L.A.Harbor Distance Education Report to Accreditation

 

Courses that utilize alternate delivery systems go through the same process as courses offered through traditional means.

 

Distance Education

Each semester, approximately 20 sections of online classes are offered. These sections serve 800-900 students. College faculty current use one of 4 systems to offer online classes: individual ISP’s, Blackboard (not supported by the college), WebCT and ETUDES. The college maintains licenses for WebCT and ETUDES.

 

The college’s distance education program is growing. This growth is fueled by both student demand and the declining number of classrooms as the college goes through the Prop. A/AA construction projects. Each year, the college adds 2-3 new classes and these distance education classes go through the same process as any other class new to the campus. These are the steps

 

 

The online schedule is developed in the same way as the schedule of courses offered on campus. Faculty for these classes are selected in the same way and use the same course utline and same textbooks that are used in the college’s face to face classes.

 

Issues and Concerns regarding students:

1. Student success: Student success is a common discussion topic with the distance education faculty. There is a general perception that students do not understand the commitment required to be successful in online classes. Evidence tends to bear this out: the attrition rates in online classes are much higher than face to face classes, but the success rates tend to be higher as well.

2. Student satisfaction: Each semester, the online instructors encourage their students to participate in the satisfaction survey provided by the state chancellor’s office. The results of the most recent survey are here

3. Students who start late: Some students will wait until well into the semester before beginning the course. The success rate for these students is limited.

4. Add Process: The process to add students after the semester begins is still very reliant on in person processing. This is a disadvantage for students who are not geographically near the campus.

5. Other Resources: Although it has yet to be an issue due to the limited number of courses, online counseling is a goal for the program.

 

Issues and Concerning regarding the faculty and program

1. New online faculty: As the number of faculty interested in distance education increase, there needs to be a more visible (accessible) support system for faculty who are developing and teaching classes.

2. Section 508 compliance: Classes need to be reviewed for compliance and a mechanism setup to ensure future compliance.

3. Long term stability of Course Management Systems: Contracts with the current CMS providers are annual and there is no guarantee that the provider will offer an affordable system for the next year, resulting in a great deal of uncertainty for the faculty.

Action Plan:

1. Investigate the possibility of an orientation to online classes as a prerequisite for online students.

2. Continue to encourage students to complete the chancellor’s student survey and disseminate these results.

3. Implement and enforce an “exclusion for non-attendance” policy.

4. Work with the College admissions office to develop an add process for distance education students.

5. Work with West Los Angeles College under a cooperative Title V grant to develop distance education counseling services.

6. Develop a web site for new and continuing distance education faculty providing resources.

7. Start user group(s)

8. Online courses were evaluated for section 508 compliance as part of the SPS technical assistance visit in June 2005. The curriculum committee will investigate a process for ensuring that future classes are compliant.

9. Work with the LACCD to acquire long term agreements with one or more CMS providers.

 

 

click here for distance education dialogue

 

Distance Education Dialogue

 

Questions to Aid Development of the Self Study

An institution offering courses through electronic or other modes of distance delivery is

expected to meet ACCJC standards and policies. The questions below are provided to

assist institutions in undertaking discussions as part of self study development. Evaluation

teams will similarly use them in validating the Self Study.

Curriculum and Instruction

or other modes of distance delivery are developed through a process similar to traditionally-

delivered courses?

BR-Distance Ed. Courses are developed in the same way and go through the same process as any other course. We can provide the District/College policy and procedure for course adoption.

 

JC-ANSWER: You answered this one for us! But it’s true; the Curriculum Committee did make us go through SEVERAL hoops to insure our courses were similar to the live courses.

 

HS 2/16-- While frustrating at time, I think LAHC Curriculum Committee does an excellent job of ensuring that the academic rigor of online courses matches (as close as possible) that of traditionally delivered courses. I don’t see a need to make any changes in this area.

 

TW 3/3-- TW F2f and online course objectives and content compared in the review process

 

effective interaction between students and faculty?

interaction among students?

BR-This is a good question—I don’t know that we have systematically included distance ed. courses as part of the instructor’s periodic evaluation. I will definitely recommend it when we start evaluations this cycle. What do y’all think?

