Distance Education Strategic Planning Resource Document August, 2005 Prepared by Moore Iacofano Goltsman, Inc., MIG Prepared for The Distance Education Planning Group
Acknowledgments Distance Education Planning Group Elaine Ader* Sacramento City College, Dean, Information Technology Candace Bahns El Dorado Center, Instructional Assistant Greg Beyrer* Cosumnes River College, Faculty, Distance Education Coordinator Barbara Blanchard American River College, Dean, Computer Science and Information Technology Allen Boxall Cosumnes River College, Media Services IT Technician K.C. Boylan Folsom Lake College, Faculty, Communication Studies Trish Caldwell District Office, Tech Force Coordinator Kathy Camarena* Sacramento City College, Faculty, Computer Information Science Marsha Conley* American River College, Faculty, Instructional Technology Coordinator Richard Erlich Sacramento City College, DSPS Counselor Celia Esposito-Noy Cosumnes River College, Vice President Student Services Melissa Green Sacramento City College, Instructional Development Coordinator Gary Hartley* Folsom Lake College, Dean, Instruction and Technology Mick Holsclaw* District Office, Associate Vice Chancellor, Information Technology Karen Kunimura Sacramento City College, Faculty, Physical Education, Health, and Athletics Steve Leake Cosumnes River College, Counselor, Transition Center Sue Lorimer Folsom Lake College - Vice President Instruction Stephen McGloughlin * Cosumnes River College, Dean, Languages, Library, and Instructional Technology Yvonne Maller * Sacramento City College, Dean, Learning Resource Center Jeanne Reed American River College, Instructional Assistant CIS lab Rachel Rosenthal * American River College, Dean, Planning and Research Linda Shoemake American River College, Librarian Marie Smith * Vice Chancellor of Education and Technology Kakwasi Somadhi Cosumnes River College, Faculty, Tutoring Coordinator Sharon Terry * Sacramento City College, Public Relations Technician Debbie Travis Sacramento City College, Vice President Instruction Dana Wassmer Cosumnes River College, Faculty, Nutrition Linda Zarzana American River College, Faculty, Chemistry * Also member of the Working Group Planning Coordination Marie Smith Elaine Ader Consulting Assistance Moore Iacofano Goltsman Paul Downs Beth Altshuler Vice Chancellor, Education and Technology Dean of Information Technology, Sacramento City College Process Design Consultant/Facilitator Project Assistant The planning group would also like to acknowledge the many students, faculty, staff and administrators who participated in the web survey and in college focus groups.
Table of Contents Section 1. Introduction and Background Purpose 1 Scope and Approach 1 Plan Overview 1 Planning Process 2 Section 2. Vision and Guiding Principles 3 Section 3. Strategic Directions Course and Program Development 6 Instructional Quality and Professional Development 7 Student Success and Support Services 9 Funding, Governance and Management 11 Section 4. Implementation 13
Introduction From May 2004 to June 2005, members of the Los Rios community engaged in a dialog about the future of distance education within the four-college district. Recognizing that distance education is at a transition point, the district Educational Technology Committee initiated the dialog to develop a preferred approach for the future. This Distance Education Strategic Plan presents the result of the dialog. Purpose The purpose of the plan is to provide a framework for the ongoing development of distance education at the four colleges and within the District. Scope and Approach The plan addresses all distance education modes: online, hybrid, and all forms of televised instruction offered at the colleges. Based on the approach of the district s overall strategic plan, the Distance Education Strategic Plan is intended to: Present broad directions for change that will be implemented through planning at the colleges, in district-wide forums and the district office. Base strategic directions on information collected in the environmental scan phase of the process. Create an efficient planning process that is integrated into existing curricular, management and accountability mechanisms. Ensure accountability by assigning responsibility for implementing the plan to appropriate committees, offices and individuals. Plan Overview The plan comprises four elements: Placeholder photos. Vision Guiding Principles What the distance education could look like within the Los Rios district if it were implemented to meet its full potential in a way aligned with our educational philosophy. The core assumptions and beliefs underlying the plan based on the values voiced during the districtwide dialog. The principles provide guidelines for the ongoing development of distance education programs and services. Page 1 DRAFT June 6, 2005
