RETENTION:
Tinto (1993), Voorhees (1987), and others ("A Workplan," 2001) found that in order for students to be successful, they must have access to student services.
THE BIG PICTURE:
Husmann and Miller (2001) agreed that a major problem is that an entire program is not being planned, and that most attention when planning is paid to individual course offerings. Planning for distance learning must include fiscal, personal, academic, legal, technological, and support issues as a framework for future decision making (Fryer, Jr., & Lovas, 1991; Gellman-Danley & Fetzner, 1998).
EQUIVALENCY:
Distance learning is not just about teaching and learning, it is about giving students who are not able or not willing to come to campus an experience equivalent to the on-campus student (Berge, 1998) by providing the same types of student services online that an on-campus student has available.
FACULTY WORKLOAD:
According to Brown and Jackson (2001), administrators should not be concerned with how to get faculty to develop and teach courses online, but on how to deal with the need to support online students in other areas of education such as counseling, library services, and financial aid. Brown, D. T., & Jackson, S. (2001). Creating a context for consensus. Educause Review, 36(4). Retrieved July 27, 2001, from http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0143.pdf
RESOURCES VERSUS PURPOSE:
Unfortunately, colleges face a dilemma in planning for distance learning because they are torn between wanting to serve students online and the need to continue to support their traditional student services (Collis et al., 1993; Dirr, 1999). Yet, it is important for administrators to consider the student who will never come to campus, and to provide the essential student services for that student. Collis, B., Veen, W., & De Vries, P. (1993). Preparing for an interconnected future: Policy options for telecommunications in education. Educational Technology, 33(1), 17-24. Dirr, P. J. (1999). Putting principles into practice: Promoting effective support services for students in distance learning programs. Retrieved November 24, 2000, from http://www.wiche.edu/telecom/resources/publications/
RESOURCE SCARCITY:
Inglis et al. (1999) stated, Delivering courses online at a distance calls for a reorganization of the ways in which support services are provided. This is important to ensure that the highest standard of support is provided for the resources available as well as to avoid the possibility of costs escalating. (p. 118)
Dirr, P. J. (1999). Putting principles into practice: Promoting effective support services for students in distance learning programs. Retrieved November 24, 2000, from http://www.wiche.edu/telecom/resources/publications/
Inglis, A., Ling, P., & Joosten, V. (1999). Delivering digitally: Managing the transition to the knowledge media. London: Kogan Page.
ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE
The challenge to higher education is to design an organization that will continuously reform itself. Traditional campuses may not go away (Hanna, 1998), but organizational change is likely to occur because of the changes and advances. Distance learning brings to teaching, learning, and meeting student needs. Carr-Chellman, A. A. (2000). The new sciences and systemic change in education. Educational Technology, 40(1), 29-37. Hanna, D. E. (1998). Higher education in an era of digital competition: Emerging organizational models. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 2(1), 66-95.
Thursday, September 02, 2004
Best Practices (from WCET Best Practices Project) - How do we compare?
Question: How does TWU compare to the best practice?
• It's about people, not technology
Moving student services to the online environment is primarily a challenge of leading people in a new direction. Dealing with politics, policies, practices and culture are human, not technical, issues.
• It’s time to end the silos
Student services have developed over time as the need for them arose on campus. Many have separate policies, practices, and technical infrastructures. New technologies make it possible to integrate services into a cohesive system of student support. This requires re-engineering student services — designing new policies and practices — and takes a cross-functional campus team to make it happen.
• The user is king
Web-based services should be designed from the users' perspective. Students are primarily task-oriented — they want to pay a bill, run a degree audit, schedule an appointment — and they don’t want to think about which department provides what service. They prefer a single sign-on to integrated, personalized and customized services and the options of self-service, general help and personalized assistance. The full range of optimized services includes online and real-person/real-time resources.
• Internal consistency and integrity are vital
The extent to which an institution puts its student services online should be consistent with its mission, culture, and priorities. If an institution is enrolling distance students in online courses, it must provide those students with accessible services of equal quality to those for campus-based students. Otherwise, these students cannot be expected to succeed at the same rate and it calls into question the institution’s commitment to learning for all of its students — not just those privileged to come to campus.
• Technology should enable new services, not define them
At a rapid pace, new technologies are coming onto the market. New versions of existing software are common. In envisioning new services, the focus should not be limited by what is possible today. By defining the ideal and then phasing in the solutions as the technology becomes available, the best service will result.
• Outside experts move projects forward
Outside experts bring a broader perspective and objectivity into the project that can help transcend campus politics. Scheduled visits from a consultant in organizational change or best practices in online student services also provide motivation for project teams to accomplish goals. In some cases, the expert may not bring new expertise, but rather validate what the campus is doing — and this can be equally important to project progress. The LAAP project partners identified site visits as one of the most important influences in their success.
