State of Online Education at U of I
From WikEd
- Group Members: Wayne Banwart, Tom Dempsey, Adam Fein, Jill Gengler, Heather Miller, Laura Miller, Norma Scagnoli, Linda Smith (overseer)
- The Current State of Online Education at the University of Illinois
- Inspect and contribute to the other working groups: Big Picture and Wish List, Examination of Online Education Beyond UIUC and Research on Online Education.
Contents |
Current Activity
Facts
- Number of online Masters programs & colleges offering them
- 1)Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences
- Agricultural Education (online and campus-based)
- 2)Education
- Community College Teaching and Learning (online)
- Educational Policy Studies (Global Studies in Education - online)
- Educational Psychology: CTER (online Curriculum, Technology, & Education Reform)
- Global Human Resource Development (online)
- 3)Engineering
- Computer Science - MCS (online)
- Mechanical Engineering - MSME (online)
- Graduate Certificates (online)
- Systems Engineering
- Environmental and Water Resources Engineering
- Strategic Technology Management (STM)
- Computer Security
- Information Systems
- Networks and Distributed Systems
- Software Engineering
- System Software
- Materials
- Materials Failure Analysis
- 4)Library & Information Science
- Library and Information Science (online) Masters and Advanced Certificate
- Number of colleges offering online programs: 4
- Number of current students enrolled in online programs
- Engineering - 500 enrollments per year, 60 MCS degree students, 40 MSME degree students
- Number of online courses offered (not as part of a program)
- Engineering - 60 courses per year (all online courses can be taken individually or as part of a degree or certificate program)
- Number students enrolled in online courses (not within a program)
Existing models of online programs at UIUC
Cohort models : CTER, HRE, LEEP
Non-cohort Models : Math, GIS, Engineering (degree, certificate, single courses), (extramural?)
Administrative model(?)
How are programs managed? admission, staffing, responsibilities for tech support, services, advising, recruiting, faculty support. Different functions, how those are supported, relationship with department, college, academic outreach.
CTER Administrative Structure: Director, Program Coordinator, Technical & Academic support staff
Pedagogical model
... Approches used to design and deliver courses
- Engineering (non-cohort model) - Goal: Same course online as on-campus - In-class lectures streamed over the Internet; homework turned in by email, fax, or mail - Computer Science student submit homework online; proctored paper and pencil exams; communication via WebBoard, email, or audioconference; material posted on simple course website (http://online.engr.uiuc.edu/webcourses/ge598is) - some instructors use Illinois Compass to post material and generate online quizzes
... CTER(cohort model). CTER does not impose any pedagogical model to faculty. Instructors are provided with information about different possible models and examples. They have academic freedom to choose how they want to deliver their courses, how many synchronous sessions they want to have, if any, and what type of course structure they want to follow. CTER staff will assist with instructional design and teaching assistance or technical support. And CTER staff will also provide training on how to use the delivery method of choice.
- Interaction
Class interaction happens by means of LMS (Moodle, Elluminate, WebCT/Blackboard, or a combination of them) or online tools such as interactive web pages, wikis, TappedIN, messengers or other applications. Students have access to class materials via the LMS or webpages. E-mail is sometimes used in online classes for communication, but forums are more popular. Email is seldom used for delivery of materials.
- LMS
Instructors choose among these alternatives: webpages, Moodle, Elluminate, WebCt/Blackboard, or a combination of them. At present most of them use Moodle.
- Synchronous vs. asynchronous
Asynchronous interaction is present in all courses through forums, wikis, online journals, or depending on the LMS in use for the course.
Courses usually have 1-2 synch sessions per week. The synch sessions (in most courses) are used for Q&A or Office Hours. Some courses have special synch sessions where the instructors, students or a guest speaker do presentations or lectures. The Office hours or Q&A sessions are not required for students to attend, the special sessions are required. Special sessions happen 3 or 4 times a semester.Sometimes courses do have 1 required synch session per week that is required. But this is not always the case.
- Instructor and Students interaction
Interaction with instructor and TAs will happen via the discussion forum, chats or the system included in the LMS in use.
