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1
Oakleys Thoughts about Quality Online Teaching
and Learning
Burks Oakley II Associate Vice President for
Academic Affairs Director, University of Illinois
Online Professor University of Illinois 24 March
2006
2
Pew Internet American Life

• The Pew Internet American Life Project (PIP)
  produces reports that explore the impact of the
  Internet on families, communities, work and home,
  daily life, education, health care, and civic and
  political life.

http//www.pewinternet.org/
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Interesting data from the PIP

• Two-thirds of the American public go online
  regularly
• 81 of the 18-29 age group go online daily
• 88 of people with a college degree go online
  regularly
• 84 of Internet users look for maps and driving
  directions online
• 78 of Internet users research a product or
  service online before buying

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A typical day in early 2006

• Based on the PIP, more than 70 million American
  adults logged onto the Internet to
• use e-mail
• get news
• access government information
• check out health and medical information
• participate in auctions
• book travel reservations
• gamble
• seek out romantic partners
• further their education through online classes

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Univ. of Illinois at Springfield

• Campus was founded in 1969 as Sangamon State
  University (SSU) to be a regional capstone
  university
• Became the University of Illinois at Springfield
  in 1995
• 20 bachelors degree programs 18 masters degree
  programs 1 doctoral program

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Univ. of Illinois at Springfield

• UIS/SSU traditionally has served a large
  population of non-traditional students (working
  adults with families, older students, part-time,
  commuter students)
• In 2001, UIS added a lower-division Capital
  Scholars program (100 students/year)
• 2,857 FTE students, 4,393 head-count, 177
  full-time faculty (Spring 2006)

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A vibrant campus at UIS
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A wireless campus at UIS

• UIS was the first public university in Illinois
  to implement wireless networking throughout its
  campus even in the soccer stadium

University Hall Opened July 2004 31
million 116,000 sq. ft.
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UIS online degree programs

• The online program was started in 1998
• Masters degrees
• Management Information Systems (98), Master in
  Teacher Leadership (00), Environmental Science
  (05), Computer Science (05), Public
  Administration (06)
• Bachelors degrees
• Liberal Studies (99), English (02), History
  (03), Computer Science (03), Math (04),
  Philosophy (04), Math Education (Fall 04),
  Economics (06), Business Administration (06)

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Online learning at UIS
UIS Credit Hours Taught Fall Semester
On-Campus excludes CapScholars
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UIS online enrollments
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Penetration of online learning

• In the Spring 2006 semester at UIS
• 40 of the students took at least one online
  course
• 24 of the students took online courses
  exclusively
• 28 of all course credits were generated by
  online courses
• Online majors made up 18 of UIS headcount
  enrollment
• The online course enrollments (numbering 3010)
  were 25 greater than they were during the Spring
  2005 semester

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Transformation for online

• What has the UIS campus done to transform itself
  to serve so many new online students?

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New online initiative at UIS

• 1.21 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan
  Foundation (March 2004)
• Specific goals for 3-year project
• Develop 8 new online degrees
• Triple the online enrollments
• Eventually have all on-campus degrees available
  in an online format or at least all degrees that
  departments want to put online the mirror
  campus concept

15
OTEL support

• Faculty are supported by the Office of
  Technology-Enhanced Learning (OTEL)
  instructional designers, web developers, graduate
  assistants, hands-on training, brown-bag
  seminars, etc.
• Prof. Ray Schroeder, the Director of OTEL, was
  the 2002 recipient of the Sloan-C award for Most
  Outstanding Achievement in ALN by an Individual

16
Integrating online teaching

• Academic Technology Committee (ATC) a Senate
  Committee
• Faculty chair, Director of OTEL, Dean of LAS,
  Dean of Library, Vice Chancellor for Student
  Affairs, CIO, chief advisor in LAS online office,
  several online faculty, several online students
• Committee charge is to deal with all issues
  related to online programming, in order to
  continually increase quality and student
  faculty satisfaction

17
e-tuition

• In the Fall 2003 term, UIS implemented an
  e-tuition policy
• All Illinois residents automatically qualify for
  the e-tuition rate
• Out-of-state students who are enrolled in an
  online degree program and are taking only online
  classes also qualify
• The e-tuition rate is 131.75 per credit hour
  (continuing undergraduate) and 152.75 per credit
  hour (graduate)

18
A small regional campus

• Due to e-tuition, UIS is now attracting a
  national (and international) audience
• 26.4 of the online enrollments are now from
  out-of-state
• For the Spring 2006 semester, UIS has online
  students living in 45 states, Washington DC, and
  Guam. Online students also are enrolled from
  Austria, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, India,
  Japan, Norway, and Vanuata.

