A Collaborative Approach to Hybrid Course Conversions Instructional Partnerships

2. A Collaborative Approach to Hybrid Course Conversions Instructional Partnerships Nicola Martinez, Al Lawrence, and Sonja Thomson Center for Distance Learning

3. Who We Are: Empire State College • Locations around New York State • The Center for Distance Learning (CDL) serves adult students around the world

4. Center for Distance Learning • adult learning centered • offers asynchronous online courses in five, 15-week semesters per year • leading enroller in the SUNY Learning Network • partner with several institutions such as eArmyU & Navy, public & private organizations, labor unions, • member institution, The Consortium of Higher Education for Emergency and Fire Services (CHEEFS) offering baccalaureate degrees for the fire and emergency services community through the National Fire Academy’s Degrees at a Distance Program.

5. Center for Distance Learning Course Statistics • 350 distinct online courses, • many with multiple sections • 46 courses developed/revised for Sept 03 • 50+ courses developed or revised for Jan 04 • 68 courses developed or revised for Sept 04 • 70 courses developed or revisedfor Jan 05 • all courses on a two year revision cycle • managed using the Coursetrak system

6. Areas of Study The Arts | Business, Management & Economics | Community & Human Services | Communications, Humanities & Cultural Studies | Educational Studies | Historical Studies | Human Development | Labor Studies | Science, Math & Technology | Social Theory, Structure & Change

7. Curriculum and Instructional Design Group • Advises area coordinators on curriculum development • Shepherds faculty through the development cycle • Provides pedagogical, assessment, and instructional development training as needed • Designs course development processes • Facilitates team development sessions • Aligns support for faculty course developers • Assures academic excellence and design quality of courses • Oversees program evaluation and improvements.

8. CDL Course Development Teams • Development Team = multidisciplinary group in charge of creation, conversion or revision of Center for Distance Learning courses. A development team includes one or more of the following: • An area coordinator • A coordinator of instructional design and curriculum development for the course area of study • One or more course faculty course developers • One or more instructional designers • A multimedia instructional designer • And a librarian. • Faculty Developer Course creator/content expert: a member of the development team. S/he develops the course content and assessment activities.

9. Course Development Resources and Support • Examples of Resources and Support • Provided to Faculty Developers: • Instructional Design Assistance • Pedagogical Advice • Library Review of Course and Research Assignments • Assistance Designing Learning Activities • Media Rich Content Identification • Multimedia Learning Objects • Website Identification, Evaluation, and Compilation • Digital Image Identification • Best Practice Examples Provided

10. CourseSpace Residency Conversions • Convert a F2F Residency to a CourseSpace hybrid course • Convert a CourseSpace Hybrid Residency to a SLN fully asynchronous online course • Convert a SLN fully asynchronous online course to a CourseSpace Hybrid Residency course

11. Policies • Hybrid residency courses would be expected to meet the same rigorous standards as newly developed or revised online courses • They would receive the same level of instructional design support as full online courses in our robust course development process • Instructors would be expected to undertake the same level of training and be shepherded through the same course development process as for a full online course

12. The Legacy • Residencies for courses in the fire services curriculum • Previously held “on ground” only • Students could register the first day of residency • Instructor led, instructor driven • Students activities commenced the first day of the residency

13. Hybrid Driven Changes • All course content would have to be pre-conceived, pre-designed, pre-written and made available to students prior to the first face to face meeting. This is a considerable cultural change for faculty. • Students, who previously could register the first day of classes, would have to declare their intention earlier, and pre-register in order to be registered with the SUNY Learning Network and receive their hybrid course login and password. This is a considerable cultural change for students. • Students would be expected to log on to the courses prior to the first residency meeting, read all syllabus and other course materials, and engage in learning activities prior to the first face to face meeting.

14. Issues • Problem: how to contact potential students, and how to prepare them for the new process? • Problem: how to gain buy-in and participation from faculty, who would be responsible for the up-front work of course conversion? • Problem: how to handle faculty training and support? • Problem: Should faculty receive additional compensation for time and effort spent training and developing?

15. Residency Redesign Goals • a systematic approach to the hybridization of course design, including: • a course model unique to the residencies • look and feel • pedagogical approaches • standard documents • visual learning components • media rich content enhancements • library research activities

16. Our Approach • Develop a standard for residency syllabus documents and implement them in the courses • Create a new design for CDL residency hybrids to increase navigability and overall consistencies in look, feel, and format • Enrich courses with multimedia components and other graphic enhancements • Include library referenced materials in all courses, with at least one library-based learning activity per course • Identify and implement best practices in the pursuit of academic and pedagogical excellence in web course development for adult learners taking distance learning courses

17. Successful Conversion Method • Fill the new, empty course template with a pre-designed residency course model • Pre-write extensive syllabus documents that fully prepare the student to understand expectations for the course as well as how to engage in the learning activities • Provide clear, residency specific modules with guidelines and materials to prepare for the residency • Content enhancement • Revision of learning activities • Perhaps a reorganization of course sequencing

18. Course Readiness •  Pre-Publishing Refinements • Final edit • Format review • Evaluation • Content Review by content expert

19. The Model • Fire Services Residency Course Model Sample Residency Courses: • Psycho-Social Impacts of Mass Disasters • The Community and Fire Threat

20. To Recap The Challenges • Biggest challenge is in cultural change, both for faculty and students • Necessity for policy development • Quality management • Training • Development of materials • Support planning and management • Managing proliferation of courses with multiple instructors in their various formats (online, f2f, hybrid)

21. Conclusion • Course conversions from face to face or online to a hybrid course require forethought, planning, and policymaking, as well as support, training and compensation for faculty. • Prepare both students and faculty for the additional time and effort required to add web-enhanced instruction and learning activities to residency requirements.

22. Questions? Contact Information: Nicola.Martinez@esc.edu Al.Lawrence@esc.edu Sonja.Thomson@esc.edu 518-587-2100