Sloan-C Effective Practice Award Winners Webinars

Sloan-C Effective Practices WebinarDecember 3, 20132pm ET

Who is the Sloan Consortium?

The Sloan Consortium is an institutional and professional leadership organization dedicated to integrating online education into the mainstream of higher education, helping institutions and individual educators improve the quality, scale, and breadth of education.

Effective Practices

• Peer Reviewed• Innovative Practices• Tied to Sloan-C Pillars• http://sloanconsortium.org/effective

Peer Review Committee

•Effective Practice Awards Selection Committee▫Dr. Angela M. Gibson▫Dr. Laurie G. Hillstock▫Phil Ice, Ed.D.▫Dr. Kaye Shelton▫Witt Salley▫Shari Smith

Assessing the Effectiveness of Online Educator Preparation

Author(s)• Dr. Bob Blomeyer,

President and CEO of Online Teaching Associates

OESES Construct Validity Study by:

• Dr. Dazhi Yang, Boise State University

• Dr. Jui-Long Hung , Boise State University

Presenter: Dr. Bob Blomeyer

OESES : Early Development

In the beginning… (2001)

Measuring Impact from Online Professional Development The Online Educator Self-Efficacy Survey: A valid and reliable assessment/program evaluation instrument.

• Validity - the degree to which the evidence generated by an instrument supports the interpretations of the evidence .

• Reliability - the consistency of the assessment outcomes generated at different times.

• Three common types: content, construct and Criterion (concurrent).

Construct Validity: OESES1. The OESES instrument obtained high values on

traditional (Cronbach’s Alpha) and Rasch person / item reliability tests – indicate high internal consistency.

2. Correlation of individuals’ total scores on the GSE and OESES - indicate a strong positive correlation between the two instruments.

3. Hung & Yang’s analysis suggests OESES effectively assesses educator’s ability to support student success in online educational environments.

Yang, Hung & Blomeyer – AERA 2013

http://tinyurl.com/orbp2ut

Application: Evaluating Professional Development for Online InstructorsComparison of Pre-Post Survey Administrations: Pre-test/post-test comparison determined OTA-121 produced a significant difference in the participants’ attitudes measured by pre-post administrations of OESES. An unpaired t-test performed on the pre-post survey scores for 344 cases found the following:t= -35.3 / sdev= 0.557degrees of freedom =671The probability of this result, assuming the null hypothesis, is less than .0001.

Blended Education

Len Bogner, Ed.D.Bucky Dodd, Ph.D.University of Central Oklahoma

Blended Education

•Strategic integration of multiple delivery methods in a unified learning environment

•Classroom, Online, Self-Paced Online, Interactive Video

•Enhance flexibility and “humanness”

•Enhance choice and adult learning strategies

Evidence of Effectiveness•Blended Education methods can help bridge

gaps between students and educational opportunity

•Emphasis needs to be placed on the design of connections between delivery modes and various elements in the learning environment

•Additional focus should be given to learning about enhancing connectedness among students

Application To Others• Explore existing organizational opportunities for

using blended education strategies (multiple delivery modes-unified learning experiences)

• Use what you have in creative ways

• Systems thinking beyond the “classroom”

• Find ways to make learning human – It doesn’t have to be perfect, it has to relate and be authentic

Conditional Release Technologies (CRT) for Management Education

Author(s)

•Dr. Owen P. Hall, Jr.▫ Professor Decision Sciences▫ Julian Virtue Professor▫ Rothschild Applied Research Fellow ▫ Howard White Teaching Fellow

•Graziadio School of Business Pepperdine University

Conditional Release Technologies (CRT) for Management Education

•Self-paced supplemental learning

•Offered at a time and place convenient to the student

•Progressive learning development

•Specialized course requirements

•Delivery of “bit-size” knowledge units

•Intelligent tutor applications

Conditional Release Course

Evidence of Effectiveness• Students enjoy interactive and

progressive learning (Web 2.0)• Exposing students to technology

that they will likely encounter in the business community

• Monitoring student learning patterns and achievements on a weekly basis

• Students found themselves generally more engaged in the tutorials that gave them the highest level of bandwidth and engagement

Application To Others• CRT fully compatible with LMS

(e.g., Sakai)• CRT supports the changing face of

management education (Web 2.0)• CRT provides content and

knowledge at a time and place convenient to the student

• Entering and continuing students need familiarization with selected business principles

• Intelligent tutors help enhance CRT learning outcomes

Enhancing Faculty Development Through Integrating the Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository

