To be presented at CAUSE98
Seattle, Washington
Thursday, December 10, 1998; 2:00 P.M.
David L. Eisler, DMA
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Weber State University
1004 University Circle
Ogden, UT 84408-1004
phone: (801) 626-6006
fax: (801) 626-7922
e-mail: [email protected]
URL: http://catsis.weber.edu/deisler
Don E. Gardner, EdD
1005 University Circle
Ogden, UT 84408-1005
phone: (801) 626-7660
fax: (801) 626-7922
e-mail: [email protected]
URL: http://www.weber.edu/provost
F. Ann Millner, EdD
Vice President of University Relations
Weber State University
2503 University Circle
Ogden, UT 84408-2503
phone: (801) 626-6002
fax: (801) 626-8875
e-mail: [email protected]
URL: www.weber.edu
Abstract
The Provost, Vice President of University Relations and CIO of Weber State University present a follow-up report on WSU Online, a highly successful online university that was first introduced to general audiences at CAUSE96 [see presentation on the Western Governors University]. In the intervening two years, WSU Online has grown from a few selected course offerings to many accredited courses and several full programs which can now [Fall 1998] be completed entirely on the Internet. Powered by enthusiastic faculty involvement, WSU Online was recently awarded the Peterson's Award for Innovation in Distance Learning from the University Continuing Education Association. This is not a demonstration of WSU Online. Instead, The presenters will discuss principles underlying the success of this effort, lessons learned, important issues that were addressed, and some of the major challenges that were overcome to make WSU Online a successful, functioning reality.
Background
WSU Online is Weber State University's Internet-based system for delivery of online courses and student support. It is a complete "virtual" university in that in addition to the delivery of academic courses, it provides student support in the areas of admissions, registration, academic advising, tutoring, bookstore, library, writing center, testing, student union and women's center. While maintaining flexibility to accommodate the course delivery needs of the faculty, WSU Online provides a common navigational framework and other online services that are important to the success of students.
Beginnings
The WSU Online effort at Weber State University (WSU) had its earliest beginning in a partnership that developed between Continuing Education and the Communication Arts and Technologies (CATS) department within the university. These groups teamed to develop a two-way interactive video capability that would allow the university to better serve a major off-campus center located about 20 minutes from the main campus. As the staff developed and implemented this system for course delivery, discussions continually revolved around the need for courses that were not time and place dependent, one of the main disadvantages of the more traditional approaches to technology supported instruction.
The idea of creating WSU Online evolved from these discussions. Eighty-five percent of the students at WSU worked. Fifty percent worked more than thirty hours per week, creating a need for flexible course offerings. This demand was clearly demonstrated by both a high independent study enrollment and student survey results that ranked scheduling conflicts as an area of high student dissatisfaction. In addition, Weber State University had a twenty-five-year history of delivering degree programs at off-campus sites throughout the state and region. Developing alternatives to extensive faculty travel for onsite instruction was a necessity for the long term viability of WSU's outreach programs. The faculty in these programs were ready to experiment with new modes of delivery that would provide quality programs while reducing travel for both students and faculty.
Initial Challenges & Concerns
With the support of the administration, the directors of the distance learning program and CATS developed a conceptual model and a proposal for piloting a new Internet-based program. In the spring of l996, they began a series of discussions with faculty and administrative groups on the campus. The concerns that emerged from the initial discussions were related primarily to: (1) the choice of courses and faculty, (2) compensation models and (3) quality control. Revised proposals and continued discussions followed in the fall, but we languished in our ability to mobilize the effort. In retrospect, this seemed to be caused by both a lack of focus for the new project, lack of involvement by academic leadership, and a lack of coordination across units.
At the urging of the Provost, a cross functional team was formed that united the leadership of three divisions of the university: Academic Affairs, Information Technology (home of CATS) and University Relations (home of Continuing Education). The team's primary goal became implementation of a pilot WSU Online project by Fall l997.
Faculty and Course Selection
Weber State University has a long history of successful delivery of distance education instruction. Included in this course work in 1996 was approximately 150 annualized FTE in independent study or correspondence courses. For the WSU Online project, this course listing was reduced to the twenty most popular correspondence courses which appeared suited for Internet delivery. The majority of courses chosen were lower division offerings with a few selected upper division "bottleneck" courses. The initial offerings were limited to a manageable number to ease implementation concerns and reduce the number of potential problems that might result from an impending mandated conversion from quarters to semesters.
