MCCVLC Update July

So what does this mean for us? It means that we have been on the right track since the MCCA Board of Directors approved the Statewide Community College Services Task Force Recommendations in March 1996 and the MCCVLC project in July 1998.

MCCVLC Strategic Plan Update July

STRATEGIC GOALS Goal #1: Support Colleges Adopting Innovations in Teaching & Learning Goal #2: Facilitate Program Sharing Among Colleges Goal #3: Facilitate The Sharing Of Scarce Resources Goal #4: Leverage Strategic Partnerships Goal #5: Increase Opportunities for Global Education Goal #6: Provide a More Efficient Interface for Learners and College Staff Goal #7: Raise Awareness of the VLC in the Michigan Education Community

Goal #1: Support Colleges Adopting Innovations in Teaching & Learning Strategy #1: Identify and showcase promising innovations. – Over 34 webinars and workshops on technology innovations Strategy #2: Facilitate collaborative efforts to implement innovations. – Negotiated preferred pricing on software/services – Developing virtual presence – MCCVLC Island in Second Life – Developing a virtual Help Desk

Goal #1: Support Colleges Adopting Innovations in Teaching & Learning Strategy #3: Develop a process to assess the effectiveness and adoption potential of an innovation. – Negotiated free trials of software/services for colleges to utilized and investigate Strategy #4: Develop the VLC capacity for data collection and analysis needed to evaluate effectiveness of innovations. – Redesigned VLC staff website – to collect data – cyberpolls – MCCVLC Distance Learning Administrators Survey 2008 & 2010

Goal #2: Facilitate Program Sharing Among Colleges Strategy #1: Develop business models that support curriculum sharing. – Developed site on VLC staff site for posting of online and hybrid programs to be shared – VLC Online/Hybrid Program Development Project – Supported the new MRI Technician degree program Strategy #2: Develop processes for matching need with capacity in credit and non-credit programming: – Established the VLC Non-Credit Task Force

Goal #2: Facilitate Program Sharing Among Colleges Strategy #3: Secure seed money funding to support program sharing. – Preliminary discussion with Gates Foundation – Submitted two FIPSE grants (2010) to support the development and sharing of occupational (hybrid) programs and developmental education modules Strategy #4: Facilitate the collaborative design, development and delivery of the curricular offerings. – VLC Non-Credit Task Force – VLC Online/Hybrid Program Development Project

Goal #2: Facilitate Program Sharing Among Colleges Strategy #5: Develop the capacity to implement an applied baccalaureate program. – Researched and developed model online program for BSN.

Goal #3: Facilitate The Sharing Of Scarce Resources Strategy #1: Create business models for the sharing of resources. – New VLC staff website Strategy #2: Create resource pools to support innovation at member colleges – Resume bank, employment listing Strategy #3: Identify and disseminate best practices. – Delivered over 15 webinars and workshops

Goal #3: Facilitate The Sharing Of Scarce Resources Strategy #4: Facilitate the offering of professional development programs that colleges cannot offer individually. – Delivered over 12 webinars and workshops – MCCVLC Course Quality Assurance Project Strategy #5: Advocate for policies that support the sharing of resources and programs. – Dialogue with Chief Academic Officers (CAO) and MODAC groups – ongoing.

Goal #3: Facilitate The Sharing Of Scarce Resources Strategy #6: Develop a mechanism to continually monitor and update common standards that make program and resource sharing feasible. – Coordinated the 2008 & 2010 Distance Learning Administrators Survey and provided report of findings. Held meetings with VLC Advisory Council to review findings and identify issues/goals.

Goal #4: Leverage Strategic Partnerships Strategy #1: Identify desired strategic partnering areas and desired outcomes – Developed the MCCVLC Memorandum of Understanding for Baccalaureate Partner Institutions. – Partnership with MERIT, MiCTA, ITC & ETOM Strategy #2: Implement key partnerships that capitalize on the infrastructure of the VLC and the critical mass of successful online learners – Secondary Education partnerships (dual enrollment) – Baccalaureate completion partnerships – Private sector partnerships

Goal #5: Support MCCA and College Initiatives in Global Education Strategy #1: Identify opportunities for "virtual" student exchange and provide support for traditional student exchange programs. Strategy #2: Support initiatives involving curriculum exchange. – VLC staff website provides information on existing programs – additional support can be designed as needed.

Goal #5: Support MCCA and College Initiatives in Global Education Strategy #3: Provide opportunities for Michigan community college students to study foreign language and develop cultural competencies. – Member institutions offering online foreign language on the MCCVLC website. Strategy #4: Support community and business efforts to expand into global markets. – VLC Non-Credit Task Force

Goal #6: Provide a More Efficient Interface For Learners & College Staff Strategy #1: Link the VLC system to the Michigan Transfer Network. Strategy #2: Streamline the current registration system. – Enhanced VLC website with analytic software for monitoring and better results in searches. – Enhancements to VLC Administrative Menu for the batch loading of courses to VLC website – reducing time to load courses up on the VLC website from 2 weeks to 30 minutes per semester offerings. – Enhanced VLC Student accounts to show course history as requested by students.

