SDCCD Online Steering Committee

Minutes for

Friday, February 10, 2006

9:00am-10:30am

Miramar College, W-248

Attendees: Andrea Henne, Henry Ingle, Blair Gibb, Mary Kingsley, Sergio Aunn, Pete Miles, Rechelle Mojica, Debra Wright, Roger Gee, Sandra Pesce, Otto Lee, Rose Hicks, Gwyn Enright, Eric Nunes, Tooshdi McGowan, Hank Beaver, Elizabeth Barrington, and Mary Meiners

Minutes

The minutes from the January 13, 2006 Steering Committee were reviewed for approval. Andrea reminded the Committee that all meeting minutes are displayed at www.sdccdonline.net/handbook for their convenience.

Announcements

Andrea announced that Steering Committee member Leslie Klipper, Miramar College Faculty Representative, has reported that she will not be able to serve on the Committee for the rest of this year. Andrea requested replacement nominations. Elizabeth shared that Joseph Sadifi, Mesa College, English Department Faculty is teaching a hybrid English 51 course and has shown interest in serving on the Committee. Roger reported that Cathy LaRocca, experienced WebCT faculty, new to Mesa, would like to serve. Rechelle informed the group that City has a distance education committee and both Mesa and Miramar are going through the process of creating their own committees. Otto reminded the Committee that a faculty representative would have to be approved by the respective Academic Senates for shared governance purposes. Rechelle reported that Rod Porter, Amy Fraher, Angela Romero are possible faculty representatives from Miramar. HT suggested that Andrea draft a formal request for nominations to the Faculty Senates requesting replacement representatives; to include timeline of service and unique characteristics beneficial to the Committee. The Faculty Senates will approve and appoint the representatives from each campus.

Introductions

Andrea introduced guest Blair Gibb, SDCCD IT Department. Blair managed the successful integration of ISIS and WebCT. This project was launched Primary Spring 2006.

Student Feedback Survey Fall 2005 Preliminary Data

Bill Grimes was unable to attend today’s meeting. The group received a copy of the Student Feedback Survey along with a copy of the Preliminary Summary Results. Survey was sent January 17 to 4,412 students enrolled in online courses Fall 2005. We received 12.1% response rate, or 533 responses. Demographics are typical of current student population. Bill will provide a more detailed report later in the semester. The Steering Committee had requested information on whether the students had taken the Online Readiness Assessment; Over half answered that they did not complete the Online Readiness Assessment, nor did they attend an on-campus orientation. Currently, there is no tracking of the Online Assessment. The Committee requested that the Online Readiness Assessment be tracked, the answers be reviewed, and services be offered based on student responses. The handout included the top ten responses to question on technical problems and courses the students would like to see offered online. The majority of students are satisfied according to online survey. Andrea reported that she will also be surveying online faculty to allow them feedback as to how we can improve services. Andrea will continue to refine the survey for future distribution. Rechelle would like DSPS demographics included; Also, a question asking if DSPS students encountered difficulties in their course.

We need to look at both faculty and student readiness for online learning. HT suggested that courses include a period of ‘course introduction” to allow students to become familiar with course layout before course content is delivered. Roundtable discussion was had regarding the hire of online faculty. The Colleges are striving to hire and train faculty to teach online with competence. Each College will monitor the hiring process to fit its needs. HT reported that the students are becoming savvy as to which courses are most effective, professor reputation, etc.

HT reported that data collected shows that online is making up a larger section of the District’s enrollments. The three VPIs and the CE President all support online, not just for enrollment, but for qualitative instructional improvement across the board.

SDCCD Online Spring Newsletter

Andrea provided a copy of the Spring 2006 SDCCD Online Newsletter. Andrea reviewed newsletter and will begin distribution throughout the District. Eric Nunes has worked with Andrea on design and content of the newsletter and was complimented on his excellent workmanship.

