This presentation will focus on the University of Central Oklahoma's online course quality initiative program implementation. During this session, participants will:
-Compare and contrast UCO's quality evaluation rubric with similar nationally recognized evaluation instruments;
-Critique UCO's faculty development strategies for quality course design and delivery;
-Evaluate UCO's student retention rate in online courses in relation to course quality evaluations.
The Center for Professional and Distance Education (CPDE) was created in fall 2006. The CPDE team supports faculty members as they develop high quality online courses and assist them in making the formidable leap from teaching in the classroom to teaching online. CPDE's overarching goals are to:
-promote and support high-quality, rigorous course design for distance learning courses;
-promote and support excellent facilitation of distance learning courses; and,
-ensure student success in distance learning courses.
Student retention in online courses at a level comparable to that of traditional courses is a critical factor when determining whether UCO's distance learning initiative is successful. Gleason (2004) identifies poorly designed courses as one element that may be detrimental to student retention in online courses.
UCO looked at course evaluation rubrics from CSU - Chico and Quality Matters prior to adopting its own quality review process. UCO decided to create its own evaluation instrument and review process to help ensure faculty buy-in and to accommodate UCO's unique requirements. The rubric is comprised of six sections: Required Information, Course Site Design and Navigation, Activities and Assignments, Engagement and Interactivity, Technology, and Optional Elements. Scores for the evaluation are out of 100, and courses must achieve a score of 90% or higher in order to be consider "UCOnline Quality" (UCO 2007).
The Required Information section is worth 25%. This section is unique; if a single element of those listed is missing or does not function properly, zero points are awarded for the entire section, meaning automatic failure of the course. Required elements include instructor information and course policies, as well as criteria for viewing and printing content.
The Course Site Design and Navigation section is worth 20% of the points possible, and is intended to ensure that the course looks attractive and is easy navigate.
The Activities and Assignments section is also worth 20% of the evaluation. Criteria in the section include the number and variety of learning activities, as well as whether grading criteria for those activities are included.
The Engagement and Interactivity section is designed to ensure the course instructor is communicating regularly with students and providing opportunities for students to interact. This section is worth 20%.
The Technology section criteria include providing information on technology requirements for the course and whether special tools are needed to read or display content, file download speeds, and ADA requirements. This section is worth 15%.
Optional Elements provides a course designer the ability to improve the course's overall score by including extra elements. Designers can earn up to five additional points for this section.
The UCOnline Course Quality evaluation process was implemented during the 2008/2009 school year (UCO 2010). For this study, retention rate is defined as successful completion of a course within a single semester.
During this time period, the retention rate for traditional courses has risen steadily from 91.94% to 95.24%, an increase of 3.59%. In this same time period, the retention rate for students in online courses has dropped slightly from 86.94% to 86.14%, a decrease of .92%. Retention rates in online courses continue to lag that of traditional courses by 10.56%.
Future work to improve online course retention will focus on instructor preparedness in online learning, as well as on modifications to the UCOnline Course Quality rubric. CPDE is in the implementation phases of its program analysis and alignment project to focus on high quality course design and instructor facilitation support to address instructor preparedness (Franklin, Dodd & Fairless, 2010). Data will be collected ongoing to allow for continuous improvement in the faculty development offerings for distance educators. Data collected will include:
-Online learning specific questions from the UCO Student Perception of Instructional Effectiveness instrument;
-Student retention rates in distance education courses;
-Student retention rates in traditional courses; and,
-Student enrollment in additional distance education courses in subsequent semesters.
As these data are collected and analyzed, recommendations will be made to change the course evaluation instrument to better reflect best practices in online course design and delivery, with the overall goal of increasing the online course retention rate to, at minimum, UCO's traditional course retention rate.
Online course design evaluation is one critical factor affecting student retention in online courses. UCO will continue to evaluate its evaluation process to improve the current retention rate and improve its support for online course instructors and students engaged in distance learning at the university.
References
Angelino, L.M., Williams, F.K., & Natvig, D.N. (2007). Strategies to engage online students and reduce attrition rates. The Journal of Educators Online, 4(2). Retrieved from http://www.thejeo.com/Volume4Number2/Angelino%20Final.pdf
Chico State University. Rubric for Online Instruction. Retrieved April 26, 2010 from http://www.csuchico.edu/celt/roi/
Dodd, Bucky J. and Fairless, Tracy. (October 2010). Learning to Learn. AACE eLearn 2010 Conference proposal.
Franklin, Sandra L., Dodd, Bucky J. and Fairless, Tracy (October 2010). Distance Education Program Analysis and Alignment. AACE eLearn 2010 Conference proposal.
Gleason, B.J. (2004). Retention issues in online programs: A review of literature. Paper session presented at the Second AIMS International Conference on Management. Retrieved from http://www.thinairlabs.com/papers/216.pdf
Patterson, B., & McFadden, C. (2009). Attrition in online campus degree programs. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 12(2). Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/summer122/patterson112.html
Quality Matters. Retrieved May 3, 2010 from http://www.qualitymatters.org/.
University of Central Oklahoma. Center for Professional and Distance Education (2007). eLearning Strategic Plan. http://www.uco.edu/cpde/systemAssets/UCOeLearningStrategicPlan.pdf
University of Central Oklahoma, Office of Institutional Research. (2010). UCO Factbook. Retrieved from University of Central Oklahoma website: http://www.uco.edu/ir/Factbook/factbook0910.pdf
