Criterion 1: Helping
Students Learn
MINUTES
FEBRUARY 18, 2003
MEMBERS
PRESENT: Iden Smith, Becky Telford, Ann Miller, Ruth Barney, and Matha
Schleinitz
The minutes of the
February 4 meeting were approved as submitted.
The online
version of the two-hour blackboard training session is already available.
This was one of this team’s goals for the third year.
The results of
this team’s survey and the evaluations of online classes were discussed.
The team agreed with the recommendation that all online and Web flex
classes continue to be evaluated.
The team may meet
with the CQI team chaired by Brad Reed to discuss our findings and
recommendations.
The knowledge or
skills of students taking online or Web flex courses was discussed. It
would be ideal to have every student who wants to take an online or Web
flex class demonstrate needed computer skills, but there are many
practical problems in making it happen. Faculty advisors would need two
advising appointments for students wanting to take one of these courses.
The first appointment would find out about the student’s desire to take
one of these courses and a second appointment would be needed to register
the student after he or she has demonstrated the needed skills. Also,
students who register through Web Advisor would probably not be required
to demonstrate these skills. Brad Reed’s CQI team has been responsible for
this issue in the past so this AQIP team will leave it for them.
The results of
this Team’ survey of unsuccessful students, the results of the evaluations
of online courses, and the first-hand information provided by Applications
Services personnel indicate that the biggest issues fall in the general
areas of advising/start-up procedures and faculty training.
ADVISING AND
START-UP ISSUES
While appropriate information is available, not everyone is aware of it or
uses it consistently. Also, different instructors use different procedures
for getting their courses started. Some faculty expect the student to make
the initial contact while other instructors mail a packet of information
to registered students. A student who has gotten a packet for one course
may expect it for all online courses. A handout giving information to
students registering for online courses is available, but not everyone
gets it. Also, students who register online do not get it. Based on these
issues, this Team will make the following recommendations:
- Every student
who registers for an online course should be sent a postcard. This
postcard would provide them with pertinent information such as what
computer equipment they need, that they need to have internet access,
and how to make initial contact with the course instructor.
- Shortly prior
to the beginning of registration each term, faculty members should be
sent a reminder concerning the issues that should be discussed with a
student who wants to register for an online, Web flex, or flex course.
This would be sent by e-mail.
- Faculty members
who teach online courses should be asked to follow uniform start-up
procedures at the beginning of each term.
FACULTY TRAINING
The quality of online courses is inconsistent. Some of the faculty members
who teach these courses have no training in the components of good online
instruction. In order to improve the quality of online and Web flex
courses this Team will recommend the following:
- Deans should
visit course Blackboard sites just as they visit classrooms to get a
feel for the quality of the instruction taking place.
- A brief
document should be created which summarizes some of the components of
good online instruction. It would describe the variety of instructional
and evaluation methods that can be used. This would be provided to
faculty members who will be teaching online and Web flex classes.
- “Best
Practices” workshops for full-time and adjunct faculty should be held
during the duty days prior to each term. These workshops would give
examples of successful components of online instruction. College staff
or outside experts may be used.
The team discussed
what data to use to compare success rates in traditional, online and Web
flex classes. For every course which has at least one online or Web flex
section, we would like the following information:
- A listing of
all sections of the courses with the section numbers included.
- The number
students enrolled in each of these sections.
- The number of
students who earned D, W, FUW, and F grades in each of these sections.
This information
will then be put into tables where success rates for sections with
different teaching methods can be compared. For each course the table
would be like the following:
COURSE:
# of Total # #D #W #FUW
#F Total# %
Sec.
Students
Unsuccessful Unsuc.
Trad. Sec.
Online Sec.
Web Flex
Overall
percentages of unsuccessful students will be calculated for all
traditional sections, online sections, and Web flex sections.