Author(s)• Kelvin Thompson, Ed.D.• Associate Director• Center for Distributed Learning• University of Central Florida

• Baiyun Chen, Ph.D.• Instructional designer• Center for Distributed Learning• University of Central Florida

Enhancing Faculty Development Through Integrating the Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository

•Reusable online teaching practices

•Faculty development strategies

•URL: http://topr.online.ucf.edu

•Creative Commons license

Evidence of Effectiveness

•UCF faculty development materials

•UCF shared in BlendKit and conferences

•Used by other institutions

•Tens of thousands of page views

Application To Others

•Public resource for online faculty and instructional designers

•Resource for professional development programs

•Creative Commons License

•Call for submissions: http://goo.gl/qTFbr5

Multiuser Blogging as an Educational Innovation

AuthorMichael WilderInstructional Design CoordinatorDestiny has led Michael on a dual career path of both education and technology. The result is a hybrid individual with skills and perspectives from both fields. He has worked as an educator and trainer in a variety of environments, serving as an instructional designer, learning technologies specialist, Blackboard administrator, journalist, magazine editor, and faculty member. Michael is currently completing his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

E-mail: [email protected]: 702-879-8454Blog: http://www.vegas-times.com/litf/Twitter: @michaelwilderLinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelwilder

Multiuser Blogging as an Educational Innovation• Community of learning based upon Wordpress blogging

software and the BuddyPress plugin

• Enables student ownership of the learning environment including look and feel, easy inclusion of multimedia, and social media integration

• Provides opportunities for collaboration, peer evaluation, and student-generated content

• A wealth of additional plugins that extend basic features to include podcasting, mobile access, gamification, badges, and location-based learning

Evidence of Effectiveness

•Student evaluationsStudent evaluations of the course indicate a high degree of satisfaction with the course and the learning environment.

•Student testimonialsStudents are asked to reflect on their experience participating in the course. Over the last four years of teaching using this technique, these reflections are overwhelmingly positive.

•Student-produced contentIn addition to developing their own student portfolio, students produce at least nine full-length articles that are peer reviewed and evaluated.

Application To Others

•Institution-wide environment for collaboration, communication, and group management (such as an online academic commons)

•Academic publication development (via wikis, blogs, and additional plugins)

•Flexible for any course involving writing and multimedia

Full presentationhttp://tinyurl.com/mublogging

International Collaboration with Virtual Internships

Author(s)

•Allison Selby

• Information Technology faculty specializing in creating high-impact experiential learning opportunities through virtual partnerships.

• Kaplan University

• Julie Frieswyk

• Experienced marketing professional with extensive startup activity in both the private and non-profit sectors.

• U.S. Peace Corps

International Collaboration with Virtual Internships•Technical needs at a distance, a solution

from abroad•“Mutually beneficial agenda”- students

practicing newly acquired skills while building experience, win-win for both beneficiaries and students.

•Skills transfer and global understanding, social responsibility

•Technology aides in making the world a smaller place: necessary equipment

Evidence of Effectiveness• Small sampling of student participation, evidence is largely anecdotal and

based upon student and NGO team feedback: ▫ Students felt was a unique international opportunity , working together with

international clients to experience real-world project management. ▫ The NGO gained exposure to more skills and up-to-date technology while

building their own capacity.▫ Students enjoyed the experience overall and loved the new addition to their

resume and credentials. • The virtual internships creates problem-solving activities with the potential

to result in real-world skills such as collaboration for problem-solving, technology proficiency, presentation skills, and a greater appreciation for intercultural diversity (Humphreys, 2009).

• This opportunity provides students with an international experience who may otherwise be limited by finances, work responsibilities, family obligations or physical limitations. In addition, there is a considerable cost-savings when compared to studying abroad for the same amount of time. A virtual internship program incurs regular tuition fees, no additional costs are required by the student.

Application To Others• Virtual internship partnerships offer experiential learning in a

wide variety of study areas from social entrepreneurship, micro-finance, marketing, business administration and design to organizational development, project writing and fundraising activities.

• This type of project benefits tremendously by considerable advanced preparatory stages. ▫ Using project charters to outline weekly outcomes and deliverables is

very important. ▫ Defining the exact scope of the deliverables, what assets may be needed

and the key stakeholders were all important topics to clarify. ▫ Synchronous weekly team meetings using Skype with the clients gave

the students a vested interest and motivation to succeed.▫ Having the students train the clients for site maintenance gave them

ownership of the process and pride in their proof of success.

