Academic Technology @ BGSU

Colleges See 17 Percent Increase in Online Enrollment
Marc Parry

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Colleges saw a 17 percent increase in online enrollment, with more than one in four students taking at least one online course in the fall of 2008, according to the findings of an annual survey published on Tuesday by the Sloan Consortium.

The growth rate eclipsed last year’s 12-percent increase and dwarfed the 1.2 percent growth rate of the overall higher-education student population. The report, which has become a widely cited benchmark of distance learning, found a total of more than 4.6-million online students overall. That’s up from about 3.9 million the previous year.

Despite this surge, the data suggest that not enough institutions have taken online education into account as they conduct planning around issues like how to deal with budget cuts and space shortages, says A. Frank Mayadas, a special adviser to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

“They have to wake up and begin to think about this as a strategic item,” Mr. Mayadas says.

The report found that public institutions are by far the most likely to believe that online education is key to their long-term strategy. That reflects the striking demand for online couses at institutions like the University of Central Florida, where more than half of the 53,500 students take at least one online course each year.

The university’s online efforts stem from its mission of providing access and its budget realities. All new construction money is “basically frozen at the state level,” says Tom Cavanagh, assistant vice president for distributed learning.

“For us to grow, it’s going to be online until that money is freed up again,” he says.

The Sloan report is based on data collected from more than 2,500 colleges and universities by the Babson Survey Research Group and the College Board. Among the study’s other key findings:

Bad economic times, which traditionally drive more people back to school, are having a particularly strong impact on demand for online courses. Seventy-three percent of institutions report increased demand for existing online courses, compared with 54 percent for face-to-face. Sixty-six percent report increased demand for new online courses. And students are clamoring for distance education at colleges that don’t offer it; 45 percent of institutions in that category report growing demand for new online courses and programs.

Fewer than one-third of chief academic officers think that their faculty members accept the “value and legitimacy” of online education, a perception that hasn’t change much in the past six years. (Another survey, released in 2009, also reflected broad faculty suspicion about the quality of online courses.)

More than two-thirds of institutions have a contingency plan to deal with a disruption from the H1N1 flu, and substituting online for face-to-face classes is an element in 67 percent of those plans.

The overwhelming majority of the 4.6-million online students — over 82 percent — are undergraduates.

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Comments: The article’s vantage point—”[Institutions] have to wake up and begin to think about this as a strategic item”—may seem overly strong, but, BGSU is well poised to provide the transition to greater presence of online coursework for all BGSU students through faculty training and curriculum development that is already in place. What may be seismic in its shifts for other Ohio institutions, is not true locally; BGSU is ready to make sure there are “no faculty left behind.”

Tags: Online enrollments, Sloan-C, Survey

David Pogue: “Starting next week, Verizon will double the early-termination fee for smartphones. That is, if you get a BlackBerry, Android or similar phone from Verizon, and you decide to switch phones before your two-year contract is up, you’ll be socked with a $350 penalty (it used to be $175).” http://bit.ly/32PCd5

Tags: smartphone, Verizon

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Bowling Green State University’s investment in e-learning over the past decade has paid dividends for hundreds of northwest Ohio students seeking to finish their bachelor’s and master’s degree programs online.

Now, the experience and expertise that built an inventory of over 500 online courses and 15 online degree and certificate programs has been recognized by the Ohio Board of Regents (OBOR) and its Ohio Learning Network (OLN).

BGSU has been selected as the site for Ohio’s new OLN Center for Excellence in E-Learning, which will be supervised by Dr. Bruce Edwards, associate vice president for academic technology and e-learning, and Connie Molnar, director of the Center for Online and Blended Learning (COBL).

Sheryl Hansen, the OBOR staff member who announced the center’s creation, said “the Center for Online and Blended Learning at BGSU has knowledge, proven capacity and a rich history in supporting quality e-learning.”

As a result, Hansen added, campuses statewide can benefit from COBL’s established excellence in providing “support, training and ongoing professional development” that meet the criteria of national best practices and quality standards.

The OLN center will be launched next spring with the help of $80,000 in state funds for local staffing for BGSU, and for small grants to support pilot projects in quality assurance in online education across the state.

Albert Colom, vice president for enrollment management, agreed that the distinction BGSU has received is well warranted. “The state’s recognition of the achievements of Academic Technology and COBL testifies not only to the quality of our online programs, but also to the quality of the leadership of our staff,” he said.

Edwards, who has been leading BGSU’s distance education efforts since 2001, noted that “talented and dedicated faculty collaborating with skilled instructional designers make the difference in delivering quality coursework and maintaining student-centered support services.”