From the beginning, considerable effort was made to involve faculty, department chairs, and deans in the identification of online courses and faculty. Initial faculty were identified through a combination of expressed interest and areas of academic expertise needed to complete the project successfully. All WSU Online faculty were approved in advance by the department chair and dean.
The initial group of faculty was selected in May and June 1997. A series of significant decisions were incorporated into development guidelines for the first group of faculty. These included:
Technology Challenges
Before the decision was made to adopt a standard course development tool, other basic technology questions had to be asked and answered. Early in the process, several individuals on campus had become aware of the growing number of "complete" Internet course developers/providers. This approach was particularly attractive to a few who envisioned the ability to simply turn course content materials over to a developer and receive a finished product in return, with a minimum of pain and effort.
Fortunately (in retrospect), there were several people on campus with enough experience to suggest that in fact, the pain and effort of faculty involvement in the development of the online course materials was both desirable and manageable. Direct faculty involvement was deemed desirable in the sense that, to some extent, success would be linked to an understanding of both the limitations and capabilities of the underlying hardware and software. The pain and effort was deemed manageable by key players who had already learned and demonstrated that, with the help of the right tools, course development could be both fun, exciting and relatively easy.
Even with this initial optimism, it soon became apparent that without a substantial amount of consultation and coordination across units the effort might easily fail. The commitment of the cross-functional team to stay focused, follow-through, solve problems quickly and "commit resources first and ask questions later," was critical to the success of the effort. Frequent meetings were held to resolve issues and question repeatedly if results were working for both students and faculty. We were extremely fortunate to have the involvement of very bright and talented staff with a firm desire to "make it work." This resulted in a clever and functional design framework and very effective support mechanisms that worked amazingly well from the outset. Finally, we were lucky to have the dedicated involvement of faculty interested in building courses that would take advantage of the unique potential benefits of the Internet, as opposed to just translating traditional course content into HTML.
Perhaps the most difficult technology question was whether the university had the will and resources to support the effort once underway. Could services be provided that would be both technically sophisticated and reliable? Would the necessary services be available to support 24 hour availability? With few working models to turn to, these seemed to be the most difficult issues to be resolved from a technology support perspective. These concerns also contributed strongly to the decision to adopt a minimal risk, low-key approach for the initial offerings.
Course and Enrollment Growth
WSU Online began fall quarter, l977 with eighteen courses and 175 enrollments. The university deliberately did not advertise these courses until August to ensure that the system was workable and all courses were completed. At the time, a small number of students enrolled in the first quarter was deemed ideal for working out the inevitable glitches of implementation. By spring quarter, l998, WSU Online had grown to thirty-two courses and 840 enrollments. It quickly became apparent that most enrollments were coming from our current student population who enrolled mainly to help resolve scheduling conflicts. Exceptions included people like the woman enrolled from Saudi Arabia who discovered the program by accident while "surfing the Net."
By Fall Semester, l998 (also a quarter to semester system conversion point) fifty-four semester hour courses were offered with more than 1,000 enrollments. Interestingly there was still very limited advertising of the program beyond the course schedule, as the university has thus far been unable to expand capacity beyond regional service area demand.
Funding
Funding the development of WSU Online was a major challenge for the team. Waiting for a major infusion of new resources was not realistic if the effort were to proceed in the near future. Resources were needed for hardware and software, system development, course development and implementation planning. A limited amount of state funding coincidentally became available through the Utah State Governor's Higher Education Technology Initiative (HETI). But the only way to address the full range of needs was through reallocation of current resources.
Staff in Continuing Education and CATS were reassigned to design the course and student support systems, provide faculty support for course development and develop implementation tools. The cost of hardware and software was underwritten by the Information Technology Division (with HETI funds) and Continuing Education. Course development pay for faculty was committed by Continuing Education with a plan to recover these costs over time from tuition income.
While this provided the initial support to launch the project, the team immediately began to assess anticipated revenue streams for growth and ongoing maintenance. While tuition would offset faculty pay for course development and teaching, it would not support the additional staff, hardware and software and operating expenses required to continue development and maintenance of the systems and provide customer support for students.
It was finally proposed that student fees for WSU Online courses be treated as a "delivery fee" and reallocated to provide the system and student support required. After extensive review, this somewhat revolutionary approach was approved by the President's Council. As of Fall 1998, the delivery fee approach was beginning to provide some additional resources needed by both Information Technology and Continuing Education to fund the ongoing implementation.
