Rethinking Course Development
- 1. Rethinking Course Development: Competing on Quality Larry Gould American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), Academic Affairs Winter Meeting, February 9, 2008, Tempe, Arizona
- 2. Where in the World is FHSU?
- 3. About Fort Hays State University • Founding member of the Higher Learning Commission’s (HLC/NCA) alternative accreditation track known as the Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) • Academic Programming 52 undergraduate degree programs 19 graduate degree programs 25 programs completely accessible off-campus • General Structure Three divisions: academic, student affairs, admin-finance Four academic colleges, graduate school, distance education delivery unit called the Virtual College
- 4. About Fort Hays State University • Branding Tagline: Affordable Success • Enrollment: The Way We Were (Fall, 1998) On-campus: 4718 Off-campus: 839 Grand total: 5557 • Enrollment: The Way We Are (Fall, 2007) On-campus: 4449 Off-campus: 5375 (2300 in China) Grand total: 9824
- 5. Distance Education Course Development at Fort Hays State University • Historical Context • The First Wave: Courses • The Second Wave: Programs • The Third Wave: Quality Assurance
- 6. Why Facilitate a “Third Wave” of Distance Education Course Development? • A Changing Competitive Landscape: Delivery Mode Is No Longer a Niche Growth Opportunity • A Changing Competitive Landscape: Diversity of Schools, Programs and Approaches • A Changing Value Proposition: Beyond Convenience, Flexibility and the Adult Learner • Enhancing the Value Proposition: Positioning and Differentiation Strategies
- 7. Refining the FHSU Message to the Consumer: Perceptions of Quality • Positioning: price, geography, faculty, product, performance, etc. • Differentiation: affordable, traditional campus, responsive, 26 programs, high student satisfaction, etc. • Using Quality: Creating Performance Indicators and Transitioning to the “Age of Brands”
- 8. Facilitating Quality Through Policy and Process • How do we achieve “differentiation” and “brand recognition” through “performance indicators?” • How do we respond to learner feedback to effect perceptions of quality? • The Answer: Rethinking and Recasting the Distance Education Course Development Process
- 9. The Process of Rethinking the Process • Results Management: Student Evaluations, NSSE, Noel-Levitz, etc. • Virtual College Advisory Committee • Center for Teaching Excellence and Learning Technologies (CTELT) • Office of Quality Management • Provost’s Council
- 10. Elements and Implications • Three pathways to course development • Incorporates national standards of “best practices” (Quality Matters) to ensure creative instructional design through rubric based process and modeling • Authorizing of process driven by department, college and institutional needs • Increases efficient use of scarce resources (people and time)
- 11. Elements and Implications • Linked to academic quality improvement work completed during Year of the Department • Faculty-driven, collegial peer review, and team-based • Designed to improve both on- and off-campus courses • Process includes phases and steps that promote faculty enhancement and learning
- 12. Elements and Implications • Recognition that teaching on-line can be overwhelming at first and different from F2F • Intended to bring a diversity of knowledge about course development to the institution and promote dissemination and archiving of best practices and new thinking • The new process strives to improve FHSU’s competitive positioning and differentiation through enhanced performance indicators (perception of quality, retention and student satisfaction)
- 13. Elements and Implications • Second horizon goals – Build a cadre and community of on-line quality champions – Develop a culture of collective responsibility for high-quality course development
- 14. • To the student: When you turn your course on, does it return the favor? • Thanks • Questions? • Link to full process and other information: <http://www.fhsu.edu/virtualcollege>