The center, said Molnar, “will benefit BGSU by drawing even more attention to the quality and diversity of its online programs, and giving our faculty the recognition they deserve for innovative instruction that maintains the integrity and rigor of their curricula.”

BGSU is fully accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and the North Central Association to offer any of its degrees online. And Edwards and Molnar are both involved in OBOR Chancellor Eric Fingerhut’s strategic planning group that is creating a 10-year plan for expanding access to Ohio’s degree programs through online delivery.

“This is an auspicious time for BGSU to take on the leadership of this new center, and we look forward to the challenge and benefits of working with colleagues across the state in advancing Ohio’s reputation for innovation and quality in online education,” Edwards added.

Watch this informative video:

http://www.ehandersonpr.com/acu/mobile-learning-report-v2.mov

Read the Chronicle’s report:

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/A-Year-Later-a-Texas/8437/

Tags: iPhone, mobile learning

I am blogging during a break at BGSU’s Quality Matters training session, and allows me to say QM is a great tool for both evaluating and generating good online course design. In point of fact, QM’s rubrics provide valuable insight into creating any kind of online-F2F course work that is effective for a student-centered learning environment that happens to deploy online/Web 2.0 tools. We recommend that any and all BGSU faculty involved in course design eventually receive this training.

A few other observations:

This is the first time I have heard the term “Big box universities” before. Ponder the term, and let me know what you think the connotations are.

Seeing up close and personal another teacher’s syllabus, no matter how extensive and information-ful it may be, gives one pause, forcing one to ask, “is that how I sound to my student”? And thus proves the value of peer-assessment.

Eventually, the SME role (subject matter expert) would become crucial should one aspire to be a certified QM reviewer. Once you step of broadly conceived best practices in course design, how do you adequately critique the intra-course learning outcomes effectively without knowledge of the field?

A majority of faculty in postsecondary institutions have had little or no training in actual teaching or course design. As SME they are expected to “delivery” expertise. QM helps us see that that is a very one-dimensional viewpoint, and decidedly un-learner-centric.

I had the chance to see how a fifth grade class used the iPod Touch in the classroom to listen to online books, create videos and podcasts, and interact with a blog the class created among other things. Students are learning how to integrate technology at a young age. Will our universities be able to keep pace with them? ~Grant

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Just out of lunch, looking forward to sessions on Twitter and Cellphones in the Classroom. Interesting conversation with a teacher about her interest in our online masters program and “First Year in a Box” for her son.

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The Academic Tech staff are at the NWOET event today to showcase the new online masters degrees available for K-12 teachers in Ohio. The keynote speaker, Rushton Hurley, is demonstrating how technology is changing the classroom dramatically because of the points of access now available within the F2F classroom. Rushton trains teachers and students across the US and as far away as Bahrain.

The rest of the day Grant Mierzejewski and I will be in the vendor area talking with prospective students, and attending a few of the sessions related to smart phone pedagogical uses.

Tags: smart phone uses

Put simply: Online learning is alive and well at BGSU.

BGSU has witnessed steady, healthy growth in online and blended enrollments and expansion in program development during the past decade, and especially over the past three years. This follows national and state trends, and speaks of both our continuing student demand (both nontraditional and residential), and the maturity and quality of our delivery systems. BGSU in a very short time has become a state leader in the delivery of online and blended coursework.

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NATIONAL AND REGIONAL TRENDS

National Trends (Source: Sloan-C Report “Staying the Course: Online Education in the United States, 2008”)

Over 3.9 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2007 term; a 12 percent increase over the number reported the previous year.

The 12.9 percent growth rate for online enrollments far exceeds the 1.2 percent growth of the overall higher education student population.

Over twenty percent of all U.S. higher education students were taking at least one online course in the fall of 2007.

State Trends (Source: Ohio Learning Network 2008 Press Release)

59,686 students enrolled in online courses in Ohio Public Colleges and Universities in Fall 2007.

This represents a 20.7% growth rate from fall of 2006.

Additional student characteristics: 49.3% are 25 years or age or older; 67.1% are women; 53.3% are full time students

BGSU Trends (Source: CSS sum 2009 to present; SIS 2003-Spr 2009)

2008-09 Total online enrollments: 8,333 — Total online courses: 512

2007-08 Total online enrollments: 6,594—Total online courses: 417

2006-07: Total online enrollments: 5,058—Total online courses: 354
Percentage of BGSU online enrollment growth between 2007-08 and 2008-09: 26%

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ACCREDITED AND SOLID SUPPORT PLATFORM IN PLACE. In 2005, BGSU received full accreditation for delivery BGSU degrees online. In addition, we have received the “Best Practices” designation from the Ohio Learning Network for our high quality student support systems. Our developmental model for building online programs has received accolades in Ohio and at large, drawing the attention of the Ohio Board of Regents Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. Barbara Danley, who recently visited BGSU. Dr. Danley has appointed Associate Vice Provost for Academic Technology, Bruce Edwards, and Director of the Center for Online and Blended Learning, Connie Molnar, to a statewide strategic planning council that will shape Ohio’s distance education future.