Measuring Online Students' Contact Hours: The Online Learning Contact Hour Calculator

Dr. Karan Powell is Executive Vice President and Provost of American Public University System. Dr. Powell leads the academics department to ensure academic quality and online teaching effectiveness, focusing on student success, advocating for the faculty, and collaborating in the advancement of online instructional strategies and technology.  

Dr. Jennifer Stephens Helm is Dean and Vice-President of Institutional Research and Assessment of American Public University System. Dr. Helm leads the Institutional Research and Assessment department with a focus on enhancing institutional effectiveness by providing data and information that supports and strengthens institution-wide decision making, operations management, and strategic planning processes.

Measuring Online Students' Contact Hours: The Online Learning Contact Hour Calculator

• In 2010, the U.S. Department of Education adopted new regulations regarding an institutions eligibility to award academic credit. The regulations set forth: a) a federal definition of the credit hour applicable to eligible institutions, and b) requirements for accrediting agencies to review an institution’s policies and procedures for determining credit hours.

• In response to federal regulation, we initiated an institution-wide course review process aimed at systematically identifying the strengths and areas of improvement for each course offered at APUS.

• While conducting the course reviews, a need was identified for a contact hour calculator that considers specific online learning components and platform. A model was developed to ensure adherence to the contact-hour regulations as well as course quality and rigor.

• A course review process was launched as part of our process to ensure academic excellence and curriculum quality.

Tool

A tool created for faculty and program directors to effectively and systematically assess total course contact hours. It considers many factors related to in-class and outside-class projects, as well as course reading requirements, in order to calculate contact-hour totals.

Subset of data within a larger context to evaluate course quality and rigor

The contact hour totals are used as part of an overall process for course review. In conjunction with other data, the contact hour total data serve to initiate conversation about academic rigor and appropriate contact time optimal for student success and student learning.

Continuously evolving work in progress

The calculator model will be revised and updated as more research in contact-hour equivalents are conducted and specific course requirements added.

The Contact Hours Calculator is a:

The Contact Hours Calculator is Not:

• A measure of student learning

• To be used without appropriate parameters and context specific to the discipline

• Punitive or punishing

• The sole source of truth in the evaluation of course quality and rigor

• A one size fits all solution (e.g., learning strategies and expectations for a math or science course may different from those for an English course)

Review Findings• The process helped to establish a baseline for expectations of engagement in student

learning.

• Contact hours are defined and each class is assessed to ensure that each class has 45 contact hours of learning and an additional 80 – 100 hours of homework associated with the class for a total of 120+ hours for undergrad classes and 150+ hours for grad classes.

• Standardization is needed across all APUS courses to support the student experience and student retention.

• Courses meet and in many cases exceed the minimum required number of contact hours for both in class contact and homework time. Some courses were discovered to be significantly in excess of the range of 120 to 150 hours. These courses are being reviewed.

• In the occasional finding that a course was discovered to be deficient in hours, immediate correction was made to the class to strengthen compliance with contact hour requirements.

• Continual monitoring of these spreadsheets against APUS average class sizes is required.

• Each discipline has unique credit hour requirements.

Sample Class Time Factors and Average Quantitative Measurements

Sample Class Time Factors and Average Quantitative Measurements

Sample Contact Hours Calculator

For more information:

• Please contact [email protected] or [email protected] if you would like a copy of the contact hours calculator.

• http://sloanconsortium.org/effective_practices/apus-online-learning-contact-hour-calculator-adaptive-model-calculating-contact-

• http://www.swosu.edu/academics/aij/2012/v2v2/powell-helm-layne-ice.pdf

• http://stylus.styluspub.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=308401

A Media-Rich Platform to EnhanceStudent Engagement and Learning in an

Online Environment

A Media-Rich Platform to EnhanceStudent Engagement and Learning in an Online

Environment

•Scott Bledsoe, Psy.D• Assistant Professor in the Department of

Graduate Psychology, where he teaches online research methodology and other courses to students of Marriage and Family Therapy.

Bruce Simmerok, Ph.DDirector of Instructional Technology for the Center for Innovative Teaching and Technology.

Evidence of Effectiveness

•Comparison of surveys from previous years showed improvement of student ratings.

•Few students had trouble learning to navigate in the environment.

2012

2013

Application To Others

•Increasing the variety of media gives different learning styles more opportunity

•Creating a virtual environment is feasible on a low budget

•Multimedia created by the professor and students increases the engagement of the learner

Congratulations

Effective Practice Award Winners

Thank you for sharing your practices with us today!

Submit Your Effective Practice

Share What WorksDeadline – December 30, 2013

http://sloanconsortium.org/effective

Questions