 

JC-ANSWER: I always have my students evaluate specific features of each online class; it’s their final discussion question, and I have some sample student feedback somewhere or other. But this doesn’t really answer the question fully. The institution doesn’t (as far as I can tell) ensure “timely and effective interaction” between students and faculty. I know that a WHOLE BUNCH of my students’ grades depends on their interaction on the message board (at least one posting and five responses a week, and they must be substantive items, and I interact on the board); I send out special announcements and group comments to e-mail lists; students fire dozens of e-mails off to me a day. But it’s not something either systematized or tracked by the institution. If it’s to become part of the evaluation process, then just having the peer group members who evaluate the instructor log on and look over the message board interaction would work well and be incredibly easy.

 

Ann W—11/4—Like John, I require the same sort of interaction. But, as with any class, live or online, you can’t ensure timely responses by faculty (or students, for that matter). That’s one of the questions on the evaluation form for live classes. There should probably be a way to create an evaluation form for online students that’s equivalent. Maybe the IT people know enough about CGI to help us with that?

 

BR 11/5—We’d probably need the AFT’s agreement to convert the paper one to an electronic format. What about just sending it as an attachment and ask them to return it to the chair of the evaluation committee?

 

JC 2/9--Here's a last minute tag on to the responses about instructor evaluation

forms, AFT sign off, contract stuff.

 

Currently, student evaluations for the live classes go to the division chair

and are opened with the evaluation committee in the chair's presence. They

do not go to administration (well, maybe they do if there's some problem,

but I'm not aware that they do even in those cases). An online evaluation

form would have to go to the division chair, not to a distance ed.

coordinator or other administrator to mimic what we currently have in place.

 

Now how will that be accomplished?

 

LL 2/10 The institution gives instructors access to an online classroom system. The system provides email for student to instructor and student to student contact. It also provides a message board for discussions between students and instructors. Students and faculty are alerted that new messages are available since the last login by special icons upon login.

 

HS 2/16-- My experience is that there is timelier & effective interaction between student and instructor (and among students) based on the nature of the online deliver system (email, discussion boards, etc.). I personally communicate more with online students both daily and weekly in online courses than I do with students in the classroom setting.

 

TW 3/3-- Students who do not feel that an instructor is being responsive can go through the chain of command and complain during course. They do this through emails to instructor, and in the online case email Mr. Richards.

 

 

oversight of electronically-delivered courses and programs, ensuring both the rigor of

those courses and programs and the quality of instruction?

BR-I think the answer to similar to the first one; distance ed. courses are still part of the division’s offering and are treated the same as traditional courses.

 

JC-ANSWER: Exactly!

 

nature and objectives of the courses and programs?

BR-The courses are developed through the curriculum process and these issues are addressed as part of the process.

 

JC-ANSWER: The question itself is vague. AN answer is that I make sure that I keep the class relatively low-tech assuming that many of our students do not have state-of-the-art equipment. The word processing requirement is not different from what the “live” students have to deal with to produce papers, and if an online student just cannot work with Word (or something like it), then they are indeed allowed to type their papers and submit hardcopy versions (it doesn’t happen though).

 

Ann W.—11/4—Technology isn’t really an issue for those of us in English. It’s probably a bigger issue in journalism, technical, business, nursing, or science classes, where software and hardware are constantly needing to be upgraded. The college may just have to bite the bullet and make this a regular budget item, if it isn’t already.

 

BR 11/5—Perhaps I’m still misinterpreting this one, but I thought it referred to making sure that a course could be offered via a particular format. For example, it would be hard to do some of the lab classes as a purely distance ed. course.

 

LL 2/10 The institution provides an online class development system rich in features that can be adapted to a variety of courses. Another reason to keep licensing WebCT.

 

HS 2/16-- Again, I think we do a very credible job in this area thanks to the Curriculum Committee, along of course with Department and Divisional input.

However, the issue of ‘quality” is more difficult to deal with. I wish we had minimum standards for online course development and instruction. I don’t think just because one is a competent classroom teacher that they will be a good online instructor.

 

HS 2/16-- I agree with John that course development is limited based on the limitations of student hardware. Because we cannot count on students having access to state-of-the-art systems, there is a great deal of technology that is not incorporated into course design

 

 

BR-As part of the evaluation process?