Goal #6: Provide a More Efficient Interface For Learners & College Staff Strategy #3: Revise existing VLC system to support strategic partnerships. – VLC student website has been updated to support 4 year offerings – including registration. Strategy #4: Enhance VLC system to support Workforce Development initiatives – Non-Credit Task Force work – includes the development of non-credit offerings listed on the VLC student website.

Goal #7: Raise Awareness of the VLC in the Education Community Strategy #1: Provide Information about the VLC to college staff and faculty – Presentation for VLC representatives use on their campus. – Presentations & meetings at colleges in support of staff/faculty development. Strategy #2: Provide Information about the VLC to education-related associations and organizations – Michigan College Access Portal Strategy #3: Provide Information about the VLC to Michigan public policy makers – MCCA Board updates, and MCCA eConnection newsletter

MCCVLC 2010 Distance Learning Administrators Survey Results 27

Who 24 submissions Based on ASC grouping: – Group 1: 9 submissions (10 possible) – Group 2: 6 submissions (7 possible) – Group 3: 6 submissions (8 possible) – Group 4: 3 submissions (3 possible)

Organization Structure Reporting Line – Group 1: 55% (5)report to Academic Administrator; 33% (3)report to Non-academic Administrator; 12% (1)report to President – Group 2: 50% (3) report to Academic Administrator; 50% (3) report to Non-academic Administrator – Group 3: 83% (5)report to Academic Administrator; 17% (1) report to Non-academic Administrator – Group 4: 33% (1) report to Academic Administrator; 33% (1) report to Non-academic Administrator; 33% (1) no program – ITC National Survey: 74% report to Academic Administrator; 6% report directly to President

Organizational Structure 2010 In 2010: Centralized – 46%/Decentralized – 25%/Mix – 29% In 2008: Centralized – 48%/Decentralized – 22%/ Mix – 30% In 2006: Centralized – 48%/Decentralized – 26%/ Mix – 26%

Program Assessment of course prior to offering – 67% have some assessment – Up from 2006 when 57% did assessment prior to offering Offering online degrees – In 2010 – 33% said yes – Nationally – 75% offer at least one online degree

Program How are decisions made regarding new courses and programs? – 33% - academic/discipline level decision – Only one college uses a strategic plan to guide program & course development decisions Average length to develop a course – 3 – 6 months (54% of responses) Number of courses developed this year – Average is 6.7 – Range from 2 to 20

Program Section enrollment caps for online – In 2010, average is – In 2006, average was 20 – Nationally – per ITC Survey 27 for Introduction to Math course 25 for Introduction to English Composition course 30 for Introduction to Political Science course Non-credit offerings: – 46% responded Yes – 66% offer non-credit online offerings – ITC Survey

Greatest Challenges ChallengeRanking 2010Ranking 2008ITC Ranking 2009 Support Staff needed for training & technical assistance 121 Measuring Quality21 Operating/Equipment Budget 344 Adequate Admin Authority 425 Adequate Assessment5 3 Adequate Student Services662 Faculty Acceptance756 Organization Acceptance878 Student Acceptance9810

Faculty Training prior to teaching online – 63% said training was mandatory – Nationally – 60% indicated training was mandatory 70% require more than 8 hours of training 20 % require less than 8 hours of training 10% require exactly 8 hours of training

Students Challenges - from ITC survey – Making sure students are prepared to take online classes. – Getting students to read information about distance education classes and understanding there is a basic knowledge of computer skills needed to be successful.

Students Are students required to participate in an orientation prior to enrolling in online courses? – 63% responded No (15) – 33% responded Yes (8) Retention – Of those reporting – average retention rate is 67% – Range from 50% to 79% – National – 72%

Typical Online Program Top Ten List 10. Struggles to obtain understanding, acceptance and support from campus leaders, who often lack direct experience with this method of teaching and learning (sometimes a generational disconnect).

Typical Online Program Top Ten List 9. Often leads the institution in dealing with issues of assessment, design, rigor, course quality and learning.

Typical Online Program Top Ten List 8.Has become a significant change-agent, prompting increased faculty training and professional development, rethinking how we teach, and providing a catalyst for integrating technology into instruction.

Typical Online Program Top Ten List 7. Offers approximately 160 online classes/class sections each semester.

Typical Online Program Top Ten List 6.Is under-staffed, working in cramped conditions, and has an inadequate budget.

Typical Online Program Top Ten List 5.Reports to the academic side of the institution (dean or above).

Typical Online Program Top Ten List 4.Is attracting an increasing number of non- traditional (younger) students.

Typical Online Program Top Ten List 3.Increases access to higher education.

Typical Online Program Top Ten List 2.Does not offer enough classes to meet student demand.

Typical Online Program Top Ten List 1.Is the primary source of enrollment growth for its institution! From the 2009 ITC Survey – Trends in eLearning: Tracking the Impact of eLearning at Community Colleges March 2010