Strategic Directions Implementation The areas of focus for developing strategies to achieve the vision in light of the principles. The strategic directions outline outcomes and action steps to provide a path for implementation, using existing college and district planning processes whenever possible. The outcomes and actions are organized into four strategy areas: Course and Program Development Instructional Quality and Professional Development Student Success and Student Services Funding, Governance and Management The process for achieving agreement on plan goals and action steps, integrating the plan into the broader planning conversation, and taking the first action steps to achieve plan goals. The normal educational planning processes used at the colleges and in district-wide forums will continue the process initiated by this plan. While the plan proposes exploration of cross-college collaborations, the colleges and district-wide planning bodies will evaluate these proposals in light of college educational goals and student needs and preferences. Planning Process The planning process was sponsored by the Educational Technology Committee. The DE Working Group, a subgroup of the Edtech Committee representing the four colleges conducted outreach and research and met regularly to develop planning materials. A more broadly constituted Distance Education Planning Group developed the plan. The process included four phases: Los Rios Community College District Page 2
Initial College Outreach May 2004 Information Gathering June August 2004 College Conversations and Web Survey September 2004 February 2005 Plan Development March June 2005 A series of focus groups were held at each of the colleges. These events helped to identify the key issues of concern and the benefits the respective college communities saw in distance education. The working group compiled baseline data on the use of distance education modes at the colleges and collected information on distance education approaches used at other colleges and districts. The working group compiled a Strategic Options Report, which identified a series of strategic issues, sponsored open forums on each campus to comment on the report and developed a webbased survey on distance education. The planning group met five times to assess the four strategy areas and develop the plan content. Los Rios Community College District Page 3
Vision and Guiding Principles The vision describes the desired future of distance education at the colleges of the Los Rios district. The vision and principles reflect the shared values of the students, faculty, staff and administrators who participated in the planning process. Vision Distance education: 1. Provides enhanced access and opportunities for student success 2. Achieves high standards of quality 3. Works as an integrated component of college planning and life 4. Reflects a balance between coordination among the colleges and district office and unique approaches to programs, services, and support. Guiding Principles The vision is supported by guiding principles which embody the values and basic assumptions at the core of the plan. 1. Enhanced Access and Student Success a. Maximize Student Success. Distance education is student focused: it is planned and implemented to provide the approaches that are best for students. All distance offerings are pedagogically sound. All types of student diversity are addressed so that all students can participate in these modes if they choose. The colleges share a commitment to helping students bridge the digital divide. Distance education courses are held to the same standards regarding outcomes as are courses offered through traditional modalities. A full range of student support services and technical assistance is available to students. b. Support Emerging Skills and Abilities. The district and colleges will assist any student who chooses to use distance modes in developing key emerging skills and abilities. The increased value of these skills parallels the increasing use of electronic information and communication technologies in society in community affairs, political life, business and education. These skills and abilities include determining the accuracy of information, independently structuring one s own educational experience, and using hardware and software effectively. The district and colleges will assist students in cultivating these skills and abilities by providing a facilitative environment for distance education, including reliable infrastructure and timely access to support and training. c. Promote Adoption by Attraction. Participation in distance education is voluntary for students and faculty. Student educational goals and preferences together with educational master planning determine the level of adoption of distance education. 2. High Standards of Quality a. Achieve Common Standards of Quality. There are clear expectations and standards to ensure quality educational experiences. Standards are developed collaboratively as a threshold for quality programs and are not prescriptive regarding content or pedagogy but allow a wide variety of approaches. There is Los Rios Community College District Page 4
