Wednesday March 14th | 4:15 - 5:15PM
Online Alumni Giving
Level: Foundational || Location: GB 7-8
Are alumni of online degree programs an untapped resource for colleges and universities in terms of donor participation and charitable giving, or do those alumni forget about their institutions the minute they turn off their computers? Learn about work being done in this area, related challenges and opportunities, and preliminary findings from a study exploring alumni giving patterns across institutions of higher education. Attendees will participate in a discussion with presenters on ways to increase institutional awareness of the importance of alumni of online programs to colleges and universities.
Thursday March 15th | 8:00 - 9:00AM
System Models of Collaborative Distance Programs
Level: Strategic || Location: GB 7-8
Some university systems are moving to a collaborative approach to distance education in which multiple campuses contribute courses and administrative support to shared online programs. Systems structure their collaborative efforts in various ways, but typically share similar goals for doing so, such as cost-efficiency, increased accessibility or reducing program duplication. Revenue share models and administrative structures also reflect the cultures and goals of the campuses making up the university system. These collaborative efforts provide numerous benefits to students, participating campuses and the university system, but are not without challenges. In this interactive presentation, panelists will provide brief descriptions of the collaborative approaches taken by their university systems. They will address reasons for a collaborative approach, administrative structure, financial model and key challenges. The audience will be invited to engage with panelists in discussion about their collaborative efforts.
Thursday March 15th | 9:30 - 10:30AM
A Case Study for Insourcing Online Program Development and Support
Level: Strategic || Location: GB 7-8
There are several qualified providers occupying the space for turnkey online program development and support, and large volume programs that drive enrollments for a college or university are easy wins for this type of arrangement. But what about niche programs? Does your school have smaller enrollment degrees or certificates that you’d like to put online and wondering where to start? Are you looking for a solution that positions your unit to produce revenue and drive new enrollments? Come learn about our model that works collaboratively with schools and colleges across the university to make degrees from Syracuse University accessible to those who would not otherwise be able to attend. We’ll address topics like: administration, budget/funding, facilities, faculty/staff, ideation, and marketing/recruitment. Do you have a model that works at your institution? If so, come share your experience!
Moderator: Sarah Dysart, Loyola University of Chicago
Thursday March 15th | 1:45 - 2:45PM
Online Administration Network Deep Dive: Online Faculty Development
Level: Applied || Location: Essex
Moderator: Judee Richardson, University of Wisconsin-Extension
Flipping Our Feedback To Faculty: Leading Change and Promoting Camaraderie With Metrics in Competency-Based Education
Fueled by a desire to promote collegiality and positive reinforcements, the University of Wisconsin-Extension and University of Wisconsin Milwaukee joined together to develop a data-informed faculty improvement model. Rooted in a common desire to support student success, the model is designed to correct common faculty challenges that were inadvertent barriers to students in the UW Flexible Option competency-based education program. This idea and model came about for two main reasons: a strong preference for reinforcing desired versus correcting undesirable practices, and a commitment to designing a sustainable, continuous faculty improvement model for UW Flex. We will share our strategies, hiccups, and data during this interactive session.
- Judee Richardson, University of Wisconsin-Extension
Soaring To New Heights: Online and Hybrid Course Design Faculty Development
The Soaring with Online Learning Faculty Development program at Salisbury University has been assisting faculty in developing online and hybrid courses since 2005. This presentation will explore the design of the faculty development program, the topics covered during the program, the application process and incentives for faculty, practical strategies applied for developing hybrid and online courses and ongoing efforts to keep faculty current with various strategies.
- Melissa Thomas, Salisbury University
Structures and Strategies for an Innovative Culture
Finding the right model for supporting and administering online programs takes time and experimentation. As Anderson University experienced tremendous growth in its online and blended programming during the last several years, the move from a decentralized model to a hybridized model has been led by the internal team who support the design, development, and delivery of online and blended programming across the institution. Through engaging and creative faculty development programming and incentives over the last six years, the Center for Innovation and Digital Learning has built momentum for a more innovative, entrepreneurial culture. Building in that culture and a realignment of the Center's resources, we've implemented course and program coordinators across online and hybrid courses and programs in a step toward a more hybridized administration model. This session will discuss strategies for building innovative, relevant educational experiences, creating structures to sustain them, and aligning funding to support it all.
