposed as a concentration within the Master of Industrial Technology Degree, reflecting many of the same values and characteristics relative to the undergraduate QS. The QS graduate component is also associated with the Indiana State University Ph.D. Consortium of five universities in America who each have a part in delivering a mutually shared on-line degree in technology management. The primary student targeted in the undergraduate QS and OOQLC is an associate degree holding, non-traditional student, working full time in the quality field. They are typically 25-35 years of age, ready to start a BS degree due to a need to advance in level of technical management. take from 3-5 years to complete the BS degree, doing 1-2 courses per term, using summer. The QS and OOQLC increase flexibility for students and enhance the likelihood of accomplishing the goal of finishing a BS degree efficiently. OOQLC Focus, Main Objectives, Evaluation OOQLC is designed to serve non-traditional students and emerging markets of a nonresidential nature. The OOQLC focus is on mimicking services and functions provided
for on-campus, traditional students, but online for non-traditional persons. One example of this has been prototyped around the author s faculty portfolio, which can be viewed at www.bgsu.edu/colleges/technology/qs. OOQLC services and functions will be available 24 hours a day, and in innovative and novel ways, to be accessed from anywhere. OOQLC has three primary objectives, all ongoing, based on past work and collaboration: Objective 1: Quality-related applied research courseware online, certification, BS degree completion. Over the past several years several QS courses have shifted to be delivered as online functions via the use of Webct, originally, and now Blackboard, available at BGSU. Through OOQLC, and related courseware systems, all students do applied research and service projects and learn consistent with quality principles and improvement, all oriented toward certifications in ASQ. The ultimate goal is a four year BS degree, fully online, with final two years completed through BGSU. Structure and framework via courseware and electronic systems are key to consistent, disciplined and systematic course delivery, and professional growth and improvement in students. Objective 2: Best practices for electronic advisement, portfolio building, assessment and knowledge growth, managed communication and change. Assessment of all work and functions as online portfolios by students based on projects conducted in teams are fundamental to OOQLC. Based on robust advising and courseware systems, portfolios would emerge gradually for individuals and groups, reflecting work and professional potentials. Infrastructure for change is addressed around developing portfolios based on desired course and project outcomes. Continuously researched and developed, systems and functions as best practices to facilitate practitioner engagement seamlessly, emerge for mentoring students based on reviews of portfolios, key to nurturing and growing students and quality knowledge. Best practices will also provide data and documentation takeoff s from all else in OOQLC, analyzed for improvement and change. Objective 3: ASQ Student Branch activities and functions, engaging ASQ practitioners as mentors. The quality field, primarily through ASQ, has always embraced education, with most students in the field being full or student members and ASQ participants. are engaged in the ASQ Branch and Section in various professional leadership roles to consider appropriate certifications, participation at section meetings, on-campus events, and local, regional and national conferences, and other professional activities. will be guided and mentored by ASQ practitioners in the field, primarily via a portfolio review process with feedback in projects, integrated and nurtured through OOQLC, all consistent with key educational objectives and values of the ASQ. The over-riding goal of OOQLC is to enhance education related to the quality field based on electronic systems for a model of articulation and enhancement between two and four year institutions, and professional practitioners for the future. Consistent with quality principles, data and documentation would evolve over time for evaluation of OOQLC. An advisory committee of ASQ professionals, and others, would be developed with expertise to assist in guiding and evaluating the OOQLC project.
