MCCVLC – Providing Educational Access, Anytime, Anywhere

Today’s Agenda

• The Michigan Community College Virtual Learning Collaborative (MCCVLC)

• What is it all about?• The MCCVLC website (Staff & Student)• Why Students Drop out• Best Practices in online• Cool Tool or two

MCCVLC - What it’s about

A project which allows students from anywhere in Michigan to take any one of the over 1800 courses from the on-

line catalog; courses which may be offered by one of the 25 “Provider”

community colleges…

with the support of their “Home” college.

MCCA Statewide Services

• MCCA Statewide Community College Services Task Force formed in July 1995

• Task Force Report delivered March 1996– 50% Area of State and 20% of Population

underserved– Access – Hallmark of community colleges

• Financial accessibility• Academic accessibility• Geographic accessibility

As identified by the MCCA Board - Trustees &

Presidents

• Focus on the learner and services required for success in a virtual environment

• Will NOT become the 29th community college in Michigan

• MCCVLC organization will remain small• Maximize choices for learners

MCCVLC Mission Statement

“To connect the teaching and student support capacity of participating Michigan community colleges so that learners and clients can access affordable, high-quality learning opportunities whenever and wherever desired.”

MCCVLC Governance

• MCCA Board of Directors establishes policy• Memorandum of Understanding

– Articulation agreement– Financial Aid consortium agreement– Common tuition / revenue sharing

• FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)

• Accrediting agency (North Central Association)• MCCVLC Advisory Council – Staff of member

institutions advise on operational issues.

Formal Agreements

• Good Practices in Contractual Arrangements Involving Courses and Programs – HLC

• MCCVLC Memorandum of Understanding• MCCVLC Program Agreement form• MCCVLC Online Course Development

Guidelines and Rubric

“Provider college / Home

College”

• Instruction from provider college

• Students enrolling in virtual coursesmaintain strong associationwith the home college– Student support services– Maintain permanent transcript– Library resources– Test proctoring– Financial Aid

TheModel

MCCVLC – Why It Works

• Involvement of all 28 member colleges• Communication & collaboration among

presidents and trustees• Excellent Staff Task Force

– All colleges represented– Diversity of membership

• Good business plan• Leadership

MCCVLC Student Website

• http://vcampus.mccvlc.org• Course Catalog• Help Center

– Time Management– Technology Requirements

• FAQs• Enroll in Courses

MCCVLC Staff Website

• http://www.mccvlc.org/~staff/

• About MCCVLC• Curriculum Development• Professional Development• Administrative Menu

Where we’ve been…

• Great student demand exists for online programming

• Online courses are pedagogically sound

• Current technology tools ensure quality programming

• Many capable faculty teaching online• Collaborative approach is workable

Where we’re going…

• Integrate online programming into long-term curriculum plans

• Open membership to 4-year institutions for Baccalaureate completion programs

• Open Entry/Open Exit and Flex Start courses

• Just-in-time modularized training

WHY STUDENTS DROP

What we can do to keep them in class.

Why Students Stay. . .

Personal variables – demographics, academic skills, motivation, commitment, locus of control (Rotter 1966, Parker 1999, Kember 1995)

Institutional variables – academic, bureaucratic and institutional social variables (Willis 1994, Alexander, McKenzie, and Geissinger 1998)

Circumstantial – socio-economic, academic interactions, social interactions and life situation.

Students do not feel connected with the course, instructor or fellow classmates (Braxton, et. Al., 1997)

Faculty are not responsive to student needs (Herbert, 1994)

“Affiliation is the key to the development of a learning community” (Palloff & Pratt, 2001)

Why Students Drop. . .

Why Students Drop. . .

Time constraints, lack of motivation, technical difficulties, inadequate student support services, poorly designed courses have been identified as reasons why adult learners drop out. (Frankola, 2001)

Why Students Drop. . .

Students indicate that poor course design, not understanding new medium, lack of consideration of learning styles and no support systems are reasons why they drop out (Frontline Group 2001)

Why Students Drop. . .

Inexperienced instructors have been identified as a reason why adult learners drop out. (Frankola, 2001)

Feeling of isolation – from other students and the instructor (Link & Scholtz, 2000)

Actions to Impact Retention

Effective Orientation/Introduction Student Readiness testTechnology testTechnology Training ManualBefore you start letter

Early Alert ProgramGood course design that addresses

multiple learning stylesAccessible support services.

Actions to Impact Retention

Faculty InvolvementSupport servicesAppropriate response time Helpful toneBeing present in the course Communicate, Communicate and then

communicate some more

Communicate & Connect

Before the courseWelcome letter

During the courseLearning communities - wikisGroup workChat – synchronous office hours

A variety of methodsVideoSocial networking tools

Best Practices

MCCVLC Online Course Guidelines & Rubric

MCCVLC Online Course Guidelines & Rubric

• Research-based• Utilize guidelines in a variety of ways• Self-assessment tool by faculty when developing

or updating courses for offering online • Administrative review of courses prior to offering

• Tool for peer-to-peer review of courses within an

institution • MCCVLC Quality Course Assurance Project -

 inter-institutional peer-to-peer review

Guidelines

• Course Outcomes• Clearly stated• Observable, measurable, achievable

• Course Construction• Content, Practice & Assessment consistent• Sound navigation

• Course Interaction• Requirements clearly stated• All formats

Guidelines

• Course Assessment• Timely• Appropriate to activities and outcomes

• Course Technologies• Appropriate with outcomes

• Course Resources• Accessible• ADA

Guidelines

• Course Maintenance• Learning Design regularly evaluated

• Course Development & Support• Faculty have access to appropriate

training• Faculty have access to technical

support

Cool Tools

Repositories

National Repository of Online Courses – http://www.montereyinstitute.org/nroc/

Academic Earth - http://www.academicearth.org/

MERLOT - http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm

Connexions - http://cnx.org/

Wisc-Online – http://www.wisc-online.com/

Other cool tools

Meeting Wizard - http://meetingwizard.com/

Remember the Milk - http://www.rememberthemilk.com/

Mind Maps – Mindomo

Example: Barry’s Mind Map

http://mindomo.com/index.htm

ZamZar – converts files

http://zamzar.com/

Textblaster - http://txtblaster.com/

Ronda EdwardsExecutive Director – MCCVLC

redwards@mccvlc.orgwww.vcampus.mccvlc.org

MCCVLC – Providing Educational Access, Anytime, Anywhere