DISTANCE LEARNING DIVISION:
Faculty of Health Sciences and Human Services
Fanshawe College
BUSINESS PLAN 2014-2019:
Prepared by Julie Cross, CYW, CYC (cert), BA
December, 2013
Business Plan Executive Summary
Business Name
Business Environment
Business Strategic Direction
Vision Statement
Mission Statement
Values
Business Description
Legal Status and Form of Business
Business Location / Geographical Location
Relationship to Other Organizations
Governance Process
Business Products and Services
Management Team
Business Structure
Proposed Organizational Structure
Human & Resource Requirements
Workflow Plan
Work Process and Procedures & Timeline for Implementation
Marketing and Sales
Marketing Strategies / Plan
Resource Requirements
Infrastructure / Office Requirements
Information and Communications
Financial Plan
Source of Start-Up Funds
Cash Flow & Sales Projections
Startup Budget
Revenue Projections
Performance Management Plan
Balanced Score Card
Business Plan Executive Summary
Fanshawe College’s Strategic Plan for the next five years is focused on increasing enrollment by 20% before 2018 (Fanshawe College, 2013) through the development of alternative delivery options for students, both domestic and international. “Alternate program delivery methods … will be essential as the College strives to maximize enrollment while continuing to respond to industry demand and government initiatives” (Fanshawe College, 2013, pg I). Local enrollment projections are dismal. It’s clear; Fanshawe needs to grow.
The Faculty of Health Sciences and Human Services is preparing to expand its delivery options to address these concerns. This business plan outlines the steps necessary to develop a dedicated Distance Learning Division within the Faculty of Health Sciences and Human Services. This plan outlines a strategic framework for the generation of the new infrastructure and the coordination of resources from other areas of the College to offer Health Sciences and Human Services programs through distance deliveryand to position Fanshawe College as a leader in novel education for these career programs.
There is an urgency to act on this idea now. As competition for enrollment numbers increase, it is only a matter of time before other colleges follow suit by developing their own online offerings. Fanshawe wants to be seen as the leaders in this endeavour and establish long-standing connections with these students who become committed alumni and trust Fanshawe to deliver future training and help us expand community partnerships in the future.
There is demand now. / There is desire now. / There is opportunity, now.This 5 year plan will see the development of the Distance Learning Division which will initially support, in it’s first year, the creation and beginning delivery of the three year Advanced Diploma in Child & Youth Work (CYW). The second year will continue to support the successive years of the CYW program while also creating the next program course, a two year Social Service Worker Diploma. Years three through five will focus on ensuring these programs are successful while recruiting faculty and program involvement from other programs within the School of Human Services to continue the trend toward eventually having all of the programs offering at least a portion of their credential through distance delivery.
Currently, there are 12 other programs housed within the School of Human Services:
- Autism & Behavioural Sciences Post Diploma Certificate Program
- Bachelor of Early Childhood Leadership Degree Program
- Child & Youth Worker (Fast Track) Advanced Diploma Program
- Protection, Security & Investigation Diploma Program
- Human Services Foundation Certificate Program
- Recreation & Leisure Services Diploma Program
- Developmental Services Worker Diploma Program
- Developmental Services Worker (Fast Track) Diploma Program
- Social Service Worker Diploma Program
- Social Service Worker (Fast Track) Diploma Program
- Early Childhood Education Diploma Program
(Fanshawe College, 2013)
Currently, there are 18 other programs housed within the School of Health Sciences & Nursing:
- Advanced Care Paramedic
- Anesthesia Assistant
- Dental Assisting (Levels 1 & 2)
- Dental Hygiene
- Emergency Management
- Emergency Telecommunications
- Fitness & Health Promotion
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- Massage Therapy
- Massage Therapy Accelerated
- Medical Radiation Technology
- Nursing (BScN Degree)
- Paramedic
- Personal Support Worker
- Pharmacy Technician
- Practical Nursing
- Pre-Health Science
- Repiratory Therapy
(Fanshawe College, 2013)
Each of these programs represents potential growth areas to build on this initial business plan. Though not all programs are ideally suited to distance delivery, the large number of programs still represent significant opportunity and potential for either partial or fully online distance education for future students.
