We’ve been talking a lot about the details of online learning this year, but I’d like
to take a moment to step back and ask: What is the ultimate objective?
In the end, what is it that we, as a college, want to see in terms of our online offerings?
Ultimately, we want what we want for ALL of our students – STUDENT SUCCESS.
We want our students to have an enriching learning experience that allows them to move
on to the next stage in their life, be it self-improvement, graduation, transfer to
university, or entering the job market!
We want our students to have a quality online experience, start to finish.
But what does a “quality online experience” look like, from the student’s perspective?
Put yourself in the student’s shoes – what matters most to you?
• “I need my classes when I need them!”
• “I need to get into the right classes, and to pass them.”
• “I need my classes to be good!”
So let’s follow these three components to see what they tell us about what the institution
needs to do in order to make them happen.
1.
“I need my classes when I need them!”
Students need to know that the classes required to successfully move on to program or certificate
completion, graduation, transfer, or the workforce WILL BE OFFERED WHEN THEY NEED THEM.
With the adoption of Guided Pathways, this will require significant careful coordination
among disciplines, divisions, the curriculum office, and the Planning & Research office
to make sure that the appropriate and necessary courses are available for Pathway completion
not only for fully online programs, but also to fill needs in traditional programs where
face-to-face offerings are not available due to scheduling and space constraints.
2.
“I need to get into the right classes, and to pass them.”
Students need a network of support systems to successfully navigate college, and fully
online students expect to have a network of ONLINE support systems available.
This availability of online student support systems that are equivalent to our on-ground
support systems is, in fact, a requirement of the Higher Learning Commission for any
college that is an online program provider.
As the online student starts at the college, they will need everything from Advising, Registration,
and Financial Aid to get into the appropriate classes, to Tutoring, Tech Support, Library,
and Disability Resources AS they take their courses, to further advising and Career Services
to help them make the most of their future with their newly acquired skills.
3.
“I need my classes to be good!”
Students have every right to expect quality online classes – if they aren’t getting
the expected quality with us, they have plenty of other options for online offerings.
OK; what does it take to ensure a quality online experience for the student?
High-quality online courses require qualified, well-trained faculty who have the flexibility
to make decisions about course content and materials based on their own subject-matter
expertise, the ability to innovate, and who are willing to design their course content
delivery within a set of quality assurance standards.
Maintaining a corps of qualified faculty requires a continuous cycle of training and evaluation
to keep skills up to date; likewise, understanding of and adherence to quality assurance and
best practices requires a rigorous training, course design (and redesign!) and evaluation
cycle.
Maintenance and continuous improvement of quality online courses means an ongoing cycle
of evaluation and improvement, acting upon feedback from students in the form of course
evaluations, and from peers and mentors in the form of course observations, in order
to continually improve course design and delivery.
TO RE-CAP: if we, as a college, want to satisfy the students’ needs and expectations for
online course offerings, we need to 1.
Be sure that we are planning ahead for courses to be made available to meet student needs,
2.
Have a seamless network of online student support systems to get students into and through
the appropriate courses, and 3.
Ensure the quality of online course design and delivery.
Combined, these three components will help us to ensure students’ success, whatever
their future needs may be!