DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS:

BEST PRACTICES FOR RURAL COMMUNITY COLLEGES

PRESENTERS

Yasminda Choate

Assistant Professor of English

405-382-9289

Y.choate@sscok.edu

Kendall Rogers

Assistant Professor of Psychology/ Coordinator of Student Success

405-382-9691

K.rogers@sscok.edu

SEMINOLE STATE COLLEGE

Seminole State College, established in 1931 as Seminole Junior College, is located in the central portion of the state in Seminole, Oklahoma, population approximately 7,500.

THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENT

TYPICAL CC STUDENT

25 and older (43%)

Employed

Parents with Children at Home

Low Income

Minority

SSC STUDENT

25 and older (33%)

Employed

Parents with Children at Home

Low Income (93% receiving financial aid)

Minority (35%)

SSC DISTANCE EDUCATION STUDENT

Full-time Students

1,046

Enrolled in online courses only

38

Part-time Students

807

Enrolled in online courses only

161

106 Students enrolled in online classes live in SSC Housing

DISTANCE EDUCATION

DISTANCE EDUCATION PROBLEMS

• Academic rigor

• Academic dishonesty

• Lower rate of student success

• Increase in attrition

• Increase in cost

• Faculty confidence

• Technology

DETAILS THAT PROMPTED A HARD LOOK AT BEST PRACTICES FOR SSC

A Review of Other Colleges Yielded:

Short Online Courses

High Enrollment from Out-of-State Students

High Net Profits

Probation for another college

SHOULD WE PANIC?!

SOME COLLEGES IMMEDIATELY RECONSIDERED THEIR DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSE OFFERINGS.

DON’T PANIC. PLAN!

THE BENEFITS AND DETRIMENTS OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

A BETTER PLAN:BEST PRACTICES FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION IN THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Members of the Distance Education Committee should include faculty from every department, administrators, staff including IT specialists, and staff from Student Success Services.

STEP 1: FORM A COMMITTEE

The Committee must align the goals and activities of the Distance Education Committee with the Institution’s Strategic Plan.

STEP 2: STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT

STEP 3: OBTAIN CAMPUS BUY-IN

ADMINISTRATION

Create Policies and Procedures Manual that corresponds with existing campus documents.

FACULTY

Devise system to ensure academic rigor and quality assurance.

Provide professional development for faculty.

STEP 4: CONTROL FOR STUDENT SUCCESS

Minimize attrition due to foreseeable problems.

Create assessment for student ability to complete online course.

Counsel students before they enroll in online course.

Publish requirements and rigor of online courses.

STEP 5: SUPPORT STUDENT SUCCESS

Minimize attrition due to foreseeable problems.

Provide training modules to train students to use online course platform.

Increase student counseling/tutoring opportunities to provide aid to online students.

http://www.sscok.edu/distanceeducation/

STEP 6: MONITOR FOR QUALITY

Request student feedback surveys for every online course every semester.

Review student success rates for every online course every semester. Compare online data with data from same courses in other formats.

Continue on-going faculty professional development and assessment of teaching methods.

QUALITY MATTERS

Quality Matters is....

A set of standards (rubric) for the design of online and blended courses

A peer review process (faculty to faculty) for reviewing and improving online and hybrid courses

A faculty support tool used by instructional development staff

A professional development opportunity

https://www.qualitymatters.org/

ON-GOING CONSIDERATIONS

• Growing Pains with the Distance Education Test Proctoring Center

• Proctoring Center Staffing• Communicating with Students• Communicating and Organizing Faculty

• Growing Pains with Quality Matters• Perceived Loss of Academic Freedom for

Instructors

References

Allen, Silas. (2013, April 18). Western Oklahoma State College on probation after review of online

courses. News OK. [Web]. Retrieved from http://newsok.com/western-oklahoma-state-college-

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Aragon, S. and Johnson, E. (2008). Factors influencing completion and noncompletion of community

college online courses. American Journal of Distance Education, 22.3, 146-158. Doi:

10.1080/08923640802239962

Fox, Armando. (2013). Viewpoint: From MOOCs to SPOCs. Communications of the ACM, 56.12, 38-40.

Doi:10.1145/2535918

Harrell, I. and Bower, B. (2011). Student characteristics that predict persistence in community college

online courses. American Journal of Distance Education, 25.3, 178-191. Doi:

10.1080/08923647.2011.590107

Mytelka, Andrew. (2013, April 19). Western Oklahoma State College is put on Probation over Quick-

Credit Courses. Chronicle of Higher Education. [Web]. Retrieved from

http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/western-oklahoma-state-college-is-put-on-probation-over-

quick-credit-courses/58887

National Center for Education Statistics. (2008, August 20). Community Colleges: Special Supplement to

The 2008 Condition of Education. [Web]. Retrieved from

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/analysis/2008-index.asp

Tirrell, T. and Quick, D. (2012). Chickering’s seven principles of good practice: Student attrition in

community college online courses. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 36.8,

580-590. Doi: 10.1080/10668920903054907

Tutty, J. and Ratliff, J. (2012). Techniques for improving online community college completion rates:

Narrow the path? Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 36, 916-920. Doi:

10.1080/10668926.2012.692300