Distance Learning Benchmarking

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Distance Learning Benchmarking

• A North Texas Community College Consortium
  Project

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NTCCC

• It was founded in 1989 by the University of North
  Texas and a number of community colleges in the
  area
• The Consortium has 28 member institutions
• The office is located on the University of North
  Texas campus

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NTCCC - Mission

• To provide high quality, low cost, easily
  accessible professional development opportunities
  for community college administrators, faculty,
  and staff.
• To further institutional planning, institutional
  research, and institutional effectiveness.

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Institutional Research Committee

• Projects addressing the research needs of all
  member colleges
• Workshops concentrating on accreditation issues
• Benchmarking projects that would help colleges in
  the institutional effectiveness process
• Involved in the Consortium strategic planning

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Distance Learning Survey Project

• It started as a request from the faculty and
  administrators of the member colleges
• Input was gathered regarding the needs of the
  distance learning departments in terms of
  data/benchmarking
• The 1997 Principles of Good Practice (THECB)
  required that educational effectiveness of
  distance learning programs is compatible with
  that done for on-campus courses

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Distance Learning Survey Project

• With THECB and SACS more and more interested in
  distance learning, the need of a benchmarking
  tool became more evident
• In 2001 a subcommittee started the development of
  an instrument that will gather information about
  enrollment, technology, methods of delivery,
  faculty training, and methods of assessment of
  distance education

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Enrollment in Distance Learning

• The number of distance learning courses offered
  increased 236 and the headcount 279
• In comparison, the headcount of students enrolled
  increased only 20
• The highest increase is observed for interactive
  video courses (500) with an increase in
  enrollment of 2685
• The lowest increase was in TV course offerings
  (69) and increase in enrollment of 146

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Has the institution invested significantly in the
following during the past three years?

• Infrastructure wiring (T1 lines etc)
• Classroom wiring
• Computers with Internet Access
• Computers in the library
• Computers in learning laboratories
• Computers in faculty offices Laptop computers for
  faculty use
• LCDs and other classroom computer equipment
• Other

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Has the institution invested significantly in the
following during the past three years?

• The least amount of money was spent for faculty
  laptop computers, classroom wiring, and computers
  in faculty offices
• Everybody invests in computers with Internet
  access (100) and LCDs and other classroom
  equipment (96)

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What is the number one concern at your
institution regarding funding for
telecommunications needs related to distance
learning?

• Concerns include that TIF funding might not be
  continuing in the state and that the operational
  budget will not be adequate to maintain the
  current level of technology
• Internet course creation, enhancement, and
  upgrade funding.
• Network keeping up with college growth
• Staff support, compatibility longevity
• Equipment Replacement/Maintenance
• Cost of technology

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Faculty

• 65 of the total faculty teaching distance
  learning are full-time
• The number of faculty teaching only distance
  learning doubled between the administrations of
  the survey (from 13 to 27)
• 27 of the colleges always compensate the faculty
  for developing a distance learning course
• 64 of the colleges sometimes compensate the
  faculty for developing a distance learning course
  and 9 never compensate

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Faculty

• 36 of the colleges do not have a minimum number
  of students that have to be registered in
  distance learning classes
• The range of minimum number of students necessary
  to enroll in an Internet class varies from 1
  student to 15 and maximum between 25 and 100
• The range of minimum number of students necessary
  to enroll in a TV class varies from 1 student to
  30 and maximum between 22 and 300

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Faculty

• The range of minimum number of students necessary
  to enroll in a two-way interactive video class
  varies from 10 students to 15 and maximum between
  22 and 50
• The minimum/maximum number of students allowed in
  TV classes is higher, maybe because the faculty
  are more comfortable teaching them

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Faculty What are the primary unresolved issues
for faculty at your institution who teach
distance learning courses?

• Faculty
• Compensation for continuous enrollment courses
• Training requirements to become certified DL
  instructor.
• Reliability of equipment, salary course load
• Compensation for training, course creation,
  course supervision and mentoring.
• Faculty willing to develop courses for the core
  areas
• Number of hours spent communicating with students

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Faculty What are the primary unresolved issues
for faculty at your institution who teach
distance learning courses?

• Faculty
• Underestimating the time to prepare to teach
  online
• Intellectual property ownership
• How to determine "office hours" calculation for
  faculty teaching internet courses
• Too many students in a class

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Faculty What are the primary unresolved issues
for faculty at your institution who teach
distance learning courses?

• System
• Reliability of the infrastructure/ continuity of
  the instructional environment
• Hardware failures
• Provision of technology to instructors so that
  they can teach the courses
• Provision of technology to students so that they
  can take the course online

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Faculty What are the primary unresolved issues
for faculty at your institution who teach
distance learning courses?

• Students
• Textbook issues
• Deadline problems with students (getting homework
  and tests back in time to meet institutional
  deadlines)
• Evaluation
• Evaluation of distance instruction is at the
  beginning

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Faculty

• All colleges have a training program for DL
  faculty, with 55 of faculty considering the
  program excellent and 45 fairly good

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Budget

• The budget allocation, when done, decreased from
  2001 to 2002
• Colleges with smaller enrollment tend to allocate
  more dollars/student in distance learning
• The amount per student varies from 1200 to 1.5
• The median value for the amount allocated is
  around 40/student

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Support System - Counseling

• 25 offer counseling on-campus only
• 36 offer counseling via distance only
• 36 offer counseling both on-campus and via
  distance

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Support System - Advising

• 9 offer advising on-campus only
• 36 offer advising via distance only
• 55 offer advising both on-campus and via
  distance

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Support System Testing for remediation

• 45 offer testing for remediation on-campus only
• 27 offer testing for remediation via distance
  only
• 27 offer testing for remediation both on-campus
  and via distance

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Support System Testing for course

• 9 offer testing for course on-campus only
• 55 offer testing for course via distance only
• 36 offer testing for course both on-campus and
  via distance

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Support System Library Resources

• 0 offer library resources on-campus only
• 55 offer library resources via distance only
• 45 offer library resources both on-campus and
  via distance

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Support System Tutoring

• 55 offer tutoring on-campus only
• 27 offer tutoring via distance only
• 18 offer tutoring both on-campus and via
  distance

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Evaluation How often is the evaluation of
distance learning courses done by the faculty?

• 18 once a year
• 9 once a term
• 55 every time a course is offered
• 18 less than once a year

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Evaluation How often is the evaluation of
distance learning courses done by the students?

• 18 once a year
• 27 once a term
• 55 every time a course is offered
• 0 less than once a year

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Retention
Fall 2001 (median) Fall 2002 (median) Fall 2003 (median)
For all courses 77 72 63
For only distance learning courses 71 72 63
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Conclusions

• Only 11 colleges submitted the survey both times
• Smaller colleges increased their distance
  learning offerings/ enrollment the most
• Smaller colleges allocated more money for the
  development of distance learning
• The retention of students in distance learning
  courses followed the on-campus courses
• Unresolved issues are still unresolved after one
  year

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Lessons Learned

• It is time consuming to collect all data required
  by the survey
• Needs collaboration between IR and DL offices
• Because sometimes the survey was forwarded to DL
  office it was never submitted
• There are not significant changes from one year
  to the next, so an yearly administration is not
  meaningful