 

JC-ANSWER: The institution doesn’t, as far as I know, do this even for the live classes. There are program reviews, but they don’t spend much time evaluating “currency”; then again, I’m in the English department, and it’s not a big an issue as it might be in CIS/MIS, Nursing, etc.

 

LL 2/10 Voc Ed programs like CIS are required to have advisory meetings each year with community members to make sure programs are current.

 

HS 2/16-- The institution presently relies on the instructor to keep course material current as they do in all traditional courses. This is accomplished during periodic review of course outlines.

 

 

 

ownership of materials, faculty compensation, copyright issues, and the utilization of

revenue derived from the creation and production of software, telecourses, or other

media products?

BR-Boy, does this bring back memories—the newest AFT contract is much clearer on ownership, but there is an article on development of courses that seems to contradict it.

 

JC-ANSWER: Me-mo-riesssssssss… Who can say? J And, yes, I’ve read the contract and some outside materials. Intellectual property is still that, but I know the district would like to own the classes for whatever reason (it’s not entirely clear, but the more paranoid—and for once this is not I…doesn’t “me” sound better?…English is a funny language—see portents of rows of robot teachers and vide0-conferenced talking heads taking over the world). It could happen (?)

 

BR 11/3—I think this might become a bigger issue over time. I’ve asked Rod Oakes to look into the present contradiction between Articles 40 and 41 and I’m doing an FYI for the division chairs today. As a faculty member developing an on-line course, I’ve chosen to accept no support from the district because I don’t want any opening for the district to claim ownership of the course.

Ann W.—11/4—I agree that this issue needs clarification. And like you, John and I were both careful to accept no support from the district, for that very reason. In traditional classes, an instructor is expected to use his/her knowledge and expertise to develop his/her own class, regardless of who’s taught it before. No one expects the former instructor to hand over all of his lectures and course materials. It should be the same for online classes. In practice, of course, we all talk, compare notes, say, “What did you do that worked?” etc.

 

BR 11/5—I’m still working on getting something from Rod.

 

related to distance learning are provided?

BR-I have my opinions, but again, I defer.

 

JC-ANSWER: (and Bob knows I’m not one to kiss up) Bob IS the faculty support service. Beyond that, we are a community of sharers (aren’t we?); if anyone wants help, I know most of us will give it. That’s not very official, and we’re not paid for it, but we’re lucky to have NICE faculty members.

 

BL-A course may be useful. Also an ongoing “help desk” such as IT has for hardware questions to help with the minor roadblock such as, “when I upload my file to the online course system, I loose my formatting. What do I do?” OR “how do I change margins/resize a table/turn off ONE of the auto numbering features, but not others?”

 

BR 11/3—This is where I think we need to be more systematic and public. Generally now, folks just stumble around until they find one of us and then we provide links and sage advice. I think a web page or so w/ the info. might help.

 

LL 2/10 The WebCT classroom system provided to instructors has detailed trouble-shooting and system requirements information for faculty and students. Wizards, sample courses and discussions about distance learning are available through WebCT.

 

HS 2/16-- I agree that Bob is our first responder (sort-of-speak) and that we are a community of ‘sharing users. However, what I would like to see is more face-to-face meetings, perhaps by forming an Online Users Group made up of all interested online instructors. I think thee is a great deal more we could accomplish if we were to meet just a few times a year, perhaps quarterly.

 

 

 

electronic means?

BR-I would say we have an informal network where the faculty help each other. In addition, we use outside sources such as CVC, ETUDES and do use staff development funds to offer workshops.

I wonder if its time that we got a little more structured, perhaps a part of the college web site that addresses the steps involved in developing a distance ed. class. What do you think?

 

JC-ANSWER: As I’m fiddling with WebCT (no, I have no intentions of leaving my beloved home-grown classes, but I do love new toys), I DO wish there were some simple online workshop (maybe there is!). BlackBoard is clearly clunkier than WebCT, which does look like a dull, University of Phoenix business site, but BlackBoard is easier to learn just by poking around; that “Wizard” on WebCT gets on my nerve, often sending me to sections of the development site I just don’t want to visit. But, again, I think we are a very talented group of sharing faculty members (back patting all around) who WILL help each other as need be.

