Developing a Cooperative Online Degree Program The Practical Mechanics

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Developing a Cooperative Online Degree
ProgramThe Practical Mechanics

• Dr. Roger Von Holzen
• Ms Darla Runyon
• Northwest Missouri State University

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Slides to add

• Add slides to discuss
• Meeting with Registrars
• Approval process
• 100 we keep
• What would we do differently

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Masters in Education in Teaching and Learning
Elementary

• Thirty-three hour program
• Designed to meet the special needs of elementary
  teachers who are in their early career years
• Major goals of the program
• assist these teachers to improve their practice
• fully equip them to persist in the profession
• which is critical during this time of
  significant teacher shortages

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Masters in Education in Teaching and Learning
Elementary

• Third goal
• enable the participating institutions to offer a
  new online degree program while minimizing
  staffing issues
• Goal achieved through the cooperative sharing of
  program courses

• Each campus will teach at least five of the
  programs courses

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Program Curriculum

• Developed by university faculty from across the
  state of Missouri

• Met over a three year period
• Program based around the work of the National
  Board for Professional Teaching standards
• The portfolio component of the program, which
  will be completed for assessment purposes,
  closely mirrors the expectations of the National
  Boards portfolio process

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Program Description

• Twelve-hour core of education coursework
• Three emphasis area options
• Reading
• Math
• Science

• Must complete the introductory course in both of
  the options not selected
• Three hours of elective course(s) to round out
  the program

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Program Description

• Program draws on what has been learned in recent
  years on the various campuses and through the
  literature about web-based delivery
• Design of this 33-hour program targets those who
  wish to pursue graduate programming

but are limited due to their geographic location
and work requirements
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Program Evolution

• Initially, eight universities were interested in
  developing the program
• Difficult and expensive to bring groups together
• Strong coordinating board and administrative
  support for development of the program
• Limit duplication of programs
• Get some institutions to begin offering online
  courses
• Save development time and resources

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Program Evolution

• One by one, five universities dropped out of the
  program for various reasons
• Lack of faculty support for online programs

• Lack of faculty support to work with other
  institutions
• Why dont we develop our own online program?
• Lack of faculty collegiality toward faculty
  members from other institutions
• Are their faculty members as good as ours?

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Dead Men Walking

• The surviving three Missouri state institutions
  have joined forces to fully develop the
  cooperative online degree program
• Lincoln University
• Northwest Missouri State University
• Southeast Missouri State University

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Program Mechanics
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Memorandum of Understanding

• Agreement between the three institutions
• Formally signed at a state-wide meeting

• Outlines the working relationship behind the
  program

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Program Accountability

• Program is supervised by an Oversight Team
• Composed of an equal number of deans-level
  representatives from each institution
• Oversees the program director
• Directs the development and implementation of the
  online masters degree program and its policies
• Convenes on a quarterly basis

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Program Accountability

• Program collaboratively developed by faculty
• Initial focus determined by Oversight Team
• Curriculum changes may be proposed by faculty
• Meet annually to review program and for
  professional development
• Changes must be approved by the faculty and the
  Oversight Team

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Program Web Site

• Developed, hosted and maintained by Northwest
  Missouri State University
• URL identified with the state of Missouri--not
  any particular institution
• www.MOHEC.org
• Missouri Online Higher Education Consortium

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Student services
Program costs
Request for information
Campus contact information
Program overview
Curriculum information and cohort schedules
Admissions criteria with links to graduate school
application forms for each institution
Online registration process
Access to the online courses
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Common Criteria

• Each institution will follow a common admission
  policy

• A minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.00
• Alternative admission minimum undergraduate GPA
  of 2.75 and 3.25 on the first nine hours of
  graduate coursework in the program
• Graduate record exam 475 minimum on the verbal
  or quantitative score and a minimum of 400 on the
  other section
• Letter of support from the students employer
  (supervisor) if the student works in a school or
  educational institution
• A cover letter briefly discussing the student's
  teaching background and the emphasis (cohort)
  area that the student is interested in (reading,
  math or science)

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Common Criteria

• Students must designate which campus is his/her
  home campus
• Original idea was to assign campus based on
  county
• The university of record will grant the degree
• Students will function under the rules and
  regulations of their home institution
• All advising and in-depth mentoring will be
  conducted by the faculty at the student's home
  university