Through the creation of the Distance Learning Division (DLD), there is potential to increase enrollmentsignificantly while managing the costs associated with the development of the DLD to ensure steady growth, enrollment and therefore revenue for the College. With the right supports and strategic implementation of this plan there is significant potential to contribute in a meaningful way to the aims of the College at large. We know that the cost of online delivery does not necessarily translate to smaller costs at the onset, but the continued growth of the DLD unit could contribute desirable financial efficiencies as the costs of initial implementation are absorbed and strategic use of resources is achieved over time (Kruse, n.d.).
Business Name
Distance Learning Division:Faculty of Health Sciences and Human Services
(First Roll Out focused on School of Human Services)
Business Environment
In order to ensure strategic and successful implementation a SWOT analysis method has been applied to this business case. The analysis revealed the following key Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats:
Major risks and issues facing the company:
The following chart (Table 1) outlines the major findings of the SWOT analysis and provides a brief snapshot of the overall challenges ahead.
Strengths(Internal) / Weaknesses
(Internal)
Aligned with College-wide strategic directions: increase online delivery, increase enrollment
Committed faculty:In-house experts in: content, curriculum design, technology for learning
Library and media services: are improving access to online, multi-media and print resources, an expanding suite of academic e-books and e-reference resources to meet latest accessibility standards (Fanshawe College, 2013, p.16)
College-wide resources such as:Student counseling, faculty training, office of the registrar, learning management systems, software contracts, IT support, newly appointed Training Coordinator – Information & Educational Technologies (Fanshawe College, 2013, p.13) These resources are currently available by appointment to online students. Further support staff could be easily put in place as enrollment grows. / Financial requirements may exceed financial resources
SWF workload calculations limit time faculty can spend on
Lack of defined physical space for development team and activities
Possible concerns about efficacy of online training for Health Sciences and Human Services career students.
Absence of support. There is need to educate senior administrators about realities of initial investments, as well as projected future growth and profit potential.
Lack of professional development for faculty in DE matters. There is a need to train faculty to reduce gap between those who know and those who don’t know how to educate in the online environment
Other initiatives in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Human Services taking away focus, energy and time from this initiative.
Opportunities
(External) / Threats
(External)
Ample supply of applicants: ratio of applicantsvs available spots for Health Sciences & Human Services Program is high for the majority of programs. This represents a market of potential applicants to target for the DE programs.
Dedicated community partners.
Fanshawe has solid reputation in the community as leaders in educating Human Services and Health Sciences graduates in Ontario
External Partnerships with various professional Associations and Legislative bodies for graduates of the programs.
Internal Partnerships with other departments, service areas, alumni and recruitment areas, student life and student support services
Financial Opportunity:DE is a growing business and each unique, comprehensive program offered exclusively online reduces infrastructure and staffing costs to the institution while maximizing profit potential. / Competition from other Colleges
Students’ experiences not positive – word of mouth may diminish appeal
Lack of faith in distance education as a viable method for training people-skills, soft-skills
Institutional-level hesitation to implement distance education programs in a timely manner.
Recent trends in the field: overall shift toward professional certification (for the profession, over-and-above diploma) and influence of training expectations in the United States.
Limited funding sources in Human Services sector in the community
Fanshawe’s budget constraints, reductions in federal fundinglimit financial resources for startup
Table 1. SWOT Analysis Results
Business Strategic Direction
Vision Statement
To unlock the potential of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Human Services through the creation of dedicatedDistance Learning Division allowing for the addition of distance learning options for career programs within the Faculty while maintaining excellence in training graduates for these careers.
