Supporting Faculty to Engage Graduate Students in Distance Education

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Supporting Faculty to Engage Graduate Students in
Distance Education
A member of The Texas State University System
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Distance Education at Texas StateDebbie M.
Thorne, Ph.D.Associate Vice President for
Academic Affairs

• Strategic planning and shared values
• Programs and resources
• Best practices and quality assurance

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Strategic Planning and Shared Values

• Without a better-defined product online
  learning faces a risk of petering out and being
  little more than a back-up alternative to
  on-campus education for (adult) students.
• Recognition of shared values and core
  competencies
• Integration of online learning into new
  strategic plan (2102-2017) and five goals
• Read-across committee to reflect institutional
  direction and needs

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Programs and Resources

• Prioritization from institutional leadership to
  choose programs having the most impact
• Involvement of institutional research and
  enrollment management in program planning
• Support resources dedicated to the selected
  programs and to pedagogy that reflects uniqueness
  of the program
• Incentive structure and electronic course fees
• Online teaching award

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Best Practices and Quality Assurance

• Sloan-C Quality Scorecard for the Administration
  of Online Programs institutional
  self-assessment 70 indicators in 9 categories
• Quality Matters course development rubric and
  peer-to-peer review of courses
• Principles of Good Practice faculty assessment
  after course is taught

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The Graduate Student

• Joann (Jo) Kroll, Ed.D.

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Why Graduate Education?

• The global competitiveness of the United States
  and capacity for innovation hinges fundamentally
  on a strong system of graduate education

SOURCE Wendler, C., Bridgeman, B., Cline, F.,
Millett, C., Rock, J., Bell, N., and McAllister,
P. (2010). The path forward The future of
graduate education in the United States.
Princeton, NJ Educational Testing Service.
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Graduate Students

• What They Look Like
• Where They Come From
• Why They Are/Are not Coming
• What They Expect Before They Arrive
• The Pathway to the Graduate Degree
• The Future of the Graduate Student

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What They Look Like
Figure 1 Actual and projected postbaccalaureate
enrollment in degree-granting postsecondary
institutions, by sex Fall 1976-2021.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics, Higher Education
General Information Survey (HEGIS), "Fall
Enrollment in Colleges and Universities" surveys,
1970 through 1985 Integrated Postsecondary
Education Data System (IPEDS), "Fall Enrollment
Survey" (IPEDS-EF90-99) IPEDS Spring 2001
through Spring 2011, Enrollment component and
Enrollment in Degree-Granting Institutions Model,
19802010.
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What They Look Like
Figure 2 Percentage distribution for
postbaccalaureate enrollment of U.S. residents in
degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by
race/ethnicity Selected years, fall 1980-2010.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics, Higher Education
General Information Survey (HEGIS), "Fall
Enrollment in Colleges and Universities" surveys,
1970 through 1985 Integrated Postsecondary
Education Data System (IPEDS), "Fall Enrollment
Survey" (IPEDS-EF90-99) IPEDS Spring 2001
through Spring 2011, Enrollment component and
Enrollment in Degree-Granting Institutions Model,
19802010.
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Where They Come From

• Graduation (Bachelors)
• International migration
• Nontraditional

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Graduation (Bachelors)

• Bachelors Degrees Conferred 2011 (Nationally)
• 1.7 Million
• Bachelors Degrees Conferred 2011 (Texas)
• 104,817 (Goal 112,500 in 2015)

SOURCE U.S. Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics. (2012). The
Condition of Education 2012 (NCES 2012-045),
Table A-47-2., Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board. Closing the Gaps Progress
Report 2012.
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International Migration
Figure 3 Number of international students
enrolled in U.S. postsecondary institutions, by
academic level Academic years 1969-70 through
2007-08
SOURCE Open Doors Report on International
Educational Exchange. New York Institute of
International Education, selected years, 196970
through 200708.
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Growth of Hispanic Population in Texas
SOURCE Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board. Closing the Gaps Progress Report 2012.
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Nontraditional

• Normally
• 24 55 years of age
• Married (or single parent)
• Working fulltime
• Financially independent from parents
• Delayed enrollment

SOURCE U.S. Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics, 2012.
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Why They Are/Are not Coming