19
Online is part of the mainstream

• At UIS, online courses are taught by the same
  faculty who teach on-campus courses
• Online teaching is done on-load it is part of a
  faculty members regular teaching assignment
• Online degree programs are managed by the
  departments, not by a separate continuing
  education unit

20
Faculty-driven process

• Online degree programs at UIS are faculty-driven
  departmental faculty first must vote to put their
  degrees online
• College must then approve, then the Undergraduate
  or Graduate Council

21
More than just online courses

• Student services are now available online
• Admissions
• Advising and counseling
• Financial aid
• Help desk
• Library resources
• Placement and career services
• Tutoring, writing center

22
Retention in online courses

• Retention in online classes at UIS
• Spring 2002  96.2
• Summer 2002  94.5
• Fall 2002  94.1
• Spring 2003  94.3
• Summer 2003  94.8
• Fall 2003 93.1
• Spring 2004 94.2
• Summer 2004 95.6
• Fall 2004 90.4
• Spring 2005 91.3
• Summer 2005 93.1
• On-campus retention averaged 94 for the past 4
  semesters

23
Sloan-C quality framework

• Emphasis on quality and the five pillars
• Access
• Learning effectiveness
• Student satisfaction
• Faculty satisfaction
• Cost effectiveness
• Pillar editors and non-effective
  effective practices

Westminster College Fulton, MO
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The pillars at UIS
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Quality

• Commitment to Quality
• Offering time/place dispersed students the same
  (or higher) quality of education as on campus
• Through the same college/dept. structures
• With the same faculty members
• Through the same or analogous curriculum

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Scale

• Commitment to Scale
• Identifying needs and scaling up to meet those
  needs
• Meeting the needs of significant numbers of
  disenfranchised and marginalized learners
• Providing a meaningful service that can have a
  measurable impact on a profession, a geographic
  region, or an identifiable group of people

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Breadth

• Commitment to Breadth
• Not merely a handful of boutique online programs
• Not catering only to a single limited audience or
  discipline
• Providing a meaningful range of degree or
  certificate offerings
• Providing access analogous to the access afforded
  those who can reside on a campus

28
Attracting new students
29

Attracting new students

30
Majors by state and county
Spring 2006 data
31
Online majors by average age
Spring 2006 data
32
Average credit hours
33
Accreditation by HLC-NCA

• On 27 January 2006, the HLC staff recommended to
  the Commission that they give blanket approval of
  UIS online baccalaureate degree completion and
  masters programs.
• Provost Berman This is a great endorsement of
  the approach we have developed, going all the way
  back to the early years of the UI-Online
  initiative. Special thanks to Beverly Bunch for
  her wonderful job pulling together the report!!

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UIS Success factors

• Faculty ownership of courses and curriculum
• Measured enrollment growth 25-35 per year
• E-tuition attracts a national audience builds on
  the University of Illinois brand name
• Knowledge of the target audience experience in
  teaching non-traditional adult learners
• Online degree programs offered by the UIS campus
  are in demand by adult learners
• Office of Technology-Enhanced Learning assists
  faculty develop high-quality online courses
• Robust technology infrastructure
• Strong student support (advising, library, etc.)
• Crucial marketing assistance from U of I Online
• Online fee 25/credit hour, 275k Spring 2006

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UIS Lessons learned

• Overall, the online program at UIS has been
  successful because it has
• the right name
• the right price point
• the right support of students and faculty
• the right degrees that appeal to adult,
  non-traditional students
• equivalent quality to the on-campus degree
  programs

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For-profit online education

• A number of for-profit institutions providing
  online courses also have NCA accreditation
• Univ. of Phoenix, Walden University, Jones
  International University, DeVry University,
  Kaplan University
• These institutions provide what the adult student
  wants
• flexibility, convenience, reputation, regional
  accreditation, customer service.

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University of Phoenix Online

• 130,000 students enrolled
• Degrees certificates
• 1 associates degree
• 21 bachelor's degrees29 master's degrees
• 6 doctoral degrees4 certificate programs
• Net income (Apollo Group)
• 2002 - 161,150,000
• 2003 - 247,010,000
• 2004 - 277,774,000
• 2005 - 444,731,000

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Stock performance
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For-profit online providers without regional
accreditation

• The American Public University System (APUS)
  accredited by the Distance Education and Training
  Council (DETC)
• Kennedy-Western University licensed by the
  State of Wyoming
• Florida Metropolitan University Online
  accredited by the Accrediting Council for
  Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS)
• Westwood College Online accredited by the
  Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and
  Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT).

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Diploma mills

• Unaccredited distance-learning institutions are
  often referred to as diploma mills.
• Professor George Gollin (Physics Dept., UIUC) has
  publicized these institutions
• His website is at http//web.hep.uiuc.edu/home/g
  -gollin/pigeons/
• The diploma mills often are accredited by
  accreditation mills.

42
Rochville University

• Accredited by the Board of Online Universities
  Accreditation (BOUA) and the Universal Council
  for Online Education Accreditation (UCOEA)
• http//www.rochvilleuniversity.org/

43
Diploma mills

• In Oregon, the Office of Degree Authorization
  provides for the protection of its citizens and
  their postsecondary schools by ensuring the
  quality of higher education and preserving the
  integrity of an academic degree as a public
  credential.
• http//www.osac.state.or.us/oda/

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Selling bogus degrees online
http//www.instant-degrees.net/
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The Internet has no borders

• The Internet has no borders. You cant regulate
  the websites that people can visit. This isnt
  China or Tunisia.
• Certainly an out-of-state institution with no
  physical presence in Illinois does NOT have to
  seek IBHE approval.

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Oakleys Thoughts about Quality Online Teaching
and Learning
Burks Oakley II web http//www.online.uillinois.
edu/oakley/ e-mail oakley_at_uillinois.edu
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