• Distance staff should take a leadership role
On many campuses, the staff of the division of continuing education or other outreach unit has provided both the courses and the services for distance students for many years. They have tremendous expertise in providing remote service that is convenient and just-in-time. As today’s campus population looks increasingly like the distant population, it is important that this experienced staff be tapped as a valuable resource in the redesign of services to support all students.
• Developing decentralized services means focusing on the commonalities while respecting the differences
Perhaps as much as 80% of a service is the same across campus, but the last 20% can vary significantly. The trick is to design a system that builds on the commonalities with the flexibility to accommodate the differences via customization. That means understanding the needs, processes, and policies of each college/department/program in enough detail to make the system work for them.
• It's about people, not technology
Moving student services to the online environment is primarily a challenge of leading people in a new direction. Dealing with politics, policies, practices and culture are human, not technical, issues.
• It’s time to end the silos
Student services have developed over time as the need for them arose on campus. Many have separate policies, practices, and technical infrastructures. New technologies make it possible to integrate services into a cohesive system of student support. This requires re-engineering student services — designing new policies and practices — and takes a cross-functional campus team to make it happen.
• The user is king
Web-based services should be designed from the users' perspective. Students are primarily task-oriented — they want to pay a bill, run a degree audit, schedule an appointment — and they don’t want to think about which department provides what service. They prefer a single sign-on to integrated, personalized and customized services and the options of self-service, general help and personalized assistance. The full range of optimized services includes online and real-person/real-time resources.
• Internal consistency and integrity are vital
The extent to which an institution puts its student services online should be consistent with its mission, culture, and priorities. If an institution is enrolling distance students in online courses, it must provide those students with accessible services of equal quality to those for campus-based students. Otherwise, these students cannot be expected to succeed at the same rate and it calls into question the institution’s commitment to learning for all of its students — not just those privileged to come to campus.
• Technology should enable new services, not define them
At a rapid pace, new technologies are coming onto the market. New versions of existing software are common. In envisioning new services, the focus should not be limited by what is possible today. By defining the ideal and then phasing in the solutions as the technology becomes available, the best service will result.
• Outside experts move projects forward
Outside experts bring a broader perspective and objectivity into the project that can help transcend campus politics. Scheduled visits from a consultant in organizational change or best practices in online student services also provide motivation for project teams to accomplish goals. In some cases, the expert may not bring new expertise, but rather validate what the campus is doing — and this can be equally important to project progress. The LAAP project partners identified site visits as one of the most important influences in their success.
• Distance staff should take a leadership role
On many campuses, the staff of the division of continuing education or other outreach unit has provided both the courses and the services for distance students for many years. They have tremendous expertise in providing remote service that is convenient and just-in-time. As today’s campus population looks increasingly like the distant population, it is important that this experienced staff be tapped as a valuable resource in the redesign of services to support all students.
• Developing decentralized services means focusing on the commonalities while respecting the differences
Perhaps as much as 80% of a service is the same across campus, but the last 20% can vary significantly. The trick is to design a system that builds on the commonalities with the flexibility to accommodate the differences via customization. That means understanding the needs, processes, and policies of each college/department/program in enough detail to make the system work for them.
Unique Needs of Off-Campus Students
Serving the off-campus student has not been part of the mainstream campus agenda for most institutions due to a lack of both the resources and the flexibility to meet the unique needs of these students. Where service has been provided, it has most frequently come from the units offering distance courses or programs (e.g., the Division of Continuing Education). On many campuses this has resulted in duplicate systems, one for off-campus and one for on-campus students, supporting such core services as admissions, registration, and student accounts, as depicted above:
For other non-core services, such as advising and tech support, the responsibility has often fallen to faculty members teaching the courses. The goal should be to implement student services online for as many of the on-campus and off-campus student needs as possible (that is, minimize offline services).
(from WCET Best Practices Project)
For other non-core services, such as advising and tech support, the responsibility has often fallen to faculty members teaching the courses. The goal should be to implement student services online for as many of the on-campus and off-campus student needs as possible (that is, minimize offline services).
(from WCET Best Practices Project)
DLAG: Why ask the tough questions?
Advanced policy development is a key component of a well-run distance learning initiative. The toughest distance learning policy questions often remain un-asked. At first, these issues may seem minor, yet they often become the major stumbling block to a successful distance learning model. Asking the really tough questions on distance learning policy can alleviate some potential policy pitfalls, and contribute to the quality, rigor and strength of distance learning instruction provided to our students. (SUNY Policy Statement on planning for distance learning, 2003)
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