COLLEGE OF THE SEQUOIAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT Board of Trustees Meeting August 2015 ANNUAL REPORT ON DISTANCE EDUCATION Status: Information Presented by: Jennifer Vega La Serna, Ph.D Vice President, Academic Services Issue Deborah L Nolan, Ph.D., Distance Education and Faculty Enrichment Coordinator, will present the annual report on Distance Education Background Dr Nolan will update the Board of Trustees on Distance Education at College of the Sequoias, including Blackboard, course offerings, out-of-state students, students only enrolled in online classes, Administrative Procedure 4105, Substantive Change (ACCJC), curriculum, certification, student success, and a new DE Task Force Recommended Action No action is required Blackboard (Bb) The Student Computer Helpdesk in the LRC (Visalia) along with various support personnel in Hanford and Tulare have been able to support students successfully as they use Bb Faculty consultations concerning Bb management issues continue at about the same pace as they have in the past few years Dr Nolan has been able to address virtually all issues during 2014-2015 with the exception of a few minor program glitches that were addressed by our Computer Services specialist Canvas The Chancellor’s Office has created an opportunity for colleges within the system to adopt a new online course management platform The platform is called Canvas and is a product of Instructure, Inc The District will begin the process of examining this opportunity as we begin the fall 2015 semester Online Classes Divisions across campus continue to schedule online classes, including Business, Consumer Family Studies, English/Fine Arts, I&T, Math, Counseling, Fire Technology, Library, Nursing, and Social Sciences Instructors schedule classes in three main formats: (1) entirely online; (2) online with orientation; and (3) hybrid (requiring scheduled meetings in addition to online activity) The table below indicates the number of sections offered in the Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Summer 2014, Fall, 2013, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Summer 2015, and those scheduled for Fall 2015 Online Sections 85 96 101 Spring 2013 Spring 2014 Spring 2015 Summer 2013 Summer 2014 Summer 2015 Fall 2013 Fall 2014 Fall 2015 (scheduled) Online Sections 20 27 Online Sections 91 93 99 Out-of-State Students We track the number of students taking COS online classes while living outside of California to comply with state authorization requirements Last year, we had students in Colorado (1), North Carolina (1), New Jersey (2), Hawaii (7), Virginia (2), North Dakota (1), Missouri (2), and Florida (1) We are monitoring developments related to state authorization requirements for distance education and believe we are well-positioned to meet the requirements for state authorization as they arise Students only enrolled in online classes Currently, we not have any programs that are offered exclusively or entirely online, but many students only enroll in online classes in any given semester Fall 2012 237 45 69 14 Distance Education Spring 2013 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 181 222 149 56 29 29 51 72 54 21 ON OO OH 72* Note: ** - Not all courses were properly coded with instructional method codes Fall 2014 216 34 44 Spring 2015 146 70 68 10 Administrative Procedure 4105 Revised The Academic Senate approved (May 2015) a recommendation to modify AP 4105 (Distance Education) to allow an additional student authentication procedure (email) for online classes Substantive Change The ACCJC defines an online program as one for which 50% or more of the classes required for the program can be offered online Between Fall 2011 and Spring 2015, we had 23 certificates and degrees approved for DE Certificates and Degrees approved for Distance Education - 2011 Title Type Accounting Certificate Law Office Clerk/Receptionist Certificate Real Estate Certificate Child Development – Assistant Certificate Child Development – Associate Teacher Certificate Fashion Merchandising Certificate Accounting AS Business AS Paralegal AS Health Education AS Physical Education AS Administration of Justice: Corrections AS Liberal Arts (Arts & Humanities) AA Liberal Arts (Communication Studies) AA Liberal Studies (Natural Science) AA Liberal Studies (Social and Behavioral AA Sciences) Transfer Studies (Arts & Humanities) Transfer Studies (Business) Transfer Studies (Communication Studies) Transfer Studies (Elementary Teaching Preparation) Transfer Studies (Math and Science) Transfer Studies (Social and Behavioral Sciences) AA AA AA AA AA AA In February 2015, the ACCJC approved a major substantive change proposal for 50 additional new online programs Program Name Type Administration of Justice AG Business Management Administration of Justice - Law Enforcement American Sign Language Animal Science Architectural History Art Art History Biology Business Financial Recordkeeping Business Business Chemistry Child Development Communication Studies Communication Computer Applications Computer Programming and Information Systems Computer Programming and Information Systems Construction Inspection Consumer Family Studies Dairy Science Dance Dramatic Arts – Acting Dramatic Arts - Technical Engineering English Fashion Design AST AS AS AS AS Certificate AA AAT AS Certificate Certificate AS AS AS AAT Certificate Certificate Certificate AS AS AS AS AS AA AA AS AAT AS % of program approved for DE 100% 69% 80% 100% 50% 100% 50% 65% 90% 100% 73% 53% 77% 75% 95% 100% 49% 72% 103% 65% 85% 65% 80% 55% 57% 58% 92% 75% Fashion Merchandising Fire Technology Geology Human Services Industrial Maintenance Technology Landscape Management Legal Secretary/Law Office Clerk Mathematics Mathematics Music Music Paralegal Physical Science Physics Plant Science Political Science Psychology Sociology Spanish Sports Medicine Transfer Studies (Agriculture and Environmental Science) Welding AS AS AST AS AS AS Certificate AS AST AAT AA Certificate AS AS AS AAT AAT AAT AAT AS 75% 68% 78% 50% 50% 50% 54% 80% 90% 57% 63% 61% 88% 73% 70% 97% 103% 98% 100% 92% AA 100% AS 60% We are not yet offering online sections of all of the courses that have been approved for online delivery through the curriculum approval process Curriculum The Academic Senate will be considering a revision of the Distance Learning Addendum (DLA) approved by the Curriculum Committee in May 2015 Online Teaching