10 Specific Suggestions 2007

10 Specific Suggestions to Improve Your E-Learning Programs and Courses Barry Dahl Lake Superior College

Lake Superior College | |

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Duluth, Minnesota 3,500 FTE/7,500 headcount Associate Degree Programs Combined Community and Technical College Three universities within ten minute drive.

Growth of LSC Virtual Campus 25,000 22,951

20,000

22,881

21,757 19,722

15,000 12,875

10,000 6,771

5,000 3,897

0 FY99

738 2,176

Credits FY00

FY01

FY02

FY03

FY04

FY05

FY06

FY07

Minnesota Online |

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25 Colleges and 7 Universities make up Minnesota Online. Website: minnesotaonline.org 1,000’s of online courses and over 150 online programs. Centralized support functions.

Growth of Minnesota Online 10,000 9,902

8,000 7,797

6,000 5,476

4,000 19,722

2,000

2,298

0 FY03

FYE FY04

FY05

FY06

FY07

Minnesota Online Recognition CAEL Award for Institutional Service for 2006

Tekne Award for existing technology user category

Ten Specific Suggestions Not all of these will apply to each situation. | Pick a few good ones and throw away the rest. | This is NOT AT ALL an attempt to compete with Letterman’s Top Ten List. SORRY! |

#10: Online Tutoring LSC contracts annually with SMARTHINKING.com to provide online tutoring services, since 2004. | Starting in 2007, MnOnline joined by buying a large block of hours and allocating to campuses. | Campuses needing additional hours benefit from reduced rates because of quantity discounts. |

SMARTHINKING Usage LSC Online Tutoring Usage Report Via SMARTHINKING Affiliate Usage Report

FY04 Interaction Type

Sessions

FY05

Hours

Sessions

FY06

Hours

Sessions

Hours

Online Writing Lab

360

180

447

261

642

374

Live Sessions

84

34

132

51

102

39

Submitted Questions

18

6

20

6

34

11

Total

462

220

599

318

778

424

#9: Don’t Ignore ADA |

Provide disabilities training for faculty and staff. z z

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Be prepared for your OCR review because they will ask about this. Be 508-compliant before you need it.

The main reason: IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO!! Free Online Training from GA Tech http://www.accesselearning.net/

This web resource is free and open to all.

Must Complete #1 & 2

For Online Faculty, they then choose one more of the remaining 8 modules for a total of 3.

#8: Share and Share Alike Share students between institutions. | Share faculty between institutions. | Share learning objects with the academic community. | Share your ideas and best practices with everybody. | Check out Creative Commons for sharing of intellectual property. |

CC License Options |

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Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd) Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa)

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Attribution (by)

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Plus other similar combinations.

#7: Survey Says | | | | | |

Student demographics surveys. Student satisfaction surveys (related to the virtual campus and e-services). Course evaluation surveys. Survey your online faculty to determine their needs and practices. Nationally benchmarked: Noel-Levitz PSOL (Priorities Survey Online Learners) You need data to make data-based decisions.

High-Speed Access 80.0% 70.0% 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% 2002

2003

Hi-Speed Internet

2004

2005

2006

Dial-up Internet

Based on self-reporting from student demographics surveys

Student Satisfaction |

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LSC used the Noel-Levitz Priorities Survey for Online Learners (PSOL) in 2004, 2005, and 2006. In 2006, this became a MnOnline initiative with 17 schools participating. More schools joined in 2007. Student satisfaction blog reports the results: z http://blog.lsc.edu/psol/

#6: Employ Distance Learners | |

Online Student Mentor Program – Began Fall 2003 Mentor is assigned to a particular course. z z z

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Help with technical aspects—especially at beginning of course Answer general questions Support the instructor

Student mentors have often become future teachers Provides employment for students w/unique circumstances

Actual Student Email |

I just want to tell you how much I loved your class!!! I was not looking forward to a lit class, but your class ended up being my favorite!!! I was just wondering if that student mentor thing is a work/study thing and if I could possibly do it next semester. I qualify for work/study, but I couldn’t do it this past semester since I don’t live in Duluth. Danielle

#5: Quality Rubrics |

Create or find a rubric for assessing online course quality (and all courses, if possible) such as MarylandOnline Quality Matters. z

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http://www.qualitymatters.org/

Another rubric has been developed at Metropolitan State University to assess course readiness before it is offered for the first time. z

http://www.metrostate.edu/col/rubric_ver3.pdf

Quality Control: Course Design LSC adopted a revised version of Quality Matters in 2004, it is facultydriven and optional. | LSC faculty-led workshops have spread this concept throughout the MnOnline system. | Peer Review Blog: all documents and commentary |

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http://blog.lsc.edu/onlinepeerreview

#4: Enhance Your E-Services |

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WCET E-Services “Beyond the Core” Pay attention to the difference between “e-student services” and “student eservices.” 90% of your students want to use effective e-services.

CENTSS |

Recognizing this emerging need as early as 2002, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System (MnSCU) contracted with WCET to research best practices in Web-based services and to co-develop an audit tool to help measure the sophistication of the e-student services offered by its 32-member campuses.

#3: Be Creative |

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Online P.E. classes tied to World-class Athletic Events z

Grandma’s Marathon (running)

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American Birkebeiner (skiing)

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NorthShore Inline Marathon (skating)

Train at home, then compete in event.

Webpage

Katie Frerker, Online PE Student |

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Works for the US Forest Service in Idaho Took LSC online course to prepare for the American Birkebeiner Finished first in her race class in 2006 Birkie

“By taking the online Birkie class, I was able to beat my personal goal. It really paid off for a first time racer.”

#2: Be Flexible Schedule flexibility is a fabulous thing for students. One size does NOT fit all. | The traditional agrarian school calendar serves no purpose in online education. | Create multiple starting points, with different term lengths, and target different populations. |

Example of Life Interruption Psychology PsychologyPsychology 12 Weeks Invested, 12 Credits Paid For, No Credits Earned, With Little Incentive To Return

Humanities Humanities Humanities

Biology

Biology

Biology

History

History

History

4 weeks

8 weeks

12 weeks

Alternate Outcome 12 Weeks Invested, 12 Credits Paid For, 9 Credits Earned, With More Incentive To Return

Psychology

Humanities

Biology

History - No 4 weeks

8 weeks

12 weeks

#1: Dealing with Plagiarism Student plagiarism is a teachable moment – seize the opportunity. | Barry’s Personal Opinion: Services like Turnitin.com are an abomination. | “On what planet does it make sense to violate the intellectual property rights of the students to teach them not to violate the intellectual property rights of others?” Blog post. |

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Contact Info: Barry Dahl Vice President of Technology & the Virtual Campus Lake Superior College [email protected] 218.733.7690