Distance Education Programs:

1. Distance Education Programs: Best Practices for Rural Community Colleges

2. Presenters • Yasminda Choate • Assistant Professor of English • 405-382-9289 • Y.choate@sscok.edu • Kendall Rogers • Assistant Professor of Psychology/ Coordinator of Student Success • 405-382-9691 • K.rogers@sscok.edu

3. Seminole State College

4. Seminole State College, established in 1931 as Seminole Junior College, is located in the central portion of the state in Seminole, Oklahoma, population approximately 7,500.

5. The Community College Student Typical CC Student SSC Student 25 and older (33%) Employed Parents with Children at Home Low Income (93% receiving financial aid) Minority (35%) • 25 and older (43%) • Employed • Parents with Children at Home • Low Income • Minority

6. SSC Distance Education Student • Full-time Students • 1,046 • Enrolled in online courses only • 38 • Part-time Students • 807 • Enrolled in online courses only • 161

7. 106 Students enrolled in online classes live in SSC Housing

8. Distance Education

9. Distance Education problems • Academic rigor • Academic dishonesty • Lower rate of student success • Increase in attrition • Increase in cost • Faculty confidence • Technology

10. Details That prompted a hard look at best practices for SSC • A Review of Other Colleges Yielded: • Short Online Courses • High Enrollment from Out-of-State Students • HighNet Profits • Probation for another college

11. Should We Panic?! Some colleges immediately reconsidered their distance education course offerings.

12. Don’t panic. Plan!

13. The Benefits and Detriments of Distance Education

14. A Better Plan: Best Practices for Distance Education in the Community College

15. Step 1: Form a Committee Members of the Distance Education Committee should include faculty from every department, administrators, staff including IT specialists, and staff from Student Success Services.

16. Step 2: Strategic Alignment The Committee must align the goals and activities of the Distance Education Committee with the Institution’s Strategic Plan.

18. Step 3: Obtain Campus Buy-in Administration Faculty Devise system to ensure academic rigor and quality assurance. Provide professional development for faculty. • Create Policies and Procedures Manual that corresponds with existing campus documents.

19. Step 4: Control for Student Success • Minimize attrition due to foreseeable problems. • Create assessment for student ability to complete online course. • Counsel students before they enroll in online course. • Publish requirements and rigor of online courses.

20. Step 5: Support Student Success • Minimize attrition due to foreseeable problems. • Provide training modules to train students to use online course platform. • Increase student counseling/tutoring opportunities to provide aid to online students.

21. http://www.sscok.edu/distanceeducation/

22. Step 6: Monitor for Quality • Request student feedback surveys for every online course every semester. • Review student success rates for every online course every semester. Compare online data with data from same courses in other formats. • Continue on-going faculty professional development and assessment of teaching methods.

23. Quality Matters • Quality Matters is.... • A set of standards (rubric) for the design of online and blended courses • A peer review process (faculty to faculty) for reviewing and improving online and hybrid courses • A faculty support tool used by instructional development staff • A professional development opportunity • https://www.qualitymatters.org/

24. On-Going Considerations • Growing Pains with the Distance Education Test Proctoring Center • Proctoring Center Staffing • Communicating with Students • Communicating and Organizing Faculty • Growing Pains with Quality Matters • Perceived Loss of Academic Freedom for Instructors