Reaching this Vision will require the following committments:
Mission Statement
To be the recognized leader in training Health Sciences and Human Services Sector students learning at a distance in South Western Ontario.
Who are we?
We are specialists in developing and delivering distance education programs in the Health Sciences and Human Services sectors.
What do we do?
We develop top-quality distance educational programs that meet pedagogical and practice requirements specifically for Health Sciences and Human Services educational programs. We deliver these programs through the Faculty of Health Sciences and Human Services. We support students enrolled in these programs. We train faculty to design and deliver high-quality distance learning courses. We coordinate the resources within the College to support both faculty and students involved in distance learning programs.
Where do we do it? The programs are designed and delivered through the Faculty of Health Sciences and Human Services, Fanshawe College, London ON. The fully online courses are open to students all over the world with a specific emphasis on targeting students from South Western Ontario. The partially online courses are open to students who can make arrangements to attend the onsite portions of the programs.
What services do we offer? We will begin by offering a three year diploma program in Child & Youth Work, and will continue to develop further training options over the course of the 5 year business plan. The next diploma to be offered is the Social Service Worker program and other Human Services programs will be developed as the business plan is implemented. We also offer the coordination of resources and training requirements for faculty associated with the Distance Learning Division.
Values
- Students First: at Fanshawe, we value students learning needs and will provide academic, career and personal counselling support throughout their education. We believe every decision made by the DLD needs to consider students’ needs.
- Community Matters: we value our community partners and will involve them in the business plan through consultation and curriculum review, through recruitment efforts aimed at attracting competent faculty, through funding initiatives and mutually beneficial practicum experiences.
- Quality Education: we value faculty expertise and leadership and will utilize the specific skills and talents of all faculty involved. We also recognize the need to train each member to feel more confident with online delivery and to utilize technology effectively for student learning at a distance. The course content will be delivered by a staff complement that has augmented their practical field knowledge and classroom expertise with specific training to maximize learning in an online setting
- People Deserve the Best Care: we value the children, youth and families our graduates serve upon graduation. Our business decisions and program design choices will reflect this value.
- Invest Now for Future Gain:we recognize that initial investment in the DLD will result in new revenue opportunities and the potential to improve the brand and reputation of Fanshawe College for many years. It’s worth the struggle and effort.
Business Description
Legal Status and Form of Business
The Distance Learning Division will function as an embedded unit within an established educational institution;Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology. As such it is not considered a stand alone business and will be governed by the same bodies as Fanshawe College such as the Ministry of Education and specifically the Ontario Education Act. This also means that the Distance Learning Division is not required to register as either a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation. The unit will need to be aligned with the overall College aims, Strategic Plan, Mission, Values and Goals. According to Hannah (2008), the business would therefore be considered an Extended Traditional University.
Business Location / Geographical Location
The products and services will have a home base in London, Ontario, within the Faculty of Health Sciences and Human Services. Some of the project team members, and certainly many of the product consumers, will not necessarily be in or from London, Ontario as the business will allow for remote learning, teaching and project management as required. However, the infrastructure provided by the College services such as IT support, Student Success Counselling, Library Resources and Registrar’s Office for example will have a physical location at the main campus in London, Ontario.
Relationship to Other Organizations
This DE Unit will be partnered with other departments within the College and will be considered an extension of the existing traditional delivery programs. Community partnerships will be maintained as they are with the traditional delivery programs.
In time, the business will be seen as an example, a business case for other Health Sciences and Human Services programs at other Colleges and may serve to provide consultation to those organizations in the future.
Governance Process
Governance is the “effective management of a business or agency” (Athabasca, Unit 4 notes, 2013). In this case, the unit will need to follow the Governance Processes expected of the greater college. Fanshawe College has a Board of Governor’s which is responsible for the business of the college. According to the Board of Governor’s Policy Manual, the board is responsible for ensuring that decisions are made with the overall College in mind, and not just any one Governor’s interests, to allocate financial resources responsibly while meeting the goals of the College, and to ensure the College conducts its’ business within the laws and moral expectations of the community. Task force committees will be appointed by the Board and utilized to address specific project initiatives but will be kept at a minimum to avoid standing committees. In this business case then, approval for the development of the Distance Learning Division will need to be sought from the Board of Governor’s and resource requests will be subject to board approval.