an institutional and senior management commitment to quality and an agreement by participating faculty to the agreed upon standards. b. Plan Holistically and Comprehensively. Planning for distance modes is holistic and comprehensive. As a foundation, instruction, curriculum and support services are planned together strategically to ensure that all essential elements are in place. In turn, this educational planning is closely linked with planning for network infrastructure, hardware, software, and technical training and assistance. This ensures that those faculty and students who choose to participate in distance modes can rely on systems and assistance being available on a timely basis and having the appropriate levels and types of student support services. 3. An Integrated Component of College Life and Planning a. Carry the Value of Campus Experience into Distance Education. There are curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular experiences, such as living in a diverse society, informal learning, and team participation, that the colleges and district value as elements of a complete education. Decisions on how to incorporate these experiential benefits will be made through college and district educational planning as appropriate to student goals. b. Support the Convergence of Distance and Campus Modes. Increasingly, the line between distance and in-person modes is blurring, as demonstrated by the number of classroom courses that use online tools. The use of distance modes also generates pedagogical innovations with relevance for in-person instruction. Students frequently combine in-person, hybrid and distance classes. These developments make distance modes one educational choice among many, providing a mainstream option that is part of normal student educational planning. College and district-wide planning will address this trend to support the benefits and address the resource implications of distance/in-person convergence. 4. A Balance of Coordination, Collaboration & Independent Approaches a. Integrate Distance Modes into College and District Planning: College and district-wide educational master planning provides the primary guidance for use of distance education. This connection ensures that distance education supports college and district goals. Planning and implementation of distance education uses existing processes, especially those that apply to all modes of education. b. Balance Coordination/Collaboration with Independence. The colleges identify opportunities for cross college resource sharing, program coordination, and other collaborations, while maintaining the ability to develop independent solutions to program or service needs. The key criterion is what s best for students. c. Seek Opportunities for Educational and Organizational Innovation. Use of educational technology spurs pedagogical innovation with relevance to inperson programs. Planning for and managing technology can also provide opportunities for organizational learning and innovation. d. Provide Resources to Distance Education Support Services. Distance education support services require resources, both those in place to support existing services and resources unique to the distance education modality. These resources encompass technical, staff, and virtual capital requirements. Such resources must be adequate, targeted, and sufficient to enable program planning on a long-term stable basis. Los Rios Community College District Page 5
Strategic Directions The colleges and district will move toward the vision for distance education by focusing on four areas. This section presents outcomes and action steps for each strategic direction, which will be implemented through existing operational and shared governance processes. The strategic directions are: Course and Program Development Instructional Quality and Professional Development Student Success and Support Services Funding, Governance and Management In the following sections, the action steps collectively address the desired outcomes. The desired outcomes are phrased in the present tense to enhance their potential impact as conditions to be achieved. All the action steps taken together are intended to achieve all the desired outcomes. Los Rios Community College District Page 6
Course and Program Development The action steps below are intended to support the DESP vision and guiding principles, and to address the following desired outcomes: College Responsibility: It is the colleges responsibility to make decisions regarding distance degrees or certificates, including whether to offer an inperson course option for every distance course. Appropriateness: College review processes will determine which distance degrees or certificates are appropriate based on content and pedagogy and provide appropriate means for student support. Distance programs have clearly defined needs and rationales. Faculty Leadership: Faculty are the leaders in addressing curriculum development and quality. Campus Life Connections: Distance courses and programs incorporate campus life experiences, where appropriate to student goals. Distance students receive information about on-campus activities. Learning from New Modes: New skills and abilities acquired by students taking distance education courses are valued and used to improve instructional processes regardless of the modality offered. Predictability: There is a predictable core of classes offered through distance education so students can plan their future semesters. Colleges commit to delivery of these core classes. Coordination and Collaboration: Colleges share resources to enhance quality, achieve cost savings, and examine opportunities for program coordination. Action Steps 1. Integrate distance education into college educational goals and master plans. Potential Lead Responsible Party: College Planning and Coordinating Councils: College educational master planning processes. 