Certification Program 71 instructors have completed the Online Teaching Certification Program since 2011 The program was revised in Spring 2015 and is now based on statewide standards developed by the Online Education Initiative (OEI) The District made it possible for Dr Nolan to facilitate the Online Teaching Certification Program during the summer (JuneJuly 2015) Twenty-three instructors signed up for the program and are in various stages of completion Three instructors (two adjunct and one full-time) completed the program before the end of July Dr Nolan will offer the program again during the 2015-2016 academic year Student Success Through our own research on student success factors, we have identified five considerations related to student success: • • • • • Awareness • Students must be aware that they are registering for an online class and that it won’t be easier than a face-to-face class A recent survey of online students (Spring 2014) indicated as many as 30% of students thought the class would be easier than a face-to-face class Expectations • Students who have a compelling reason to finish a class tend to be more successful in the class Skills • Students should have basic computer skills • Students should have strong time management skills Dispositions • Students tend to be successful if they: • Are able to set and achieve goals • Are comfortable troubleshooting computer problems • Do not mind being separated from their instructors and classmates • Prefer reading instructions to listening to them • Monitor their COS email regularly • Know when they need help and know how to ask for it Situation • Students who have a GPA above 2.0 and have taken an online class before tend to be more successful • Students who have support outside of school tend to be more successful We have made an effort to support student awareness of the difference between online and face-to-face classes by continuing require an online class registration confirmation mechanism in Banner that alerts students to the fact that they are registering for an online class and that online learning has some important differences about which students should be aware We continue to send pre-course messages to students prior to the beginning of each semester giving students tips to being successful We also promote the use of an online learning readiness survey in all online classes Success Rates Comparisons The research department provided distance education course success rate data from spring 2014 and fall 2014 semesters We looked at success rates in two ways, and were impressed by how closely our distance education success rates compare with traditional course delivery Success rate #1 (with W) equals all C or better grades divided by all grades, including D, F, and W For example, if there were 40 students in a class and 10 earned a D, F or W with 30 earning a C or better, the success rate would be calculated as follows: 30/40=75% This is how we report District success to the Chancellor’s Office Comparisons using success rate #1 indicate that face-to-face (F2F) and distance education (DE) course success rates were one to five percentage points apart in the last year Success rate #2 (without W) equals C or better divided by all grades, including D and F (but not including the W) For example, if there were 40 students in a class and eight earned a D or F, two earned a W and 30 earned a C or better, the success rate would be calculated as follows: 30/38 = 78% The two W grades have been omitted This is a local definition of success reflecting our strategy of intentionally dropping inactive online students We discovered that the overall difference between F2F and DE is about 3.0% for fall 2014 Specific course-by-course data was made available to divisions prior to the spring Dialog Days event to support outcomes dialog We intend to continue to request, analyze, and report DE success rates annually Distance Education (DE) Task Force The District recognizes the need to develop systematic planning, assessment, and evaluation of DE courses and programs and to comply with legal and accreditation requirements To this end, the District Governance Senate and Academic Senate approved the creation of the DE Task Force to be convened in September 2015 The COS 2014 Governance and Decision-Making Manual* defines a task force as follows: Task forces are formed to create a venue for dialogue and work on topics or projects that require timely and concentrated energy Instead of being required by law or regulation, these groups are charged by the superintendent/president or a governance group to perform specific functions that benefit the entire District Membership on task forces is either voluntary or by appointment Task forces are not ongoing; when a specific project is completed, the task force is dissolved (p 11) The DE Task Force is charged with the responsibility to study all legal and accreditation requirements and best practices in planning for DE to develop policies, procedures, plans, timelines, and actions necessary to fully comply with all legal and accreditation requirements and to develop systematic planning, assessment, and evaluation of DE district-wide Meeting notes will be maintained and published for all faculty, staff, students via the DECOS website Task force membership is voluntary Mary-Catherine Oxford, David Hurst, and Deborah Nolan of the Academic Senate Distance Education Committee (DECOS), have volunteered to serve as co-chairs to facilitate the development of the task force In April 2015, the co-chairs invited faculty, staff, and students to volunteer to participate on the DE Task Force which will begin meeting in September 2015 As of May 2015, Task Force membership included Joe Sousa, Lucy De Caro, Nancy Morgan, Linda McAullay, Manlia Xiong, Jeff Basham and Greg Turner *COS 2014 Governance and Decision-Making Manual ... be easier than a face-to-face class A recent survey of online students (Spring 2014) indicated as many as 30% of students thought the class would be easier than a face-to-face class Expectations... provided distance education course success rate data from spring 2014 and fall 2014 semesters We looked at success rates in two ways, and were impressed by how closely our distance education. .. success to the Chancellor’s Office Comparisons using success rate #1 indicate that face-to-face (F2F) and distance education (DE) course success rates were one to five percentage points apart in the