- Josh Herron, Anderson University
- Benjamin Deaton, Anderson University
Taming the C.O.L.T.: Getting Your Administrators To Improve Online Education
This open discussion will start with a brief presentation of C.O.L.T. (Coordinators of Online Learning and Teaching), a group of administrators and lead faculty responsible for managing online programs within their departments. The broad aim of the group is to improve online education by sharing best management practices and opening lines of communication between departments. The group discusses and resolves administrative issues that are common to all, as well as unique for different types of programs. This support network for online coordinators advises each other with the aim of continuous improvement for the whole community. Topics that may be discussed include: infrastructure, implementing systems, developing community to support and enrich online education, among others. It is believed that the C.O.L.T. model is both low cost and replicable for other colleges to build an online administrator professional community with knowledge and skills need to improve online education.
- Brian Redmond, Penn State University
The Evolution of a Comprehensive Online Faculty Development and Enagement Program
Many online programs have a basic certification requirement for their online faculty. Is this enough? Does it truly meet the professional development needs of your online faculty? Learn about how Gwynedd Mercy University is taking a strategic approach to building a comprehensive faculty development program that supports and engages online faculty from initial hire and beyond. Our program of robust faculty support has led to increased student satisfaction and retention with minimal investment of resources. Share your experiences and gain new insights to support your faculty and by extension, your students' success.
- Mary Sortino, Gwynedd Mercy University
- Jill Winnington, Gwynedd Mercy University
Thursday March 15th | 4:30 - 5:30PM
Paths To Centralizing Support Services for Online Education: The Case of Rutgers
Level: Strategic || Location: Laurel AB
Having offered online education since 1996, Rutgers is taking some important steps towards centralizing support services for online teachers and learners university-wide. But the path from the early online experiments to a more structured and centrally controlled framework has been neither linear nor easy. In fact, several different developments have been converging to bring us to this place, much like pieces of a large mosaic coming together. These include, among others, the strategic development of fully online degree programs ("Rutgers Online"); the realignment of several instructional technology staff units under a newly formed entity within the Division of Continuing Studies ("Teaching and Learning with Technology"); the consolidation of technology licenses across the university; the search for a single Learning Management System; accessibility initiatives across all online courses and university websites; and increasing use of quality benchmarks in online education, including Quality Matters standards and the UPCEA Hallmarks of Excellence in Online Leadership.
Moderator: Donna San Miguel, California State University, San Marcos
Higher Ed Technology Trends Impacting Teaching and Learning
Level: Applied || Tag: Emerging Leaders || Location: GB 7-8
From cloud-based resources and wearable technologies to augmented and virtual reality and driverless vehicles, a steady stream of technological advances will continue to impact learning in unexpected ways. We will discuss the latest technology trends in higher education and how they will impact the online and traditional classrooms while exploring student-centered learning and heutagogical practices. The concept of heutagogy expands our current thinking of pedagogy and andragogy to look at self-determined learning. Emerging technologies support heutagogy by making learning more pervasive and ubiquitous, giving learners more opportunities to determine what, where, when and with whom learning takes place. Connecting information from a variety of fields and individuals is necessary to add depth and breadth to the self-determined learner's knowledge base. As educators, we can create the curiosity to find and explore connections between many sources while using emerging technologies that can lead learners to new knowledge and enhanced learning. As the need to justify technology expenditures grows, the presenters will share results of a case study of learning at scale at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and how multimedia learning was used to improve learning performance.
Friday March 16th | 9:45 - 10:45AM
From None To Known: A Five-Year Journey Launching Online Education
Level: Applied || Location: Laurel CD
About five years ago, Ohio State created the Office of Distance Education and eLearning to coordinate and advance the institution's online efforts. Starting a centralized unit in a decentralized institution required effective strategies and relationships to achieve the highest priority needs across building infrastructure, programming, compliance, and marketing, all the while building and achieving buy-in among university colleagues. This panel discussion and open conversation reflects on the journey, the successes and ah-ha moments, that attendees can use to reflect on their own institutional set-up and best practices.