2. Conduct college and district wide inventories of existing and approved distance education courses. Evaluate gaps/redundancies, needs, and educational appropriateness. Make recommendations regarding potential strategic program directions for distance delivery such as 1) general education courses, 2) certificates, 3) programs, 4) courses with high demand, and 5) potential areas for coordinated program offerings. Potential Lead Responsible Party: Local and District Curriculum Coordinating Committees. 3. Conduct a district wide inventory of distance education related support services for faculty, including processes for implementing new or expanded use of distance education. Evaluate gaps/redundancies, needs, and appropriateness. Make recommendations regarding potential collaborative and resource sharing approaches. Potential Lead Responsible Party: Instructional Technology Coordinators, Professional Development functions, IT Committees 4. Develop standards for program implementation and evaluation. Standards will describe the minimum levels of support necessary for a successful student experience. Topics to be addressed include resource needs/costs, including Total Cost of Ownership; required support levels (technical support, student Los Rios Community College District Page 7
services access, instructional support); training, and scheduling to ensure availability of a predictable core of classes. The standards would include a description of roles and responsibilities at the college, district, and inter-college levels. Potential Lead Responsible Party: College curriculum committees, DCCC, IT committees, college planning committees, Instruction offices 5. Investigate partnerships with private, public or other entities regarding degree completion and articulation agreements, e.g., CalPass. Potential Lead Responsible Party: District articulation officer, college articulation officers Los Rios Community College District Page 8
Instructional Quality and Professional Development The action steps below are intended to support the DESP vision and guiding principles and to address the following desired outcomes: Quality Standards: There are common, agreed upon quality standards addressing instruction, student services, support, and technology reliability. There is widespread acceptance of the quality of distance offerings. The standards include quality guidelines for use of online tools to support in-person instruction. Parity of Learning Outcomes: Students demonstrate learning outcomes and retention and satisfaction rates comparable to that of in-person courses. Institutional Commitment: There is stable, routine institutionalized support. Technical infrastructure is in place to support courses. Instructional and student services programming meets quality standards. Professional Development Professional development for instructors, administrators and classified staff is readily available and occurs throughout the year. Training and development activity is an expected step in offering distance courses, and faculty, staff and administrators have attained a baseline level of competency regarding distance modes. There is adequate time and incentives to learn new methodologies. There is support for innovators. Professional development is scaled up when increases in distance offerings are anticipated. Technical Support Services: Faculty, administrators and classified staff receive appropriate technical support services consistent with the delivery of quality programs and services. Training in Distance Pedagogy: Professional development for faculty includes pedagogy and not just technology. Assessment and Best Practices: There is a research and development function linked to dissemination to conduct ongoing analysis of innovations, instructional resources, and pedagogy. There is ongoing assessment of methodology linked to student needs and preferences to assess effectiveness and appropriateness. The comparative efficacy of distance modalities is assessed. Action Steps 1. Facilitate an ongoing cross-college dialog on innovations in professional development. This process would continually monitor and disseminate innovations that facilitate, maintain and enhance quality. Potential Lead Responsible Party: Professional Development and Instructional Technology Coordinators 2. Promote collaboration between all stakeholders within each college- e.g., staff development, IT, Curriculum, budget, academic senate, student services - to encourage cross-functional perspectives in professional development. Potential Lead Responsible Party: College leadership 3. Develop incentives to support professional development and instructional quality. Potential Lead Responsible Party: Unions, Senates, and college instructional and classified leadership Los Rios Community College District Page 9
4. Formatively assess needs for professional development to deliver high quality student support services and technical support services in the delivery of distance education. Ensure quality in key areas: Student Support Services Admissions and Records Financial Aid EOPS DSPS Help Desk Tutoring Assessment Orientation Early Alert Testing Library/Learning Resources Counseling On-Campus Labs Technical Support Services Web Masters Help Desk Instructional Developers Network Support Server Support Workstation Support Software Applications/Tools Potential Lead Responsible Party: Professional Development working with IT and Student Support Services Los Rios Community College District Page 10
