Assume you are the point person on your campus for hybrid and online faculty development efforts. I come to your office and suggest I have an approach that would increase the impact of what you’re doing by four times (400%). Would you be interested?
I’m not here to sell you on any technology or open source CMS, but rather, to suggest there may be a more effective way to approach your hybrid/online efforts. The solution I am suggesting is not original, and in fact, is a major recommendation of the 2005 AHEC (Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness) report on best practices in internet-supported learning. The solution they describe as a “secret sauce” to online success is a programmatic approach that involves putting entire programs online.
“A focus to getting programs (a full degree program) fully online (a programmatic approach) as opposed to single courses fully online or web-enhanced courses, greatly increase the chance of achieving ‘overwhelming success’ by a four to one margin.”(A-HEC Report, page 2)
Why would fully online programs produce such dramatic improvement over individual online courses? The study suggests seven programmatic processes that they believe contribute to online success, including:
- Allocation of resources to support a specific program
- Development of a project plan including schedules and milestones
- Prioritization from institutional leadership to choose most impactful programs
- Program re-design sessions to facilitate faculty leaders creating a better e-learning program
- Pedagogy defined to reflect uniqueness of program
- Involvement of enrollment management in the program planning
- Development of success measures such as enrollment targets. (A-HEC Report, page 32)
As the report continues, “A review of the list of seven practices shows a strong emphasis on achieving a very clear and definable objective that provides a framework for measurement. We would conjecture that the ability to measure progress, academically and otherwise, is much more challenging in a course-focused approach.” (A-HEC Report, page 32)
I would suggest additional factors that explain the success of the “programmatic approach,” including:
- Program review as part of converting to an online format creates a better fit between courses and better alignment with learning outcomes for an entire program of study.
- Potential synergies and cooperation among faculty within a school or department working on their courses and supporting each other in this process.
- Having a fully online program attracts a new set of students to your program—possibly more mature, more self-directed learners, and with real-world experience. These students add a great deal to the learning experience.
- Professors start to see the potential for enhancing their online courses using new technologies and instructional strategies that engage students.
- Online programs imply greater institutional acceptance of online teaching, which may tend to encourage junior faculty, reluctant due to tenure concerns or political ones, to do anything perceived as “experimental.”
There are many other items I could add to this list. What is of critical importance, I believe, is having all stakeholders on campus pulling in the same direction and coordinating their efforts to achieve the greatest success. Without a “programmatic approach” we frequently see partial, sporadic and conditional support from stakeholders that need to be on board with the entire program.
However, getting an entire program online is a difficult task in an institution that is known for being highly fragmented into competing interests and that often don’t cooperate. To the extent that such fragmentation exists, whether it’s here at CUNY or elsewhere, is the extent to which online programs will reach their full potential. Do we settle for one star and call it a success when four can be within our reach?
To Be Continued: Part 2 of “The 400% Solution” will focus on what individual schools and programs can do to improve the impact of their hybrid/online teaching.
Source:
Abel, Ron (2005), Achieving Success in Internet-Supported Learning in Higher Education: Case Studies Illuminate Success Factors, Challenges, and Future Directions, Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness, Retrieved from: http://www.a-hec.org/research/study_reports/IsL0205/TOC.html