 

Ann W.—11/4—This answer addresses both this question and the previous one, which sort of overlap. We’ve offered workshops for those who are interested in teaching online, and it’s pretty much “those who are interested” who teach online. (It’s too much work, if you’re not interested in the process.) But it wouldn’t hurt to have a page on the college website addressing the steps, methods, etc. I’ll write it, for Flex credit J (and I bet John will be willing to help...for...you know…Flex credit…)

 

My experience is that there is minimal institutional support, with training mainly left to individual faculty to pursue.

BR, 10/5—Gee, take away all of my fun, I was going to take a shot at it—you know, not for flex credit, since I can’t get any. I’m willing, if Carmen is. I do have a bit of a draft that I’ll share soon.

 

LL 2/10 It would be nice to have a discussion board for those teaching online. I need ideas on things like managing and grading discussions when there are 50 students in a class. It takes forever! This email format is hard to read and follow the sequence.

 

HS,2/16--My experience is that there is minimal institutional support, with training mainly left to individual faculty to pursue.

 

TW 3/3--This too was my experience. There is not incentive for instructors to teach online and minimal support. We are referred to online courses through email. Robert and other online instructors are it.

 

 

Evaluation and Assessment

delivered courses and programs? How is this information applied to admission and recruiting?

How effective is this assessment?

BR-Our website and the CMS websites have a “ Is distance ed. For you” link. We have discussed a prerequisite course. Generally, given the attrition rate, I don’t think we’re all that effective in this area.

 

JC-ANSWER: Yup. But the problems are institutional. We have tons of students who want to take the core classes; there aren’t enough classes for them; many take the online classes because it’s what’s available. Then again, as I read what I’m typing, that may not be the case (I do love to contradict myself). The highest-demand online classes (for us that’s English 101 and 102) fill up QUICKLY, so students DO likely have other options. Perhaps they just see the freedom and think they don’t have to worry that they’ve never used e-mail before; perhaps they think the computer will do the work for them (I know some do think this). I suspect most ignore the “Is distance ed. For you?” link. Along those lines, I have very specific “student responsibilities” (check the schedule, that sort of thing) on the site, and I find many students tell me they’ve read it and then prove they haven’t by ignoring every item on it. So I guess I’ve no answer here (but look how much I wrote).

 

Ann W.—11/4--I’m with John on this one: we provide the information; it’s up to the students to read it (or ignore it, at their own peril). We do have high attrition rates, but I’m not sure that’s due to the students’ technical abilities. It may be more related to their expectations that online classes will be easier. When they find they’re not, they bail. There is one area in which we could improve: some of our attrition is due to no-shows. In the schedule of classes, students are told to contact their online instructors at a specific e-mail address. Many don’t: they’re waiting for us to contact them (does anyone read instructions anymore?). So we end up calling students who haven’t checked in by the first week of class. Very time-consuming and annoying. When students register for an online class, could there be an additional prompt to remind them to e-mail the instructor? I guess Admissions would have to help with that.

 

BR 11/5—We can probably work on this w/o any help. How about a statement on the distance ed. page that states “If a student hasn’t logged on or contacted the instructor by the end of , they will be excluded as a “no show”.

 

LL 2/10 I send out postcards to all of the students at my own expense and lots of them are returned with bad addresses. I gave up on calling them, the numbers were often no good and the person that answered the phone didn’t speak English. We need a stronger statement in the class schedule and after they register that says that they have to contact the instructor by the first week. I’ve had students wait 3 weeks and finally email or call me upset that I didn’t find a way to contact them.

 

I have wording in my syllabus about having Internet skills and also give a warning in the orientation session that these classes are not for computer novices. Possibly this could be stronger in the class schedule?

 

HS 2/16-- I agree with Bob, and I would support a 4-8 hour prerequisite lab class for online students. I believe it could address all three areas (1) student capability (2) admissions (3) assessment

 

TW 3/4 Can the LRC maybe coordinate some tutoring sessions for online students the week before the class and the class be announced in the schedule and/or a warning pop up when they register. I spend hours on the phone and in the computer lab showing students how to copy and paste…..

I can’t require a pre-req. because of BRN regs

 

delivered courses and programs (including assessments of student learning outcomes,

student retention, and student satisfaction) to ensure comparability to traditionally-

delivered courses and programs?