Student Success and Support Services The action steps below are intended to support the DESP vision and guiding principles, and to address the following desired outcomes: Student Success: Students demonstrate learning outcomes and retention and satisfaction rates are at the same level as in-person courses. All facets of support services are provided for distance students, e.g., academic support, all matriculation services, technology support, and library services. Orientations are extensive. All forms of diversity are addressed to ensure equivalent outcomes for all students. Student services offered through distance modes are user friendly, intuitive, and easy to navigate. The colleges use coordinated and collaborative approaches for student services when appropriate. Distance students have access to campus success programs e.g. transfer center, job link. Readiness Programs. There are reliable methods for assessing readiness for distance education options and results are used to direct students to support resources to become prepared. Students have realistic expectations of what it s like to take classes through distance education. Steps are taken to ensure that all students can succeed. Student Goal Setting and Plan Management. Distance education students have access to counseling to clarify career direction and academic goals. Relevant and personalized information is presented to distance education students in a timely manner to manage their education. Expanded Support. There is expanded access to district technical support services for students, providing benefits to in-person students as well. Capacity to Support Increased On-Campus Use of Distance Modes. There are facilities and support services for students using college facilities to conduct distance course work. Inter-college processes are explored to ensure balancing of resources for students using labs at one college for a course at a second college. Campus Life Connections: Distance courses and programs incorporate campus life experiences where appropriate to student goals. Distance students receive information about on-campus activities and are connected to the college experience. There is a sense of community among distance education students and between distance and on-campus students. Universal Student Services: There is one common process for distance and in-person students to access student services (matriculation, grades, petition, graduation, substitution, waivers, etc.) This process can be accessed electronically or on-campus. Action Steps 1. Conduct district and college inventories of available distance student service resources and existing best practices both internal and external. Make recommendations regarding potential collaborative and resource sharing approaches. Potential Lead Responsible Party: College and district matriculation committees, Los Rios Counselor Association Los Rios Community College District Page 11
2. Investigate a coordinated and a collaborative approach to matriculation services in the district. Explore consistent in-person and distance education intake and services. Potential Lead Responsible Party: District Matriculation Committee 3. Develop/identify best practices in distance education regarding student readiness and support. Potential Lead Responsible Party: VPs responsible for student services and academic support 4. Explore a coordinated and collaborative approach to academic and technical support services with participation from Tutorial Coordinators, online Instructional Assistants and tutorial assistants. Ensure that all unique populations are served. Consider examples from outside LRCCD. Develop recommendations for implementation. Potential Lead Responsible Party: District Educational Technology Committee and college leadership 5. Develop an overall plan to implement the result of Action Steps 1 4, including training and outreach. Include people who will implement the solutions early in the research and design phase. Potential Lead Responsible Party: College Leadership and Vice Chancellors for Educational Services and Student Services 6. Conduct ongoing assessments of student success for distance students using existing student achievement standards. Potential Lead Responsible Party: Research offices. Los Rios Community College District Page 12
Funding, Governance and Management The action steps below are intended to support the DESP vision and guiding principles and to address the following desired outcomes: Support Wide Access. Go Big. Assume high rates of use of Blackboard and other distance modes and plan ahead accordingly. Los Rios has used this approach with email where a new approach was promoted for wide use. This would simplify the problem of estimating need by allowing overall estimations of high rates of use. Promote coordination and sharing of resources. Find ways to coordinate resources that will promote greater consistency in programs and resource savings. Find solutions that are multi-benefit, supporting both distance education and in-person students. Balance coordination with efficiency and autonomy. Ensure effective planning, measurement and funding. There is effective planning and resource management to anticipate and quantify needs: Major resource decisions are informed by identified best practices and assessments of student and faculty satisfaction and readiness. For example, moving to streaming video should