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ALN as a Workplace Feature for Faculty. Fourth International Conference on Asynchronous Learning Networks. Greg Hislop Drexel University. The Drexel Online Degree. College-level initiative MS in Information Systems Part-time students, full-time professionals History
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ALN as a Workplace Feature for Faculty Fourth International Conference on Asynchronous Learning Networks Greg Hislop Drexel University
The Drexel Online Degree • College-level initiative • MS in Information Systems • Part-time students, full-time professionals • History • 1994 - 1996: infrastructure and individual courses • 1996: first students for online degree • Approach • Students never meet face-to-face • All activities online • GroupWare implementation
Organizational Setting • Drexel University • Technological university over 100 years old • Private; about 10,000 students • College of Information Science and Technology • Rapid growth; currently about 1,000 students • Full-time faculty doubled in last two years • Five degree programs, BS through Ph.D. Information Systems Library and Information Science Software Engineering
Faculty Issues • ALN status • Growth from research to key operational endeavor • Potential for expansion to other degrees • BSIS • MS LIS • Faculty role • Voluntary, but expectation of involvement by all Systems faculty • Many faculty hired after ALN program started
Faculty Survey • Goals • Provide for faculty input • Start a discussion within the faculty • Share results externally • Structure • Anonymous • Quantified response plus space for comment • Short • High response rate vs. detailed data • Open-ended questions • 19 Responses
Conclusions • Some faculty hesitation • Quality of learning outcome • Treating online teaching as regular load • Operating with a distributed faculty • Appropriateness for full degrees • Traditional age undergraduate • Doctoral • Substantial faculty support • Online education as a permanent feature • Online teaching as a substantial part of load