Sizing up Your Students, Part 1: Improving Online Retention and Success

1. Sizing up Your Students, Part 1:Improving Online Retention and Success Susan Kincade March 14, 2008 For audio call Toll Free 1-888-886-3951 and use PIN/code 705806

2. Housekeeping • Maximize your CCC Confer window. • Mute your phone (*6) if you have visitors or noise in your office. • Please note phone audio may be in presenter-only mode. • Ask questions over the phone when the presenter prompts. • Ask questions throughout presentation via the chat window. • Turn on or off Closed Captioning by clicking on the icon. • Save the presentation or chat by clicking on the icon.

4. West Hills Community College District • Who are we?

5. Online Enrollment for Six Academic Years

7. WHCCD Online Enrollment by Ethnicity

11. WHCCD Online Enrollment by Age

12. Online and Classroom Grade Comparison for Same Students – 2002-2006

13. Online Success and Retention

15. West Hills Online Instruction-Spring 2007 • 2,429 Students Enrolled • 71 Faculty:26 Full-Time Faculty & 45 Part-Time Faculty • 122 Course Sections • 24 Disciplines:AOJ, Art, Bio, Bus, Child Dev, CIS, EA, Econ, Eng, Geog, Geology, Health, History, Hum, IS, Math, Music, Nut, PE, Phil, Phys Sci, Poli Sci, Psych, Sociology • Four AA Degrees Online • AOJ - Law Enforcement • Liberal Arts • Psychology • Social Sciences

16. West Hills Online Instruction-Spring 2008 • 2,707 Students Enrolled (still enrolling) • 85 Faculty:26 Full-Time Faculty & 45 Part-Time Faculty • 157 Course Sections • 25 Disciplines:AOJ, Art, Bio, Bus, Child Devlmt, CIS, EA, Econ, Eng, Geog, Geology, Health, History, Hum, IS, Math, Music, Nut, PE, Phil, Phys Sci, Poli Sci, Psych, Sociology, Social Work • Four AA Degrees Online • AOJ - Law Enforcement • Liberal Arts • Psychology • Social Sciences

17. Online Retention: A Three Step Process Student Support Faculty Support and Training Online Classroom Administration

18. STUDENT SUPPORT Help Desk Coordinator Telephone and Email Response Support Provide Support for ALL Services

19. Provide Support for ALL Services • We Have…. • Student Email • Online Admissions • Online Registration • Online Add/Drop • e-Commerce Payment Option • Transcript Requests • Blackboard Learning Platform for Online and Web-Enhanced Classes

20. FACULTY SUPPORT Education Technology Specialist ODT -On Demand Training Toys, Tools, Technology

21. On-Demand Training • What IS ODT?: • Faculty Come to Workshops • Faculty Call for Help • Faculty Come to Our Office • Faculty Wait for Us to Come To Them!

22. Increasing Success • What Can Be Done? What Are We Doing? • Online Orientations for Faculty and Students • Best Practices Training for Faculty Teaching Online • Research other Institutions for Best Practices • Continue to Innovate

23. Innovative Student Services Online tutoring and rich feedback (teaching assistants) through EduMetry • www.writeraide.com • www.mymathaide.com • http://www.edumetry.com/

27. New Endeavors Continued… • Online Faculty Listserve • Blackboard Repository not working • Use to Disseminate important info • Use to have discussion items • Use to share best practices from other institutions • Syllabus Template • A case of “Where’s Waldo” • Easier for Faculty • Easier for Students

28. New Endeavors • Podcasting • 1st Problem –being confused with Vodcasting! • 2nd Problem –ADA compliant! • 3rd Problem –can’t get Bb Building Block to work! • We’re doing Podcasting release to faculty now, knowing that vodcasting is going to be the Very Next Thing and they’ll want it NOW!

29. New Endeavors… • Online Evaluation Tool for Full Time Faculty that is in the Bargaining Unit Language • Next Step is Education (no pun intended) • How do you evaluate an online course? • What do you look for besides Discussion Board, Announcements, Assignments, and Stats?

31. Online Classroom Best Practices? • Review Syllabi for Outline Ed Code Compliance • Populate Tabs Appropriately • Remove Tabs That Have No Content • Set Up Discussion Board Appropriately • Review Discussion Board for Inappropriate Use • Review Assignments for Relevance (not cut and paste job from wrong course) • Use Online Gradebook Function • Drop Inactive Students

32. Online Classroom Best Practices/2 • Review Links to Make Sure They’re Active • Update Course Each Semester • Ensure Content is Current • Check for Accessibility Issues • Weekly Email to Students • Use Large Font for Announcements • Start Course with Strong Communication • Maintain Rigor • Add Multi Media as You Go

33. Decisions… Decisions… • Every course can have high retention and high success rates, IF you sacrifice Rigor. • Every course can have low retention and low success rates, IF you sacrifice quality instruction. • Somewhere in the middle of that continuum or rubric if you will, there is Rigor, Quality Instruction, AND high retention and success.

34. Overall Great Resource Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/index.asp JALN: Is "As Good as Face-to-Face" As Good As It Gets? http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/v6n2/v6n2_macdonald.asp

35. Q & A What can I answer for you?

36. Evaluation Survey Link http://tinyurl.com/yoco9d

37. Upcoming/Archived Seminars For upcoming desktop seminars and links to recently archived seminars, check the @ONE Web site at: http://www.cccone.org/seminars/index.php

38. Thanks for AttendingFor information on @ONE’s trainings go to:http://www.cccone.org/index.php