BR-We have participated in the annual student survey of distance ed. courses and it should be part of the faculty members’ evaluation. One issue is that there isn’t an electronic version of the student evaluation that’s used as part of the contract.

 

JC-ANSWER: Yes, we’ve tried the electronic evaluation thingey; I’m not sure what came of it. As I said elsewhere, my students do evaluate each course, but it’s not in secret; I read ‘em. My (casual) observation is retention is about the same and performance is about the same online as in my live classes. I THINK different types of students succeed in each setting (self-discipline is more important for the online folks), but the numbers seem about the same.

 

LL 2/10 We could survey students who dropped about why. The students in my online classes are usually taking that format because their schedule does not allow them to come to campus regularly. If one little thing goes wrong in their lives, they can’t keep up with the online class. Usually the reason is ____ is ill, job situation, unexpected travel for job, etc. Many enroll as many as 3 times before they are able to finish.

 

HS 2/16-- I believe that these measurements are important and should be evaluated in the same manner as any traditional course would be evaluated.

 

TW 3/4-- Reasons for dropping are the same as f2f classes plus lack of computer skills. You can only help in so many ways. To specifically find out why they drop means more phone calls, etc.

 

 

the degrees and credit it awards?

BR-I defer to y’all

 

JC-ANSWER: OOOOOh, this is the stuff we’re looking at in our plagiarism discussions. In the end we can’t be sure that all of the work is legit; then again, we can’t in the live classes either. With grades based on essay writing, it’s pretty easy to catch instances of plagiarism, but what if a student borrows a sister’s paper; the sister went to a different school; the paper is not available online? Hmmm… But isn’t the problem the same with our live classes (yes it is; I’m not one to leave a rhetorical question rhetorical)? We are very good at catching those who copy from the Internet or from print sources; we work at it. I’m not sure how classes using objective tests address this. You can get rid of the video cell phones in class, but you can’t online.

 

BL-One aspect of using an online component to supplement face to face delivery, is that I can give an online assignment that depends on the face-to-face lesson, class discussion, or other classroom presentation. I too am interested on how instructors of completely online courses handle this.

 

Ann W.—11/4—Ditto John’s answer; when you read students’ work week after week on the Message Boards, you get to know their style and ability level, so a paper which is out of character is easy to spot. Only a student who hires someone else to do all of the work could get away with it. Maybe some do. They do in live classes, too… There is one other thing I’ve seen happen in online classes that rarely happens in live classes, though. Sometimes, when an answer on the Message Board is plagiarized from another student or another source, a student will report it to me. It makes them mad to see others get credit for cheating, while they’re working so hard.

 

LL 2/10 WebCT provides some security for online tests, student login, limited time access, delayed release of results until all tests have been completed, etc. It also provides for alternative questions so every student won’t have the same version of the test. As much as possible I have a creative component to assignments so no two projects should be exactly alike. Points are given for discussions where students must come up with a unique posting. I use the EVE plagiarism checker for papers, it would be great if the campus paid for a license for instructors to use one of the better checking systems. As for who is actually doing the assignments, I don’t know that for sure in a face-to-face class either. My syllabus has some language about cheating.

 

HS-2/16 I believe we need an institutionally mandated solution to this questions: (online teachers user group) where best practices are shared and policy adopted that support the academic integrity of our online courses

 

TW 3/3-- Any assignment that goes on the discussion board has to present new information for credit. Other assignments are emailed to me directly. Tests have a bank of questions that are scrambled. You can only do so much.

 

 

Library and Learning Resources

appropriate information resources?

resources?

to the courses or programs?

BR-I’ll defer to y’all

 

JC-ANSWER: Uhhh… I dunno. I know students have LOADS of access to computers, writing labs, library materials, etc. I’m not sure how we can ensure students use the sources effectively. Jonathon Lee has excellent workshop/courses in some of these areas, but we don’t have a Preparing to Take a Class Online class.

 

BR 11/3—I guess I had a different slant on this one; if distance ed. is “anytime, anywhere”, how do we ensure that students who may be very far away have the same resources that a student who has access to campus has? I don’t have an answer.

 

Ann W.—11/4—I’m not sure we can. Most students who aren’t local are enrolled at other colleges, though, and use the resources there. Again, in English, this isn’t really a problem. Other disciplines—the sciences, for example—may have to coordinate with programs in other colleges to provide Lab space or proctoring.

