Access and Student Success in Large Online Programs

1. Access and Student Success in Large Online Programs Matt Leavy – President, eCollege

2. Representative clients K-12 Higher Education

3. Evolution of Online Program Focus Pedagogy, Teaching Resources, Learning Styles eCollege Enrollments Outcomes Management Interoperability Data Analytics Authoring & Content Management Service & Reliability Turn-key solution Basic Functionality

4. Access for new populations of learners Improved learning & Improved Completion Evidence of learning = accountability movement The Promise of Online Education Today

5. Access

6. Access for Non-Traditional Learners Percent of Undergrad Students with Non-Traditional Characteristics Source: The Condition of Education, 2002, NCES, DOE

7. Market Drivers – Online Growth Bulk of Projected Student Growth Are Ages 22 - 34 NCES, “Projections of Education Statistics to 2015”, 9/14/2006 NCES, “Projections of Education Statistics to 2015”, 9/14/2006

8. Access for Under-Prepared Learners • In the United States: • Only 70% of students graduate from high school on time • 34% graduate ready for college • 33% of those who make it to college must take remedial courses Alliance for Excellent Education

9. Success

10. Meet Claudia • Taking classes in the Fall • Didn’t have a great high school experience • Has a full-time job • Older than she looks

11. Meet Claudia • Unsure of how online works • Motivated to try • Has Questions…

12. How Long will I Need to Spend? Avg.= 11.67 MKT MGT HIS COM Goal = 90% ZOO EDU ENG Avg. = 83.55% FIN ECO GEO BIO PHL MTH * Based on Census Enrollment

13. How will I be successful? • We focus on three levers through which we can help institutions improve student success in an online environment: • Online learning applications that assess student progress and personalize remediation through graded homework exercises. • Analysis of activity data, help desk interactions and instructor indications to identify students who display characteristics of struggling. • Continuous improvement to online pedagogy in the course design, construction and facilitation.

14. Claudia never was very good at math… • She doesn’t learn very well from a textbook • Actually, she never opened the textbooks • How will she learn online?

16. Success rate – University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa Success rate – Onondaga CC, New York Success rate – Youngstown State University, Ohio Success rate – DeVry / Miramar Campus Lot’s of other students like Claudia use MyMathLab

17. Claudia has a bad day… • Her computer breaks • Her apartment has termites • She has to find a new place to live asap! • Notify Administrators • Email sent to instructor • Auto-generated email sent to Claudia

18. Completed Student at Add/Drop Dropped Student at Add/Drop 2006 Fall Week 1 Activity – Completed vs. Dropped Student Avg. Student Activity/Section by Department (hrs) Completed Avg. = 3.1 Dropped Avg. = 1.3

19. Claudia is back in business! • Back in the course, she becomes engaged in learning • She develops a sense of community with her instructor and colleagues • She connects with interactive content

20. Interactive Content

21. Case Studies & Simulations

22. Claudia has some trouble in the class • Claudia gets frustrated • Claudia “goes” to her instructor’s office hours • The instructor notes in the system that she is having trouble…

23. ICCOC Identification Criteria After Term Start • Student did not log into their online course the first week. • Logged into their online course 5 minutes or less. • Registered late. • Identified by their instructor.

24. At-Risk Student Data Iowa Community College Online Consortium • Fall 2005 [project year 1] • 1,767 students identified (27% of enrollments) • 77% completed their course(s) • 57% passed course(s) with a C or higher • Fall 2007 [project year 3] • 3,324 students identified (31% of students) • 82% completed their course(s) • 66% passed course(s) with a C or higher

25. Claudia Completes Her Course

26. Program Improvement

27. Claudia’s Program • There are many reasons that schools want to know how they are doing and how they are improving over time. • Educational mission • Accreditation • Legislative lobby • Challenges around externally imposed standards. • Skepticism around our ability to assess learning, particularly in critical thinking disciplines • Collegiate Learning Assessment, community assessment? • Emphasis around flexible tools for internally developed standards in post-secondary. • Outcomes managers • Portfolios • Program analytics

28. Learning Outcome Manager LearningOutcome Manager Course Content Grades Institution Outcomes & Rubrics • Presentation • Assessment • Accreditation • Quality • Tagging • Repository A Comprehensive Toolset that Provides an Evidence-based Approach to Measuring Student Achievement of Outcomes

29. University Mission Are Aligned With … Program Goals & Outcomes Specialization Goals & Outcomes Are Aligned With … Course Outcomes / Objectives Criteria Leads To… Rubrics Leads To… Score / Benchmark / Adjust Instruction Leads To… Learning Outcomes Manager

30. ePortfolio: Students

31. 2006 Completion Rates vs. Enrollments - Department Median Dept Enrollments = 767 IV I Humanities Art Music Department Completion Rates – Term Start to Term End Sociology Psychology Economics Social Science Other Criminal Justice Avg. Section Completion Rate = 77% Business Philosophy Health Sciences History Literature Biology Computer Science English Science Speech Accounting Mathematics III II Department Term Start Enrollments

32. Conclusion • The extension of access offered by online programs brings into the educational system learners with previously unmet needs. • Convenience • Personalized support • The current frontier in large online programs is in the capture and use of data on teaching and learning activity and outcomes. • Data is being employed to improve student success through personalized learning and program improvement. • Online pedagogy innovation is validated by data.

33. FIN mattl@ecollege.com