THE SLOAN CONSORTIUM FIVE PILLARS OF QUALITY ONLINE EDUCATION

Vance Burgess University of West Florida Online Campus

THE SLOAN CONSORTIUM (SLOAN-C)

 The Sloan-C mission is to help learning organizations continually improve quality, scale, and breadth according to their own distinctive missions, so that education will be part of every day life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time.  Sloan-C offers: Conferences, Workshops, Publications Consulting and Effective Practices  Memberships are free or you can pay for premium membership which includes workshops and conference fees http://www.sloan-c.org/

SLOAN-C EFFECTIVE PRACTICES

FIVE PILLARS FOR QUALITY ONLINE EDUCATION

 An expanding work in progress developed in the mid 90’s as a quality framework for the values, principles and goals of asynchronous learning networks.

 Cost Effectiveness & Institutional Commitment  Learning Effectiveness  Faculty Satisfaction  Student Satisfaction  Access

SLOAN-C EFFECTIVE PRACTICES

FIVE PILLARS FOR QUALITY ONLINE EDUCATION

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Cost Effectiveness & Institutional Commitment costs. – Institutions continuously improve services while reducing Learning Effectiveness traditional programs.

– Provider demonstrates that the quality of learning online is comparable to the quality of its Faculty Satisfaction – Faculty achieve success with teaching online, citing appreciation and happiness.

Student Satisfaction – Students are successful in learning online and are pleased with their experience.

Access – All learners who wish to learn online have the opportunity and can achieve success.

MAKING IT REAL:

UWF DISTANCE LEARNING POLICY GUIDE

 UWF five pillar framework adheres to:     SACS Best Practices for Electronically Offered Degree and Certificate Programs Sloan Consortium Effective Practices Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (WCET Principles) Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Guidelines

INSTITUTIONAL ALIGNMENT:

     The program, course, or certificate being offered online is consistent with the institution and college’s role and mission.

All accreditation requirements for online programs align with similar programs delivered in a traditional face-to-face format.

Online programs will be sustained long enough to enable all admitted students to complete a degree or certificate in the publicized timeframe. A technical infrastructure will always exist to facilitate consistent access and utilization to all online programs. Online courses and programs will have a coherent and consistent design framework and technical functionality to facilitate development by faculty and utilization by students.

QUALITY CURRICULUM:

ONLINE COURSE DEVELOPMENT     Develop a pedagogical framework for online courses.

Integrate interactive online teaching and learning strategies aligned to specific course learning outcomes.

Design an assessment strategy aligned to course learning outcomes.

Promote an interaction and student engagement strategy through communications and course management.

FACULTY SUPPORT:

STUDIO-E IMPLEMENTATION OF QUALITY CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT   Complete training for approx 30 faculty each semester  Three week pedagogy related sessions   Additional “technology tools” sessions throughout semester Ongoing consulting on course development  Final session end of semester to share courses Implement courses following development semester

FACULTY & STUDENT SUPPORT:

ASKATC FOR FACULTY & JUSTASK FOR STUDENTS 

Just-in-Time support

 for faculty requiring assistance in developing and teaching online courses  for online students needing non instructional advice

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT:

ONLINE COURSE IMPLEMENTATION    

Mid-course survey.

course.

This assessment measures student perception of interaction within an individual online

End-of-course survey.

This assessment measures student perceptions of the overall online course (ease of use, etc.).

Course history logs.

Notes for course revision.

Student support survey.

measures online student perception of overall support.

This survey

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT:

WEB CONFERENCING INITIATIVE: ELLUMINATE PILOT PROGRAM

University Need:

 Augment asynchronous fully online courses with synchronous teaching and learning strategies for specific topics or needs.

Elluminate Offers:

 Synchronous audio/video and text chat   Desktop Sharing Interactive Whiteboard (PowerPoint, math & science equations    Breakout rooms for group collaboration Sessions can be archived for later use Sessions can be converted to Podcasts

FIVE PILLAR FRAMEWORK HAS PRODUCED:

UWF ONLINE CAMPUS PROGRAMS

 Twenty Graduate Programs  Seven Undergraduate Programs  Eight Certificate Programs

FIVE PILLAR FRAMEWORK HAS PRODUCED:

UWF ONLINE CAMPUS GROWTH

 The number of students enrolled in fully online courses at UWF has risen by an average of 25% per semester over the last year (less than 2% online student attrition rate for Spring 07) Online Course Sections Unduplicated Headcount Percentage of UWF Total FTE Summer 06 151 2114 28.4% Fall 06 Spring 07 Summer 07 225 274 315 3204 14.7% 3803 18.9% 3689 46.3% Fall 07 330 21.5% as of 6/31

Questions?

Presentation available at: uwf.edu/vburgess/FDLC_8-07.ppt

UWF Online Campus [email protected]

onlinecampus.uwf.edu