 

LL 2/10 The campus installs all of the necessary software and has a fast Internet connection for completing work for online courses if the student doesn’t have the resources elsewhere. The LAC labs are open for a lot of hours for flexibility.

 

 

Student Services

appropriate to support the programs, including admissions, financial aid, academic

advising, delivery of course materials, placement, and counseling?

BR 11/3—Let me start this one, but most of it will come from student services. So far, students can apply, enroll and drop via phone or internet (we have a rather cumbersome add process). Financial aid application is available online

 

Advising and counseling may not be an issue yet—if an student completed all of the on-line courses, he/she couldn’t get a degree or certificate. When (if) we get to the point that we have an entire program on-line, this will be an issue. I know that student services is discussing an online counseling function.

 

The bookstore does accept orders for course materials to be shipped.

 

Assessment and placement??

 

Ann W.—11/4—Oh, boy, are you right about the add process being cumbersome for online students! Is there any way to streamline that?

 

BR 11/5—Since David’s included in all this, I’ll let him answer.

 

LL 2/10 Ditto to Ann. Prospective students email me to ask about how to enroll in the college, or get stopped by required placement tests, etc. I don’t know anything about how they register (and don’t have time to learn). They also ask me questions about transferability to their institution and grad requirements. Who should these students contact? When they want to add, I usually mail them add slips in the regular mail.

 

 

 

complaints?

provide to students that adequately and accurately represents the programs,

requirements, and services available?

difficulty using the required technology?

 

JC-ANSWER: I defer to y’all. J

 

BR 11/3—I’m still thinking about this one

 

Ann W.—11/4—Some of this falls into the territory of Admissions, of course, so I wouldn’t know. And the question “How does the institution ensure that students admitted possess the knowledge and equipment necessary to use the technology employed in the course or program?” is a repeat, and has been addressed elsewhere. But the last question, “How does the institution provide assistance to students who are experiencing difficulty using the required technology?” is pretty good: does the college provide any assistance, formally? I know we answer a zillion questions about technical issues (“How do I post a message on the Message Board?” “How do I attach a paper to an e-mail?” “I can’t get to the website. What am I doing wrong?” “Help! I posted an answer on the Message Board and now it’s not there! What do I do?!”) at the beginning of each semester as problems come up. That may be enough.

 

BR 11/5—Complaints? I never get complaints. We do receive them when CVC goes down and both my e-mail and phone number are on CVC. I’m not sure how ETUDES does—they have a separate district help line.

 

Are they talking about instructor/student issues? In that case, the division chair and dean’s numbers are accessible.

 

I’m not sure about the assistance part

 

LL 2/10 VU provides excellent support pages about required hardware and software and trouble-shooting WebCT. I give students my cell phone number and answer problem emails as quickly as possible. BR, you’ve been great at helping my students who contact you instead.

 

HS 2/16-- Campus support is provided by the college’s online coordinator and the course instructors. For those of us using WebCT they offer student online and phone support as well as a faculty support system that I find invaluable.

 

TW 3/3-- I do a f2f orientation. I also contact any student by phone who attended orientation if they do not log in within a week of the course to see if they are having problems or dropping. But my online students are all local.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Facilities and Finances

electronically-delivered courses and programs are provided effectively?

BR 11/3—Actually, only WebCT and ETUDES (much to Pamela and Ana’s frustration). This is a concern—we are very dependant on others for our distance ed. courses. Each year, the cost of the licenses go up and the quality of what we receive goes down.

 

Ann W.—11/4—Is there any way we could provide our own platform? It would require some technical knowledge, of course, but it couldn’t be that difficult. We could provide some templates, and maybe a support person. Actually, it wouldn’t be that tough to do, and would it cost that much more to pay a support person than we’re paying for the licenses for WebCT and Etudes?

 

BR 11/5—There are discussions of that and also discussions of having the district host an ETUDES site. The problems are staffing and maintaining it. Keep in mind, we’d still have to pay for the license.

 

LL 2/10 We would have even more difficulties with something supported on campus. The funding for technology is too spotty. Funding for things is general is too political and some of us have opted out of those kind of battles. All you can say here is that we pay to be part of a larger system with support.