Faculty Expectations and Compensation
Early in the process, faculty participation guidelines were developed and shared with deans, department chairs and faculty (see Appendix A). These guidelines clarified expectations for the faculty who agreed to develop and teach courses. The guidelines also carefully described expected compensation. Faculty were expected to attend training sessions and design their courses using minimum design standards aimed at maintaining the consistency of both the "look and feel" and navigation within WSU Online courses. Staff in Continuing Education were assigned to support individual faculty members at whatever support level the faculty member needed.
For courses that were developed in the first phase, the development fee was $3,000 per course. This could be paid to the instructor or used to upgrade computer equipment, provide reassigned time, pay support staff or any combination. In later phases of course development, a per credit course development fee of $600 was adopted to be more reflective of the size of the course development task. Faculty pay is processed at the completion of the course.
In the pilot year of the program (1997-98), all teaching in WSU Online was an overload assignment for faculty. Therefore faculty were also compensated for teaching the courses. In the quarter hour system, faculty pay was $30 per student credit hour generated. Half of the amount was paid based on initial enrollment and half was paid on the basis of final enrollment at the end of the course.
After the first year, the compensation model was redesigned. Beginning in Fall 1998, faculty were paid based on enrollment at the point when students who drop courses do not receive refunds. Also, compensation schedules were adjusted to follow the normal university schedule for overload instruction. This streamlined the system and seemed to work better for both faculty and the program.
After the initial program got under way, faculty began to request flexibility to teach courses as a part of their normal teaching load. In-load teaching guidelines are being developed to allow this with the approval of the department chair and dean. Careful consideration to balancing regular course instruction needs will be important in this new environment. In the new model, course development fees will be shared by the department, Information Technology and Academic Affairs while Continuing Education will continue to provide course development training and implementation support.
Program Recognition
In the spring of l998, WSU Online shared first place recipient status of the Peterson Award for Innovative Distance Learning with Penn State University. This award was given by the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA). In addition to the UCEA award, WSU Online has been recognized as the premiere online course development project within the State of Utah. None of the other institutions in the state have come even close to the 800% growth rate experienced by WSU Online in technology supported instruction in the first year.
Growth Phase/Continued Questions
One of the continuing challenges of WSU Online has been capacity. From its inception, each quarter or semester most online classes have closed early in the registration process. WSU has resisted the temptation to "push" class sizes or to create additional sections except where supported or requested by the department and faculty involved. One approach that is being explored is a model where the faculty member who created an online course prepares others to offer additional sections.
Another development seems to be a gradual shift in the course selection process from a course focus to a program focus. It is currently possible to earn a General Associates degree entirely online. However, the administration has consciously chosen to not market WSU Online in this fashion, preferring to suggest that a student can complete their Associates Degree online. Online programs that are in advanced stages of development include a Bachelor of Science in Clinical Lab Science and an Associate Degree in Medical Information Technology. Coupled with onsite clinical experiences, the Licensed Practical Nurse program will be available online in the future together with an Associate Degree in Nursing. An online Bachelors Degree is in development in Health Administrative Services, as are upper division courses in Business Administration.
The experience at WSU suggests that many faculty are very interested in Internet instruction and do not want to be left behind in this particular implementation of educational technology. This acceptance appears to be significantly different from faculty use of video technology. The approach fostered by Continuing Education has been to encourage, rather than discourage course development. This has encouraged acceptance by faculty and has proven to be one of the most effective faculty development programs implemented at our university. Faculty who develop online instruction are transferring this experience and expertise into their on-campus instruction, thus enhancing the implementation of technology in many parts of the curriculum.
Online instruction is a new educational world. It raises challenging questions about copyright, compensation, and teaching load. To address these questions of policy the provost recently requested that the faculty senate create an ad-hoc online committee. This has served to involve faculty actively in these questions and address areas of concern that have been problematic on other campuses. Recently this group submitted their recommendations regarding membership in the Western Governors University, online copyright, in-load Internet instruction, and in-load online course development.
Experienced online faculty have grown quite skilled in identifying students who are not likely to persist in online instruction. Internet based learning works best with a motivated learner capable of working as part of a group but also independently. Faculty have learned the importance of requiring student involvement as soon as the course begins. The lack of response by a student is a danger signal that suggests either a lack of interest or technical problems which must be solved. It is an observation of our faculty that they have more individual interaction with students online than in the regular classroom. Considering that the WSU average class size is in the low 20's, this is remarkable.
