It comes as no surprise that private, small liberal arts colleges—particularly those under 3000 full-time enrollments-- have taken measured approaches to adopt online courses and programs (Allen and Seaman, 2006). Not only is there a perceived philosophical chasm between the mission of liberal arts institutions and online learning initiatives, the lack of institutional resources, personnel, and technological infrastructure are realities that frustrate even the most enthusiastic adopters of online education initiatives. That said, the number of independent and liberal arts colleges offering online degree programs continues to rise along with online enrollments across schools (Allen and Seaman, 2010). Once reservations are overcome, resources are distributed, courses developed, faculty are supported, and the school is seeing measurable results from high-quality, successful programs, there is still room for improvement and innovation—most pertinently in the area of student services and learner support. *** In full disclosure, I work for an online education company who partners with small, mostly private liberal arts colleges and universities to offer their online courses and degree programs. We help provide services, resources, and consulting to these schools so they can compete in the online education arena dominated by large public universities. Of course the needs and experiences in online education differ for smaller schools than the larger schools. But how does a small, liberal arts school offering online courses (to borrow one of partner school's phrases), be both "high tech and high touch" with limited resources? Problem Student services are not necessarily an administrative intentional afterthought for smaller schools who have outlined strategic institutional components for effectively implementing and sustaining online learning initiatives, it is just that focusing on technical infrastructure, quality programs, and faculty preparedness are the first steps. Our 70+ partner schools are at various stages of online program initiation, and all are concerned about the success and retention of their students. However, not all yet think holistically about their online students, weigh the benefits of implementing for credit online student success courses, or translate on-campus student services to the virtual environment. I must say there are exceptions of several partner schools that have implemented very successful student resource centers or robust student orientation initiatives. The question becomes, how did they do it with limited resources? Discussion (Approach) This presentation's discussion session is broken down into three sections. We will first encourage small schools to think of the online student as a holistic student and present strategies to do so. Next, we will explore research on student orientation initiatives and ways small schools can make this a reality for their online students. Lastly, we will investigate what smaller schools are doing to offer robust student services to online students and accompanying strategies for enhancing services with an eye towards retention. The Online Student as a Holistic Student By the end of this discussion, session participants will come away with strategies for • Reaching out to the online potential student at the enrollment counselor level • Enhancing online student Web pages with connections to the traditional campus • Building informal networks of online students Student Orientation Initiatives By the end of this discussion, session participants will be able to • Recognize how online student orientations can increase retention • Explore scalable options for creating an orientation course or on-demand session Student Services By the end of this discussion, session participants will • Understand how to incorporate an adviser's Web page with links and contact info to additional student services • Learn how to enhance the online admissions counselor's role to include advising • Review what retention tools within the LMS might be able to aid small schools Conclusion After a brief review of the literature on student services and learner support as well as examples of how small schools are addressing obstacles, hopefully fellow small institutions will take home some applicable strategies to enhance their online programs and ultimately their online students.