 

viability and effectiveness of the electronically-delivered courses and programs reflected

in the institution’s long-range planning, budgeting, and policy development processes?

 

JC-ANSWER: I’ve never made use of such sources; I do, however, know the school has been paying for us to use BlackBoard and WebCT if we want to use them; that’s something.

BR 11/3—As far as I know, we’ve kind of meandered into this and it is something that I’ve tried to push w/ the division chairs that as y’all work on program review, there should be a section relating to distance education plans.

 

LL 2/10 If long-range is more than a year, it doesn’t seem like anything happens at all. Each year the question comes up, “are we going to renew our licenses?” and “where is the money going to come from?” From year to year I’m afraid that I’ll have to scramble to find somewhere to host my courses for the next semester and port them quickly to another platform. Online classes are some kind of unimportant novelty to the campus, while my classes regularly fill to 50 students each. That’s a large part of the CIS/CSIT enrollment.

 

As for which classes are offered online in my department it is up to an instructor who wants to try it.

 

 

 

 

 

Other items:

 

LL 2/10--I didn't see anyplace to include 2 of my biggest peeves:

 

1. No way to collect VTEA information for online students

2. Get rid of those stupid TBA attendance forms where I'm supposed to write

in contact hours.

 

For faculty interested in teaching distance education classes

The following steps are intended to assist you in first, deciding if you want to teach a distance education class and then, going through the process of course approval and other steps that must be completed before you can teach the class.

 

Step 1: Check with your division chair to determine if adding an online version of the course is part of the division's unit plan.

Step 2: Contact others who are teaching on-line to see if it is what you really want to do:

Step 3: Review the AFT Contract, articles 40 and 41 about compensation and intellectual property.

Step 4: Contact your division chair to set up a written agreement outlining compensation and ownership.

Step 5: Determine if the course is already approved as a distance education course at Los Angeles Harbor College.

Step 6: Follow the curriculum development steps

You can find the LACCD combined PNCR/Course Outline form here.

Step 7: Decide what platform to use. Currently the college has licenses with WebCT and ETUDES

 

Step8: Build your course.

 

L.A. HARBOR COLLEGE

STUDENT SURVEY RESULTS 2004-2005

In which of type of distance learning classes are you presently enrolled?Telecourse (Cable/Broadcast) 0

Videotape-DVD 0

Videoconferencing 0

On-line/Web-based 60

Audioconferencing 0

Correspondence 0

Audio Cassettes 1

Satellite 0

Other 0

How did you hear about this distance learning course?Class scheduling or catalog 53

Counselor or instructor 8

Friend or relative 10

Employer referral 0

Web site 3

Newspaper 0

Radio ad 0

Television ad 1

Brochure 6

I have taken a Distance education course before 0

Other 0

Please indicate if and where you have access to the following: Home Work College Other access No access

Television 50 7 11 2 0

VCR-DVD 49 4 8 2 0

Cable TV service 37 4 5 1 0

Computer 51 23 33 4 0

Modem 41 17 17 3 0

Fax 17 25 8 9 0

Internet Access 53 28 32 7 0

E-mail access 52 26 28 5 0

Telephone 53 30 15 6 0

Satellite 15 3 5 0 0

Please indicate the extent to which each of the following was a reason that you took this distance education course: Very Important Important Somewhat Important Does not matter at all Do not know

To fulfill requirements for associate degree 37 6 3 6 9

To fulfill requirements for transfer 43 5 0 4 9

To fulfill requirements for vocational certificate 10 3 3 29 16

To improve job skills/expand job opportunities 30 6 10 11 4

Instructor has a good reputation 25 11 8 6 11

Personal interest 30 11 7 7 6

Course not offered on campus 12 3 5 24 17

On campus sections were full 6 3 5 25 22

Convenience 45 4 4 3 5

Because of my disability 6 1 1 53 0

Thought DE would be academically easier 10 11 12 16 12

Course was not available to me in a classroom setting 8 4 4 25 20

I had success with a previous distance education class 18 7 4 18 14

Unable to come to campus 10 7 8 23 13

I like computer technology 24 11 10 10 6

Other 4 0 0 2 6

How far is your home from the nearest community college campus?1-5 miles 30

6-10 21

11-15 7

16-20 1

more than 20 miles 2

Compared to other on-campus based courses how much time do you spend on the DE course?a lot more 0

a little more 0

same amount of time 0

a little less 0

a lot less 0

Please indicate your level of satisfaction with each of the following aspects of your distance education course: Very satisfied Satisfied Somewhat satisfied Very unsatisfied N/A