• Workforce Needs
• Workforce Changes
• International Changes
• Availability of Tenure Track Positions

Between 2008 and 2018 it is expected that many
jobs about 2.5 million will require an
advanced degree.
SOURCE Wendler, C., Bridgeman, B., Cline, F.,
Millett, C., Rock, J., Bell, N., and McAllister,
P. (2010). The path forward The future of
graduate education in the United States.
Princeton, NJ Educational Testing Service.
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What They Expect

• Specific Course of Study
• Shorter Time to Completion
• Financial Aid/Scholarships
• Career Expectations

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Course of Study
Of the 1.7 million bachelors degrees awarded in
2009-10, over half were concentrated in five
fields business, management, marketing, and
personal and culinary services (22).
SOURCE U.S. Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics, Integrated
Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall
2000 and Fall 2010, Completions component.
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Course of Study

• Overall, 693,000 master's degrees and 159,000
  doctor's degrees were awarded in 200910 these
  numbers represent increases of 50 and 34 percent,
  respectively, over the numbers awarded in
  19992000. In 200910, females earned 60 percent
  of master's degrees and 52 percent of doctor's
  degrees awarded.
• Of the 693,000 masters degrees awarded in
  2009-10, over 50 were concentrated in two
  fields education and business (26 each).

SOURCE U.S. Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics, Integrated
Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall
2000 and Fall 2010, Completions component.
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Course of Study

• Percentage of master's degrees awarded to females
  by degree-granting institutions in selected
  fields of study Academic year 2009-10.
• Health Professions and Related Fields (81)
• Library Science (81)
• Psychology (80)
• Education (77)
• Public Administration and Social Services (75)

SOURCE U.S. Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics, Integrated
Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall
2010, Completions component.
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What They Expect

• Shorter Time to Completion
• Financial Aid/Scholarships
• Career Expectations

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The Pathway to the Graduate Degree

• Traditional Education
• Distance/Online Education

• For the past eight years online enrollments have
  been growing substantially faster than overall
  higher education enrollments.
• Over 6.1 million students were taking at least
  one online course during the fall 2010 term an
  increase of 560,000 students over the number
  reported the previous year.
• In 2011, the ten percent growth rate for online
  enrollments far exceeds the less than one percent
  growth of the overall higher education student
  population.
• Thirty-one percent of all higher education
  students now take at least one course online.

SOURCE Allen, E.I. Seaman, J. (Nov, 2011).
Going the distance Online education in the
United States, 2011. Babson Survey Research
Group. Babson College. Babson Park, MA.
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The Future of the Graduate Student

• Vulnerabilities
• Recommendations

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Instructional Technologies Support

• Elizabeth (Liz) Strand, Ph.D.
• Supervisor, Instructional Design

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ITS Distance Education Support

• Online Course Development
• Programs (e.g., Graduate certificates or degrees)
• Single Courses (Graduate and Undergraduate
  courses)
• Workshops
• TRACS (LMS)
• Resource Grants

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Online Programs

• Business Background Courses
• Secondary Teacher Certification
• Developmental Education Certification
• Masters in Social Work
• Master of Education with a Major in Middle School
  Mathematics Teaching
• Masters in Occupational, Workforce, and
  Leadership Studies

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Programmatic Online Course Development Timeline
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Single Course Support
Guidance for Online Learning Design
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Planning Matrix
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Online Courses
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Learning Modules TOC SOWK
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Learning Module Activities SOWK
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Video Vignettes SOWK
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Learning Modules TOC Math
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Learning Modules Activities Math
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Mini Lectures
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Forums
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Assessments
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ITS Workshops
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Pedagogy and Technology

• 90-minute workshops
• Building Online Community
• Survival Skills for Online Teaching
• Online Management and Communication
• Collaborating Online
• Facilitating Discussion Forums
• 1 to 2-week workshops
• Technology Integration
• Creating and Teaching an Online Course

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TRACS
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Resource Grants
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Tutorial Object-Oriented Programming
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Thank you for your time. Are there any questions
or comments? Debbie dm29_at_txstate.eduJo
j_k98_at_txstate.eduLiz es22_at_txstate.edu