While there has been some turnover in online faculty, the majority are strongly committed to this effort. To a certain extent they view themselves as pioneers. Some have become quite proficient at demonstrating their courses to colleagues, the media, and the general public. WSU has instituted a sponsored lunch for online faculty where we thank them for their efforts while they share online teaching experiences.
The online environment must respond to technological innovations and continue to evolve rapidly. It is clearly an effort that is never complete and where change is a constant. At Weber State University this involves a collaborative and interactive partnership of Information Technology, Continuing Education, and Academic Affairs. Extensive faculty involvement has generated support and acceptance that online instruction will be a significant part of the institution's educational future. This is at the same time both a challenging and exhilarating prospect.
WSU ONLINE FACULTY PARTICIPATION GUIDELINES
WSU Online is an extension of the University on the Internet. Students with Internet access are able to not only take online courses, they are also able to use online support services and participate in online discussions and activities with faculty, staff and other students. WSU Online makes it possible for students with busy schedules and /or long commutes to take advantage of the convenience of an online course with the support services that are essential to their success and the interpersonal experiences that have always been an essential component of the undergraduate experience.
The goals of WSU Online are to offer Weber State courses using a delivery model that will expand student access to WSU programs, courses, and services; provide a high quality educational experience, and potentially increase student enrollments. We are focusing on general education courses and those courses that have become "bottlenecks" for enrollment, that is, courses that we are unable to offer in enough sections to meet demand. This would also include courses that support several majors. The next step in this effort is to develop programs which can be effectively offered online.
Definitions:
WSU Online courses will be conducted almost exclusively online and through print and other ancillary materials. Courses will be offered in a "paced" or "open" format. Paced courses require students to complete course requirements by certain time lines throughout the quarter, thus allowing more opportunities for interaction. Open courses will not require weekly or monthly deadlines and the student will be given a year to complete the course, as in the current Independent Study format. WSU Online is intended to be a complete "branch campus" and thus has discrete registration procedures. Traditional courses that may make use of the web in some way are not considered WSU Online courses.
Course Development Time Line:
Development time for new courses to be delivered beginning in the fall semester of 1998 begins with the identification of courses and faculty. Choose a course which has significant enrollment potential either as general education or a "bottleneck" course or as a support course for a degree program with online potential. Faculty should begin by discussing their plans with their department chair and colleagues. Instructors will need the permission of both the department chair and dean and then should contact Peg Wherry (phone 6990 or GroupWise [email protected]).
It is recommended that instructors meet with the development team as they begin planning their course, again after completing the course outline and one or two lessons, or at anytime during the process if they have questions. No enrollments will be accepted in a course until development is complete.
Time line:
February 20
Commitments to develop courses
March 1
Sessions for instructor orientation, software training, etc., will begin.
Spring and Summer Quarters Actual Course Development:
August 1
All course development finished.
September 1
Commitments for new courses, Spring 1999
Computer Knowledge and Equipment:
A basic understanding of and comfort with the computer is expected, especially word-processing, e-mail and the World Wide Web. However, an in-depth knowledge of a particular software or the Internet is not needed. Courses will preferably be developed in a Windows (IBM-compatible) environment. A Windows 95 environment is strongly recommended. Instructors will need good computer skills for the ongoing instruction as well as for course development.
Compensation for Developing a WSU Online Course:
Upon approval by the chair and dean, the instructor is eligible for consideration to create a course. The fee for course development will be $900 per semester credit hour.
If the course is developed by a team, the fee will be $1200 per semester credit hour for the team. The course should be completed and reviewed by the department head and dean before August 1, and before development payment is made.
Compensation for Teaching a WSU Online Course:
The on-going fee for instruction will be $45.00 per SCH (per student, per semester credit hour). Half of that amount will be paid on the basis of third week enrollment numbers and the other half will be paid when students complete the course.
(Class size: Maximum enrollment will be 15 students per section. Instructors may, at their discretion, increase class size up to a cap of 40 students, and additional sections of paced classes can be created by departmental decision.
However, such changes should probably not be made during the first term an online course is offered.)
Expectations for Faculty Involvement:
While the actual design and conduct of WSU Online courses are prerogatives of he instructor, the complexity of the medium suggests that minimum standards be clearly stated. Instructors may update material or links in their courses at any time. Standard look, feel and navigational strategies have been developed for WSU Online. A course template will be provided to serve as a model, and the minimal design standards for maintaining that look and feel will be explained. Within courses, however, faculty organize content as they see fit.