MOVING FORWARD: COBL AND ACADEMIC TECH OFFER WORKSHOPS AND TRAINING The Center for Online and Blended Learning and the Office of Academic Technology will soon roll out (September) newly minted workshop sessions designed to help chairs and directors practically with the nuts and bolts of migrating existing programs for online delivery as well as building new, perhaps interdisciplinary programs that would bring together the strengths and expertise of more than one department or discipline.

In addition, other sessions are designed to introduce faculty new to the pedagogical tools promote existing learning outcomes, assure compliance with assessment standards, and enhance interactive student engagement with the instructor, their peers, and the knowledge base students must master.

FRUITFUL HARVEST AHEAD We know, because of our robust online course inventory, that through the skillful deployment of even our existing online curriculum, we can deliver new degree completion programs that are preferred and needed by two-year degree holders across the state. We also benefit by the readiness of our partners to cooperate in a “rapid response mode” in admissions and advising to insure smooth transitions, well-trained faculty and student support staff, and prepared students through creative bridge programming. This is an auspicious time, ripe for collaboration and fruitful partnerships, and we want BGSU faculty to be aware of and encouraged to respond to these opportunities.

ONLINE IS THE MAINSTREAM. Online education is increasingly part of the mainstream of higher education; it advances us all to be informed about and prepared to address the growing trend. Where it is done well, upon a sturdy platform of well-prepared faculty, sound technology, and excellent student support, it enhances and does not compete with the traditional residential curriculum or its enrollment base.

In fact, the national data indicates a symbiotic relationship between the two sets of student bodies. As the “blended” classroom emerges as the typical and not the peripheral model, BGSU can be positioned for continued growth and net revenue that nurtures both on-campus and online programming.

QUALITY MATTERS. BGSU’s high profile participation and leadership in the Quality Matters™—the national inter-institutional faculty peer assessment project that evaluates course design—permits us to address issues of quality head on, as the rigorous standards for measuring achievement of learning outcomes and assurance of student engagement matches or exceeds any in place for the face to face classroom. Watch for training sessions coming up!

KEY PARTNERS WORKING TOGETHER. Each college has experienced and visionary faculty who have already helped stimulate the progress we have made in online program development. We need to increase their number by providing the appropriate support and training that will equip our administrators and faculty for these tasks.

Our common mission is to serve Ohio citizens with integrity and vision, providing them with a high quality education through multiple but commensurate access points to the course work and professional credentialing that has been traditionally available only through on-campus participation.

With your help, we can extend BGSU’s expertise and reputation across the state, the region, and the world with a sustainable and profitable platform of highly sought and well-regarded programs. Please contact us at the COBL or Academic Technology offices for the assistance we can provide in making this a possible and reachable goal for you and your students, wherever they may be.

Terence Armentano, Assistant Director of BGSU Center for Online Learning, has deployed WordPressMU code to create an economical, open source e-portfolio solution for BGSU that will be piloted in the 2009-20 academic year. Used this Spring by the School of Art, student satisfaction with the platform was high. It will serve both developmental and showcase assessment needs for students, faculty, career center, and future employers.

To give it a test run: http://eportfolio.bgsu.edu.

Contact: Terence Armentano, COBL, 2-6792; terence@bgsu.edu.

Tags: e-portfolio, eportfolio

• You can now follow this blog on your iPhone or Blackberry with a customized look made for small screen reading. Residing in my plugins folder is a program called WPtouch from a company called Brave New Code. Once activated for Word Press, it automatically reformats existing blog copy to the phone’s display.
• If you’re on Twitter, you know be able to follow new posts—which will be noted as an alert (“tweet”) with the short name URL that will bring you back here. Not quite an infinite loop, but, let’s say, happily semi-infinite. The Twitter account for Academic Tech is “BruceBGSU,” found here: http://www.twitter.com/BruceBGSU. The program I used inside Word Press to trigger the Twitter post is called BirdFeeder, also a plugin for WordPress.

Tags: Blackberry, iPhone, iPhone app, Twitter