include an assessment of whether it is a best practice and whether this is what students want. These best practices and user preferences are communicated to the faculty and curriculum planning committees. There is improved two-way communication about technical resources between the colleges and district office IT. This enables a measurement of planned activity and feedback regarding the timing of implementation of new capacity. This process allows setting of accurate perceptions about technology needs and implementation. Decision makers at district level and colleges are included. There is an agreed upon process for prioritizing the use of distance education capacity between major uses, for example, fully online instruction, support of in-person instruction, hybrid courses, organizational communication, etc. Budgeting reflects the total cost of ownership. Incentives are developed for adoption, innovation, and development Planning for in-person and distance use of technology is integrated. There is flexibility to adjustments in funding; ability to adjust midstream. Use DE to support college goals. Use distances education as a way to support individual college (and district) mission and goals and as an opportunity to expand access. Ensure equity of access across colleges and users. Develop relative cost/benefit information. Assess cost-benefit across distance education modes. Clarify roles and responsibility. There is sustained attention and tracking of distance education by clearly defined organizations and processes. Roles and responsibilities are clear between the colleges, district office, and inter-college Los Rios Community College District Page 13
processes. In general, colleges are responsible for content, and the district is a resource. Improve district shared governance structure for technology: Integrate conversations about technology, instruction, and student services. (We currently have three committees addressing technology: Educational Technology Committee, Administrative Technology Committee, Student Services Task Group.) Ensure high-level management support for DE. While the plan envisions adoption by attraction for students and faculty, it is more effective if senior management share a common level of support for DE. Consistent management support is what will facilitate adoption by attraction and without it there will be gaps and problems. Action Steps 1. Develop a process to communicate capacity to colleges and anticipated growth to DO. The principle guiding this process is to align infrastructure planning to educational planning and student needs and preferences. Potential Responsible Parties: VPIs, VPSSs, VPAs, Vice Chancellors for Educational Services and Student Services, AVC for Technology Convene instructional managers, service managers, DO IT and Blackboard coordinators 1-2 times per year to discuss planned initiatives and infrastructure implementation progress. College IT committees, division deans, and department chairs to provide advance information to DO IT of planned courses and sections (both distance ed and hybrid). Start with a pilot test of this communication process. Provide information on the question: What are faculty goals and intentions regarding distance programs and services? Establish a new data collection process for hybrid courses Use a robust baseline assumption for unplanned use of Blackboard for hybrid courses. 2. Develop budget models for DE classes, training, and support. Define what conditions are needed to make a DE course financially viable. This needs to be updated frequently. Include cost savings e.g., no facilities needed, and provide fair comparisons to in-person budget model and performance criteria. Potential Lead Responsible Party: : VPIs, VPSSs, VPAs,, AVC for Technology, IT Committees, District Budget Committee 3. Assess opportunities for resource sharing across the colleges, for example, Blackboard infrastructure support, class scheduling, student services (e.g. Help Desk), and training. Potential Lead Responsible Party: VPIs, VPSSs, VPAs,, AVC for Technology, IT Committees Los Rios Community College District Page 14
Implementation Approval Steps The DESP Planning Group identified the following steps at the last meeting on June 9, 2005. The general concept is that the: 1. DESP Planning Group reviews draft plan and provides suggestions and general feedback. 2. Named Lead Responsible Parties and Convening Group reviews draft plan and provides suggestions and general feedback. 3. Ed Tech committee reviews and transmits draft report and feedback to Strategic Planning Coordinating Committee (Chancellor s Cabinet) for use as a source document in update of District Strategic Plan. 4. District-wide strategic planning uses draft DESP as a source document. There is the potential for the DESP to be a foundation, in that it addressed many central issues of independence vs. collaboration/coordination in educational planning. 5. Lead Responsible Parties begin interim information gathering and planning steps that are necessary background for the action steps. For example, conducting inventories of approved DE curriculum, DE support services, etc. 6. Draft DESP is modified to be consistent with Los Rios Strategic Plan. (Or DESP may be integrated into the Los Rios Strategic Plan.) 7. Final adoption or acceptance of DESP. Los Rios Community College District Page 15