A number of special procedures and software applications have been developed for WSU Online. Throughout the development and delivery cycle, sessions will be scheduled for faculty to learn existing procedures and provide feedback on the development of new ones. More than one meeting time will be scheduled for any topic or type of meeting; WSU Online faculty are expected to attend these sessions.
Faculty will be expected to teach the course for one academic year, interacting with students as indicated by the course design, assigning and grading student work, etc. Paced courses will be taught two out of three semesters.
Users of computer communications expect quick response times. Instructors should plan to log on to the course at least five days out of seven and to respond to questions and to student work in a timely manner. It will be wise to spell this out in the course information, e.g.: "You can expect responses from me to most questions on the next working day and to written work within X days." The instructor will be responsible for maintaining course materials on the web: deleting or replacing links that are suddenly de-activated, stating the current term's due dates (in paced courses), etc.
To protect student privacy and to control access to any copyrighted sites, access to courses will be limited to students enrolled. Extended course descriptions will be available through the WSU Online catalog and sample courses will also be open to anyone browsing the web.
During the first years of WSU Online, and especially during course development, instructors will be expected to participate in a learning community with other WSU Online faculty to share ideas, successes, shortcuts, etc. and to begin the development of a body of practice that can inform the efforts of faculty who develop WSU Online courses in future iterations.
Course Development Assistance:
Distance Learning staff will meet with instructors to discuss course design options and applications for specific courses. Staff from CATS and Distance Learning will be available to help faculty learn how to use various interaction tools and how to web-design their courses. Distance Learning staff can do the actual web page development from material provided by the instructor or instructors may do their own.
CATS has a lab set up where faculty can work with different software and technologies in Library Room 73. An online learning community will enable faculty to share ideas with and learn from their colleagues.
Suggestions for Development of Online Courses:
Parts of specific online courses will be similar to classroom courses. However, information will need to be formatted and presented in a different manner.
Below is a list of items that will need to be included in a basic online course. Additional "bells and whistles" can be added at a later time.
Course Description: Instructors should provide general information about their courses and the subject matter, including a review of course requirements and expectations, and any other media used in the course. An online course should be slightly more structured initially until students adapt. It is important to include as much information as the student will need to know whether he or she can be successful in completing the course.
Instructor Section: Faculty should include a picture and short bio of themselves. Some students may never meet their instructor in person. Office hours for the online course should be listed. This is the time the instructor will be available for e-mail responses or individual online discussions with a student. These hours may be the same as regular office hours or at some other specified time.
Syllabus: The syllabus for an online course is much like the syllabus or course outline used in a traditional classroom setting. It presents an overview of the course, including any relevant dates or deadlines.
Resources: This section lists additional resources to enhance the students' learning: suggested readings, hyperlinks to other web sites, or other resources the instructor would like the students to be familiar with. Faculty are responsible for identifying textbook(s) and any other ancillary materials early in the development process. Textbook lists should be sent to Tamara Aird at the time registration opens for each semester.
Lectures / Lessons: This section includes the lessons for the course. They may be text the instructor has developed with hyperlinks to other critical information on the Internet. The lessons may be divided by chapters or weeks of the semester. The instructor decides how the course needs to be organized. (Some instructors have combined Resources, Lessons, and Assignments into one section.)
Assignments: This section outlines the actual assignments students need to complete. Students will be able to send assignments to their instructor online. Faculty feedback on those assignments should be re-sent to the student online as well.
Online Discussions: Technology exists that allows faculty to A "talk" to their students online. This is done by typing in a message and the student typing in a response. There are several ways in which this can be done. A "chat room" or computer conference can be used for students to talk each other in real time, if this is something the instructor wants. For asynchronous discussion, an online discussion application has been developed. These tools can be tailored to best meet each instructor's needs. As the technology advances at Weber State, instructors and students will be able to have online discussions using audio and video.
Examinations: This section addresses the process for taking exams. Exams can be given via WebTester to provide immediate feedback to the student or may use a paper/pencil format. If it is necessary for the exam to be proctored, a proctor can be identified. Passwords will be assigned to control access to online exams.
Online Portfolios and Grades: This section will be student specific. The instructor can use this area to post grades, suggestions and other personal information to the student. Students can also use this area to provide faculty with additional information about themselves.