In addition to the Board of Governor’s, Fanshawe College is required to have an active College Council and College Advisory Committees which represent both community and internal needs to the Board of Governor’s. Both the College Council and the College Advisory Committees (those associated with the Health Sciences and Human Services programs) would need to be informed and privy to this business plan. They may present the plan to the Board of Governor’s and may request changes to the proposed plan to ensure the plan is in keeping with college policies.
The organizational structure in this case is a vertical, hierarchical Divisional Structure. A pictoral representation of the organizational structure is available on the Fanshawe College website. Each division has their own budget, their own personnel and their own special area of study and courses to take care of. Each division is evaluated based on how they contribute to the overall aims of the College, and how well they meet the goals for their division.
Business Products and Services
The Distance Learning Division of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Human Serviceswill produce DE courses and establish delivery options for existing traditional delivery programs. Eventually, it’s possible that all Health Sciences and Human Services Programs may be offered in DE format once the business is well established.
The 5 year plan in this case aims to create and deliver the courses necessary to complete a Child & Youth Worker diploma through DE, and to begin offering courses for other programs such as the Social Service Worker program.
The courses required for the Child & Youth Worker program are as follows and will be rolled out over a three year span with continuous intake each semester.
Level 1Gen Ed - Take a 3 credit General Education elective course
Take all of the following Mandatory Courses:
WRIT-1044 / Reason & Writ 1 for Human Services / 3.00
PSYC-1087 / Special Ed & Assistive Technology-Intro / 3.00
BSCI-1223 / Therapeutic Programming-Process & Techn / 3.00
PSYC-1088 / Normal Growth & Development / 3.00
PSYC-1089 / Working With Children & Families-Intro / 3.00
PSYC-1090 / Child & Youth Work Practice-Intro / 3.00
BSCI-1224 / Field Preparation 1 / 1.00
Level 2
Take the following Mandatory Courses:
FLDP-1016 / Field Placement 1 / 13.60
BSCI-1225 / Field Seminar 1 / 1.0
Level 3
Gen Ed - Take a 3 credit General Education elective course
Take all of the following Mandatory Courses:
BSCI-3033 / Documentation-Methods & Legislation / 3.00
COMM-3051 / Prof. Comm'n for Children's Services / 3.00
PSYC-1091 / Counselling Skills-Process & Practice / 3.00
PSYC-3026 / Child & Youth Work Practice / 3.00
SOCI-1068 / Child Abuse & Neglect / 3.00
PSYC-1092 / Child & Adolescent Mental Health / 3.00
BSCI-3043 / Field Preparation 2 / 2.00
Level 4
Take the following Mandatory Courses:
FLDP-3013 / Field Placement 2 / 13.60
BSCI-3044 / Field Seminar 2 / 1.00
Level 5
Take all of the following Mandatory Courses:
HLTH-5005 / Drugs & Health Practices / 3.00
BSCI-5006 / Field Preparation 3 / 2.00
PSYC-5025 / Family Systems / 3.00
PSYC-1093 / Child & Adolescent Treatment / 3.00
PSYC-5026 / Counselling & Intervention Strategies / 3.00
PSYC-5027 / Child & Youth Work Practice-Adv / 3.00
PSYC-5028 / Group Counselling With Children & Youth / 3.00
Level 6
Take the following Mandatory Courses:
FLDP-5004 / Field Placement 3 / 13.60
BSCI-5007 / Field Seminar 3 / 1.00
Gen Ed - Electives
Take 6 General Education Credits -
Normally taken in Levels 1 and 3
(Fanshawe College, 2013)