A Fully Online Degree Program

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A Fully Online Degree Program

• Nursings Experience at SUNY Plattsburgh
• David Curry and JoAnn Gleeson-Kreig
• Presented at CIT 2007 June 1, 2007

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What you are here to learn
Meeting the various college and department
requirements to complete an entire degree online
for distance learners requires a variety of
technologies for both teaching and advising. How
Plattsburgh State's Nursing program has met this
challenge will be discussed.
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Objectives

• Brief history of Plattsburghs distance learning
  nursing program
• Specific challenges to earning a degree without
  setting foot on campus
• Engaging and retaining students at a distance
• Faculty needs for success in teaching and advising

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History of Plattsburghs Online Nursing Program

• 1984 425 on-campus nursing majors and 18
  full-time faculty
• 1985 350 on-campus nursing majors. Planning
  for RN-to-BSN program begins
• 1986 Approval for program received and first
  students register on-campus
• 1987 First RN students registered at ACC and
  faculty commute to teach

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Why an Online Nursing Program?

• Nurses with Associates degrees need a bachelors
  degree for career advancement
• There are clear course differences between
  baccalaureate and associate degree programs
• Nursing research, community health, etc
• Sociology, developmental psychology, etc
• Because they are already nurses, they dont
  require clinical supervision by faculty
• Upstate New York is rural and travel for classes
  can be challenging

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More history Plattsburghs distance nursing
program the early years

• 1988 125 on-campus nursing majors and 125 RN
  Option students (PSU and ACC)
• Separate sections of the same RN Option course
  one at Plattsburgh, one at ACC
• Five non-tenured faculty not renewed
• 1990 to capture more students, PictureTel grant
  proposal written and funded.
• Four Community College sites
• Single section of same courses via synchronous
  ISDN line 2-way audio-video, 4pm to 9pm
• Talking heads and technology problems

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Challenges of PictureTel

• Not quite full-motion video choppy on ISDN
• Several tenths of a second delay like talking
  over a radio, over
• While multiple sites were logged on, only the
  last one to speak was displayed to the instructor
  (what were the others doing?)
• Distant students jealous of local students
• ISDN was expensive (200/hr) got left on one
  night
• Who owned the product? Videotapes were made of
  each class to cover equipment problems were
  they destroyed later?

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More challenges

• Each site required an hourly technician to boot
  up and shut down the equipment
• Another expense for 5-12 students/site
• For some nursing courses that technician had to
  be a nurse for example, NUR304 Physical
  Assessment, classroom with lab skills
• The price of an adjunct but not teaching the
  course, just the lab section

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More challenges

• Graduation requirements a problem
• http//web.plattsburgh.edu/academics/catalog/files
  /gened.pdfgened page 50
• 36 credits from Plattsburgh, exempt from senior
  residency (30 of last 36)
• Transfer 84 credits BUT only 67 from 2-year
  colleges (e.g. Associate degree RNs)
• Our nursing courses 28 credits, so 8 more
  Plattsburgh credits were needed
• General education courses were the answer, but

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How did Plattsburgh adjust?

• While nursing was leading, more programs were
  expected to follow, therefore
• 1998, Labor/management agreement signed
• http//faculty.plattsburgh.edu/uup/default.asp?go
  242
• Terms of agreement are geared to synchronous
  delivery of courses to sites with multiple
  students, i.e. PictureTel
• Rights of faculty teaching distance courses and
  flexibility for campus were protected by
  agreement

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What happened next?

• PictureTel becomes increasingly expensive to
  support
• Equipment upgrades needed
• Fewer students/site/course as students graduate
  and cohorts fragment
• Difficult to maintain 15-20 students/course
• Other possible sites developed
• 2003, Campus decided to go asynchronous
• Transition to SUNY Learning Network planned
• SLN training scheduled for Nursing faculty

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And then?

• SLN provided excellent classes re. Online
  pedagogy, but then,
• Campus decides to go with ANGEL
• Faculty must transition again, though not as
  challenging as going online
• Most of SLN training very relevant
• So here we are not so brief, huh?

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Throughout it all

• Recruitment and retention separate but equal
• A critical support service with travel
• Travel first to classroom sites, later to sites
  with potential students e.g. hospitals, etc.
• Person must be knowledgeable about program and
  campus requirements
• Not necessarily a faculty member, though
  sometimes done by chairperson
• Nurse is a plus, but not necessary either

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Student Advising

• The biggest challenge
• Adult learners, most working parents, with
  obligations and high expectations
• Meeting the campus graduation requirements
  without errors
• Finding general education courses, or required
  science courses, online
• Art course from North Carolina correspondence
• 4-credit Chemistry course from Maine
• Nutrition courses several places (but not
  Plattsburgh until last year)

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Teaching challenges

• Physical assessment a lab course
• Currently using a DVD of skills and students
  practice on their own then come to campus for
  practical exam
• Management and Leadership and Community Health
  clinical courses with local preceptors needed
• Finding the preceptors can be challenging
• Chat sessions needed for students to share
  experiences

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Teaching challenges

• Professional Issues a Gen Ed course
• Oral communication skills heres where the
  videos come in
• Advanced writing requirement several drafts
  of written work need evaluation
• Drafts need to get back and forth in timely
  manner Track changes helps a lot!

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Student Advising

• Advisor must track student progress
• Make sure transcripts arrive and are credited to
  the student in Banner
• Make sure students know when a needed nursing
  course will be offered
• Must advise faculty on what courses needed and
  how many students to expect
• Be the messenger that gets shot when a course
  or section is cancelled ? - seriously

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About BANNER and ANGEL

• Cant depend on them for tracking students
• If not registered for a course for a semester,
  dropped from the major in BANNER
• Off-campus courses dont count i.e. Permission
  to study off-campus approvals
• Students will have a semester with no on-campus
  course
• ANGEL sweeps BANNER for names of students,
  therefore, cant use ANGEL to communicate via
  Groups
• Advisor must have own processes in place
• Excel, Access, and group email lists

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About Communication

• Though program online, students may not be
• They are issued a campus email address, but
  seldom check it
• Need to be taught how to forward to home email
  account (just like faculty ?)
• Telephone contact is often necessary
• Regular mail needed also newsletter, etc
• Forms available online, but

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Problems with Communication

• Distance students dont hear about all campus
  activities
• Honor society activities
• Pinning ceremony
• Graduation details
• Duties assigned to new coordinator

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About our students

• Most are not ready for cutting-edge technology
• Remember, theyre adult learners
• Their children often show them how to download,
  file transfer, cut-and-paste, etc
• Some rural students still have dial-up
• Most miss the structure of the classroom
• Still, they have high expectations (of both you
  and themselves)

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About the technology

• Watch out for format problems
• Require written work in .txt or .doc
• Unless you want one submission in WordPerfect to
  challenge you
• When you ask for video specify format
• VHS no longer standard one faculty expected
  videotape but got an mpeg and couldnt view it
• These videos were for campus-wide assessment of
  General Education oops!

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Speaking of General Education

• Getting Gen Ed courses online can be challenging
• Campus leadership needed, since online program or
  department has no leverage outside their own
  domain
• Showing how many students you refer elsewhere may
  get results may not

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Advertising

• Word-of-mouth has been our most important method
  plus and minus
• Our potential students often work together

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Faculty needs

• Computer equipment and skills
• With upgrades, more training
• Education for advanced technologies
• More training
• Support staff for communication including mailing
  of papers, exams, etc
• Administrative and union support

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Questions? Comments?

• Thanks for your attention
• Email questions to
• curryd_at_plattsburgh.edu or
• gleesojm_at_plattsburgh.edu
• Evaluations are online ?