Blended Learning for Dual Enrollment: A Model for Urban Students
Goals of Presentation
1. To describe a blended learning dual enrollment course model developed for an urban school district
2. To identify challenges and successful strategies for online dual enrollment learning in high poverty districts
3. To interact with audience in consideration of technology applications in urban schools that engage students and enrich learning.
Context:
An urban public university partnered with a nearby urban school district to offer dual enrollment courses to highly motivated, first generation college going students. Scheduling required the course be offered after school in a face to face model, and at the high school because of the prohibitive cost of busing to the university, with just 4 trips on early release days to the campus. After two years, student attendance and attention in this program were found to be negatively affected by the after school timing of the classes, which competed with other activities and greatly lengthened the academic day.
While online learning would avoid the difficulty of after school programming and its resulting problems, both high school and university partners were concerned about student home access to computers and the Internet, given poverty levels in the district. Nonetheless, the district superintendent, citing the ubiquity of smart phones among students, believed an online program would be successful, provided there were adequate supports for student technology use and periodic face to face sessions with instructors. The high school promised to provide Internet access during and after school to students who needed it.
Problem Approaches:
Creating the Courses:
The first challenge was identifying courses to develop for blended learning dual enrollment delivery. Courses needed to align with campus policy on dual enrollment courses, fulfill state guidelines on eligible subjects, and be endorsed by the district as suitable. College Writing 1 and Precalculus met the criteria and instructors willing to create the blended learning courses were available. Both were experienced working with students from the district.
Instructors spent six weeks in a Blackboard Faculty Online Course Development program, where they worked closely with university support staff to create the blended learning content and learning tools. The project director, an experience online teacher, met regularly with the instructors to discuss ways to engage high school students, and how to monitor their progress.
Supporting Students
Since all dual enrollment courses are taken by students in this district as extra credits, we were well aware they would choose their high school courses first in deciding how to allocate study time. We had seen in the past that they could easily get very far behind in their college course work, and then withdraw, wasting tuition money and tarnishing their college transcripts. This challenge would be exacerbated in the online environment where they did not have the pressure and support of twice weekly face to face meetings with their instructors. We knew we would have to monitor their attendance, participation, and submission of work throughout the online course so they would succeed.
The solution was to provide student support in the form of a project staff person who would serve as the "teaching assistant" in both courses. In this way, she could track students' participation in the various course activities and follow up quickly with anyone who was not online regularly. She also provided students orientation to the Blackboard site and arranged and chaperoned the campus face to face sessions four times in the semester.
Two Different Strategies
College Writing
The instructor's goal was to create a syllabus that fostered the same sense of learning community he had developed in a face to face dual enrollment version of the course. Using the works of Thoreau, he crafted a course that relied on discussion postings for daily communication regarding readings and submission of frequent writing pieces for peer review. He used the face to face sessions to extend online learning through film and field trips to Walden Woods.
Precalculus
To address the particular challenges of incorporating math symbols, equations and notations into an online course, the instructor utilized Course Compass, an integrated on-line math module for weekly home works, quizzes, tests and exams, in addition to Blackboard Vista for lectures and discussions. She also employed a tablet with pen to input math symbols and equations, and an audio tool to explain her steps as she worked through problems during chat sessions.
Outcomes
Review of semester grades show that student participation, retention and achievement in the blended learning courses were comparable to the performance of dual enrollment students in face to face classes. Faculty reported that blended learning dual enrollment students' outcomes were also comparable to the average college freshman class.
Students (95%) reported high levels of interest in the courses content, challenging material, and more work than they were expected to do in high school classes. Study time for the dual enrollment courses averaged 1 hour a day for Precalculus and 2 hours a day for College Writing.
1. Technical issues with the online delivery system were a commonly reported student difficulty.
2. Time management, self-discipline and learning advanced material were cited as both the most difficult and the best aspects of the courses.
3. Almost all (87%) students would recommend these courses to other students, and 75% indicated it was highly likely they would take another blended learning dual enrollment course.
Lessons Learned
1. Students in this project struggled with the online delivery system. A structured, extended time tutorial on the Blackboard system and the university online course structures will be in place for subsequent semesters, as will weekly drop in help, at least at the start of the term.
2. Face to face introductions to instructors at the start of the blended learning course are important to clarify expectations for the courses, as these are clearly different from high school.
3. A laptop loaner program will ensure that students who lose access to a computer will not fall behind.