Vista 4 Strategic Planning Update

Andrea provided copies of the document for Committee review. The document is based on WebCT/SDCCD Online week of Train-the-trainer and one week of Strategic Planning sessions. Andrea would like more detail included showing necessary steps required to reach each goal. There will be full implementation of Vista 4 by Fall 2007. The Vista Pilot will include two courses over Summer 2006, followed by ~20 courses Fall 2006. Which courses are the most critical to start developing on Vista 4; Which courses (most heavily enrolled, most manageable, most sections offered)? Who should teach (first timer faculty, the most seasoned faculty)? Andrea will be meeting with the different college’s faculty senates to make the decision on how to identify. The document was produced by WebCT and provides recommendations for integration. WebCT suggested that we train ~20 faculty in late Spring and Summer 2006. HT and Andrea have worked on a presentation to give to Academic Senates describing plans for the future of SDCCD Online. Otto suggested that we document all of these considerations regarding selection between faculty and course sections so that we can provide a report with feedback to each campus for their consideration

The Committee is concerned with the continued training of faculty in WebCT CE. Andrea has plans for the first round of trainings in Vista this March. This summer we will test Vista 4 training materials. Full training materials will be available Fall 2006, followed by mass trainings in Spring 2007. Also, more staff will be in place for SDCCD Online to offer more support for course design. A second round of trainings will be held in Summer 2007 to allow full implementation of Vista 4 for Fall 2007. HT mentioned that we might consider three academies for training 1) New online faculty, 2) Faculty already teaching with WebCT CE, and 3) Hybrid instructor trainings. There is a concern with student impact during implementation. Students talking multiple online courses may have to use two systems at once. These new Vista students may need extra training or orientation. Andrea will continue to strive for SDCCD Online’s common look and feel as we phase out CE. Andrea announced that SDSU student, Khoa, will becoming aboard to work in the Instructional Design group for SDCCD Online. HT suggested that there are also consultants available to help with transition.

Roger has worked with online instructors at both Mesa and City on course design for the Accounting Departments. He worked with faculty in a collaborative effort taking suggestions from the group to design the courses and ended up with a master-look. The individual faculty members put their own syllabus, calendar, homework assignments to personalize for course delivery.

Spring 2006 WebCT/ISIS Integration

Blair reported that he has successfully coordinated the integration effort. The group took the opportunity to provide feedback on the recent integration of ISIS to WebCT. SDCCD Online received many phone calls from confused students with the new login procedures. Even though the instructors had been informed, faculty were disconcerted that the students were able to access their course before the semester start. Blair answered that integration run can be delayed to the first day of the session. It was important that the run be made early in this first run to detect any unforeseen integration errors. The integration ran successfully, was complete, no errors were detected. Blair reported that the system is not true integration as it is a one-way run from ISIS to WebCT, not WebCT to ISIS.

Semester Preparedness

HT would like to see more discipline in course readiness in future semesters. He suggested that courses be ready 30-45 days before session start. Instructors unwilling to have their courses ready may not want to continue to teach online. Pete reported that 73 Spring courses were not ready the Thursday before semester start; Course shells were not ready, courses were out-of-date. Toosdhi commented that students want courses ready on day one. With the high demands on a student’s lives there must be no gaps in course delivery. Tooshdi teaches online and reports that she receives feedback throughout a course, not at the end when it would take weeks to revise. Rose reminds group that some courses, particularly computer science courses, are so dynamic that it would be impossible to have a complete course ready before session start. There may have to be exceptions to 30-45 day rule, maybe have the first 4 weeks pending review. HT stated that the courses should be ready. Copyright, accessibility, and pedagogy issues should be addressed 30-45 days in advance.

SDCCD Online Best Practices Showcase & Exposition

Andrea has sent out Call for Presentations. She invited all Committee members to submit a proposal for a 30-minute presentation. Also, a Call for Exemplary Courses will be sent soon, Andrea hopes that members will be willing to share their teaching techniques and showcase their excellence and experience in online learning.

Open Forum

Andrea recently completed three successful FLEX workshops, one at each campus. The faculty are supportive of online and requested more services and resources on-campus.

Rose reported that the State Chancellor’s Office has asked City College to hold a Statewide Conference on Online Learning this June. All are invited to attend. Andrea would like SDCCD Online to have a presence at this event.

Rechelle reported that there is still captioning funds for online courses. Mary Lewis has access to fund 200 hours for live chats, and live presentations. If not used by June 30, 2006 money will be lost. Please advertise that video media captioning is also available through different fund.

Elizabeth would like to address Online Exam security. She would like the Committee to review a new software product named ‘Secure Exam.’ Please see http://www.softwaresecure.com/. This software reportedly will modulate the exam to assure that the student taking the exam is the student who is supposed to be taking the exam. Please review their website. This is a fee for service opportunity. Andrea suggested that a Committee member address this issue as a presentation at the upcoming Expo.

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Online Learning Pathways SDCCD Online Steering Committee will be held March 10th at City College, B-104, 9:00am-10:30am.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Kingsley