Reliability of the technology used for instruction 42 7 3 4 5

Quality of instruction/instructional presentation 39 9 4 3 6

Quality of course materials 42 8 4 3 4

Accessibility of course materials for students with disabilities 31 4 3 2 21

Quality of student to faculty interaction 33 11 7 4 6

Amount of student to faculty interaction 28 10 12 4 13

Faculty availability/responsiveness to questions/concerns 38 7 9 3 4

Quality of student to student interaction 28 15 7 3 8

Amount of student to student interaction 29 12 9 4 7

Overall course quality 36 12 5 4 4

Your own success in the course 33 12 9 3 4

Quality of self-assessments and practices 34 10 8 5 4

Quality of discussion to analyze and comprehend course material 33 11 10 4 3

Library Services 23 12 4 4 18

Extent to which course helped you achieve your academic/vocational goal 35 10 6 4 6

Availability of sufficient self-assessment practices and information processors 32 9 9 3 8

Please indicate the level of availability of each of the following support services in relationship to your distance education class? Very satisfied Satisfied Somewhat satisfied Very unsatisfied N/A

Registration 38 14 2 1 6

Counseling 25 16 6 3 11

Financial aid assistance 19 8 6 6 22

Obtaining textbooks and other course materials 29 13 10 4 5

Disability support services 15 8 3 2 33

Tutorial services 22 12 4 2 21

Job placement services 17 5 7 3 29

Help Desk 21 11 2 4 23

Obtaining 25 12 11 4 9

Library Services 24 13 5 1 18

Please indicate the frequency with which you use each of the following methods to communicate with your distance education instructor (not including non-interactive class lectures): Never Seldom Occasionally Somewhat often Very often

Phone (private) 47 8 4 1 1

Audioconferencing (telephone conference calls) 56 1 1 1 2

E-mail 3 4 15 18 21

List-serve 43 5 3 8 2

On-line bulletin board 19 3 11 9 19

Off-line reader/modem 45 3 1 5 7

Chat room 41 1 5 4 10

Fax 52 1 2 1 5

Mail 46 4 4 2 5

In person during office hrs. 31 10 12 2 6

In person at mid-term or final 33 10 6 3 9

Videoconferencing 55 0 1 1 4

Other 14 0 0 0 1

Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with each of the following statements about your distance education course: Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree Don't know N/A

The distance education course was more academically demanding than a typical on-campus class. 16 19 21 1 2 2

The distance education course demanded more time for lessons, activities, and homework than a typical on-campus class. 11 26 22 1 1 0

The method of instruction for my distance education course made the course more interesting. 22 30 5 1 3 0

The method of instruction for my distance education course made the course material easier to understand. 21 27 9 2 2 0

The method of instruction for my distance education course interfered with my learning. 5 6 26 21 2 1

I did as well academically in this course as I would have in a typical on-campus class. 9 34 13 1 3 1

My satisfaction or success was limited because of technical or equipment difficulties. 4 12 27 11 2 5

I had more interaction with my distance education instructor than I normally would have with a classroom instructor. 14 9 25 9 3 1

I had more course-related interaction with other students in my distance education class than I normally would have in a classroom-based course. 8 18 24 9 2 0

I would take another distance education course. 35 22 1 0 3 0

I would not take a distance education course if the same course were available on campus. 3 8 25 19 4 2

Community colleges should offer more distance education courses. 36 21 2 0 1 1

The course material was pertinent to the topic. 29 29 0 0 3 0

The course material stimulated my interest in the subject. 26 31 2 1 0 1

I possessed all the technical and time management skills necessary to succeed in a distance education course prior to enrolling in the course. 14 40 5 0 0 2

I needed the instructor to keep me on track and help me manage my time to succeed in this course. 2 18 25 12 2 2

It was difficult for me to turn in all assignments on time. 2 11 33 14 1 0

Participating in online discussion was more of a joy than a chore. 13 35 8 1 1 3