OOQLC Phase II Funding And Plan The current OOQLC proposal completes phase I and initiates phase II. Work foundational to phase I, providing strong articulation and transfer programs, along with QS curriculum, will be built on as phase II in OOQLC. OOQLC will attract new QS students to BGSU and electronically facilitate BS degree completion in timely and robust ways. Built as a portal in Blackboard, OOQLC is a common ground area where all courses, services and functions are offered. A laptop PC (Dell Inspiron 8100, about $3.6K each) is recommended for each participant, all to be outfitted similarly with digital cameras for documentation, MS Office Suite, and full Adobe Acrobat (with writer). Computer life is three years ($1.2K each year), and students keep them upon graduation. New OOQLC students recruited will be part time, taking at least two QS courses per year. pay a $250 program fee per year to assure program commitment and proper care for laptop. All fees, subsidy, tuition, conference and project income combine to generate about $853.6K over four years. Ph.D. graduate students do the bulk of work, including teaching. Other costs are advertising and general (includes conference, anticipated to breakeven), and laptop, totaling about $460K over four years. Faculty costs cover a course release each term (including summer) and project direction. A annual OOQLC conference will be held at BGSU to assist all in better understanding the objectives, and to uphold the best practices developed and learned over time, grown as knowledge. Gradually conferencing techniques, initiated during year 1, like all other functions in OOQLC, will shift to electronic in second and third years, replacing traditional methods and systems. A budget, with income and cost projections, is shown in a multi-year plan for OOQLC. Each year is discussed, summarized in tables below. Year 1, 2002-2003: A OOQLC Conference will be held at BGSU, with ASQ and two year institutions. 10 undergraduate students will be recruited, and phase II project work will be initiated, closing out phase I. This includes providing each student with a Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop computer fully configured. During year 1 a Ph.D. Doctoral Fellow is dedicated full time to the project. Year 1 focus is to have BS degree completion systems, including necessary project infrastructure, in place. Year 2, 2003-04: Host a second OOQLC Conference at BGSU with first students in OOQLC, and recruit others. A total of 30 undergraduate students will be invited to participate, based on work in year 1, and a second Ph.D. doctoral fellow will be secured to help move OOQLC forward. During year 2, courseware will be enhanced around core knowledge addressed in projects, and early e-portfolios will be built and assessed. Methods to conduct team-based improvement projects will be addressed in courseware and innovative certification, with ASQ, all for BS degree completion. Year 3, 2004-05: Courseware will be continually matured and enhanced around core knowledge, and certification, all based on projects engaging students, faculty and practitioners, growing to about 25 projects in number. Mature electronic portfolios will be built and assessed, demonstrating and applying core knowledge, used as part of
graduation criterion. Total numbers of students engaged at year 3 will be approximately 60-80. Electronic conferencing will be prototyped with experiments conducted by interested participants, linked to project documentation in portfolios. Year 4, 2005-06: Projects and systems mature to optimize support relationships between two and four year institutions, throughout the state, and income from projects could be realized based on maturity in robustness of work by students under tutelage of practicing professionals. Total numbers of students engaged at year 4 will be about 120, with many starting to graduate. Conferencing techniques, as with all else at year 4 would be predominantly electronic. Supplying computers would be transitioned to be supported primarily by students participating and shifts in costs by them not using most on-campus infrastructure like traditional students. Costs for computers would have come down, naturally over time, and replacement costs would be reflected. Additional data collected to assess success of students, and OOQLC could be GPA, time to graduate after transfer, program dropouts, portfolio review results by practitioners, and perhaps others. Table 1 indicates selected performance indicators anticipated in OOQLC by years. Table 1. Selected Performance Indicators For OOQLC. Years Engaged Continued Certified Graduating Projects Completed 2002-03 10 50% 50% 30% 0 2003-04 30 60% 60% 50% 5-10 2004-05 90 70% 70% 70% 10-25 2005-06 120 80% 80% 90% 20-35 Table 2 summarizes costs for the project by year, totaled at $460K for the four years. Table 2. Projected Annual Costs For OOQLC. Years Advertising General $ Faculty Release $ Laptop $ Ph.D. $ Total Costs By Year 2002-03 $5K $23K $12K $15K $32K 2003-04 $15K $23K $24K $30K $92K 2004-05 $15K $23K $72K $45K $160K 2005-06 $10K $23K $60K $60K $153K Table 3 summarizes income for the project by year, totaled at $853.6K for the four years. Table 3. Annual Projected OOQLC Income. Years Program Fees Tuition Paid Subsidy Generated Project Income Annual Income 2002-03 $2.5K $18.3K $14.4K $0K $35.2K 2003-04 $7.5K $54.9K $43.2K $5K $110.6K 2004-05 $15K $164.7K $86.4K $20K $286.1K 2005-06 $22.5K $219.6K $129.6K $50K $421.7K