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Course Management Software

• System needed to cover online registration,
  campus quotas, wait lists, and course hosting
• eCollege selected as course management software
• Courses hosted on eCollege servers
• Backup systems
• System security
• Online and telephone 24/7 tech support

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Registration

• Each campus initially allocated 7 seats per
  course
• Overprescribed courses are wait listed
• Available seats from other campuses reallocated
  prior to start of classes
• Student admissions requirements verified prior to
  finalization of course registration
• Drop/adds handled by web site

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Registration

• Registration information and updates sent to each
  institution
• Processed through each campus Registrars Office

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Grade Reporting

• Standard letter grades used--A, B, C, D, and F
• Grades reported through secure web site by
  faculty
• Only a students home institution can view that
  students grades
• Submission of grades to the Registrars office on
  each campus is made in the format as designated
  by each office
• direct viewing and printing of grade reports
• download of files containing grade reports
• e-mail receipt of grade reports

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Graduate Faculty

• Participating faculty must qualify as graduate
  faculty at their respective home institutions
• Each university will have responsibility for its
  participating faculty with respect to
• employment decisions
• work assignments
• annual work evaluations
• termination decisions

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Course Development

• Courses assigned for development and initial
  delivery to each campus
• Core and content strands split across all three
  campuses (no one campus controls a strand)
• Faculty course developers paid 5,000

• Deficit funded by Northwest
• Course materials developed is considered to
  be jointly owned by the participating
  institutions and the faculty member(s)
  involved in the course development process

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Cooperative Training of Online Faculty

• Northwest provided technical and pedagogical
  assistance with the design and development of the
  courses

• Additional assistance provided by local
  campus faculty support offices

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Course Delivery

• Each course must be offered on a regularly
  scheduled basis as determined by the Oversight
  Team
• Courses may be moved among the institutions
• Multiple sections of course may be taught from
  multiple campuses
• Course web site duplicated

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Financial Considerations

• Tuition determined by the Oversight Team
• Common tuition across the participating
  universities
• The student's university of record assess all
  tuition and fees

• 250 per credit hour for Missouri residents
• 350 per credit hour for out-of-state residents
• Each institution may add on additional fees

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Financial Considerations

• Program Director invoices the institutions at the
  rate of 200 per credit hour for their students
  enrolled in program courses
• Enrolling institution retains 50 per credit (for
  in-state and 150 per credit out-of-state)

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Financial Considerations

• Payment to each institution teaching an online
  course
• based on the following formula
• Payment Amount 100 X number of credit hours X
  number of students enrolled in the course
• 6,000 100 X 3 X 20
• The institution is responsible for the payment of
  faculty member's salary and other related
  expenses

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Continued Participation

• Any institution may discontinue participation in
  this program
• Subject to the approval of the Oversight Team and
  the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher
  Education
• Contingencies must be made for all admitted
  students to be able to complete their programs

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Course Schedules

• Courses delivered within the academic calendars
  of all campuses
• The start date for a semester is set for the
  latest start date among the three campuses
• The end date for a semester is set for the
  earliest end date among the three campuses
• Fall and spring semesters15 weeks
• Summer sessions8 1/2 weeks

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Program Marketing

• Web site developed and maintained by Northwest
• Housed at distinguishing web address
• Internal marketing with each campus bureaucracy
• Provide background information about program
• Provide key information needed for each area
• Graduate office
• Admissions
• Registrars
• Financial Aid and Student Financial Accounts
• Library
• Lack of overlap in market areas

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Northwest
Lincoln
Southeast
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Program Marketing

• Brochures and other marketing materials centrally
  developed and produced
• Mailings conducted by each campus with costs
  covered by Program Director
• Major marketing effort conducted through the
  Regional Professional Development Centers across
  the state
• Search engine data uploaded by Program Director

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The Experience

• So what has this experience been like?

• Its been like trying to herd cats

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www.MOHEC.org
Ms Darla Runyon drunyon_at_mail.nwmissouri.edu
Dr. Roger Von Holzen rvh_at_mail.nwmissouri.edu