In some courses students work in groups and they interact using different synchronous or asynchronous tools of their choice. Instructors usually suggest which ones they can use, but since these are students pursuing their masters in ed technology, it is expected that they will know how to select and adopt a technology that matches their needs and technical capabilities.
- Evaluation, exams
Midterms and finals consists of projects that students submit to the instructor via LMS, or materials that they present synchronously or asynchonously to the instructor and classmates.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths of the program
..Ag Education Masters Degree--needed area for Extension specialists and future Ag educators; flexibility with current working professionals due to the delivery method
..Dairy Science Certificate Program--needed for industry professionals to gain more knowledge about new technology and science in the area of dairy production; ease of flexibility for working professionals; utilizes the new Elluminate software system to deliver audio and visuals direct to people's homes.
- CTER: reaches out to teachers who would not be able to pursue the Masters in Education on campus, over 100 graduates, 8 cohorts with 1% drop out rate. Strenghts based on statitistics: students' satisfaction, community building, retention, outreach.
..The LEEP distance education program has been in place for over 10 years with a great deal of support from the department. There has been a great deal of stability in the core group that supports the program, leading to a strong base of institutional knowledge. Given the small number of accredited library and information science schools and UIUC’s reputation as a leader in the field, there is demand for our degree. LEEP is also fairly unique in that our synchronous sessions (chat with audio) are a very important part of the experience, leading to a great deal of interaction and community-building with our students and instructors. We also have built much of our technological structure on open protocols.
..Engineering: Top-ranked CS (4) and ME (6) graduate education available to working professionals around the globe; lectures available asynchronously and available on course website all semester for review; same diploma awarded (no mention of online delivery format); students do not need to be part of degree program to enroll in online courses; high-quality video that makes student feel part of on-campus course
...Decentralization of support services allows cutomization to individual student groups and provides high-level of customer service
Weaknesses
....Ag Ed Masters--more faculty needed to expand the program; there is demand, but the department is unable to keep up with demand due to low faculty commitment; more promotion could be done, but more commitment from the department is needed.
..Dairy Science Certificate--more courses could be offered or developed to meet niche market interest (goat milk production for example or forages course); more publicity nationwide to gain more students (currently being worked on).
- CTER: more faculty needed to expand the program; low out of state enrollment.
..Our technological infrastructure is aging. When LEEP started, we felt that the tools we wanted to use did not exist, so we created things in-house. While having a stable technology base has been an advantage (keeping the learning curve short), it is starting to show its age as students demand new tools.
..Engineering: market limited due to high entrance requirements for MCS and MSME degree program (would NOT want to change this just to get more students); limited number of online classes; faculty have no incentive to place classes online
..University is not online student friendly: NetID issues, timeticket errors still occur for degree students, online students have no time to wade through information that is geared to on-campus students, on-campus refund model does not make sense for online students, CITES and OAR are not aware of special online student needs
..Manual registration of non-degree students into Banner is not a scalable model
Opportunities
..Ag Ed--the demand is there for the courses--more faculty commitment/department commitment would grow this program to something very strong as the UIUC name draws them to this online program. Increase public awareness, and increase department buy in to commit to an off-campus program
..Dairy Science Certificate--organic milk production and goat milk production are growing markets so this might be an opportunity for that type of short course.
- CTER: demand for educational technology courses, demand for technology certification
..Given the small number of library and information science schools, the continuing need for librarians and the growing need for new types of information professionals, it seems likely that there will be continued demand for this degree and the distance education delivery option. GSLIS is also working with other LIS schools (primarily Syracuse in the beginning of the experiment) in creating a consortium (called WISE, see http://wiseeducation.org) to provide additional quality online education experiences to our students. We also see potential in partnering with various professional organizations to offer continuing education options.
..Engineering: not many fully online MCS and MSME degrees; new nanotechnologies and bioengineering opportunties; live video streaming capability (non-credit seminars and credit courses) would allow groups at companies to participate synchronously; continuing education professional and state requirements
Threats
..Ag Ed--threatened by low commitment from the department to provide adequate faculty and staff for the program. The demand is larger than the department is currently able to handle so students complain about poor communication. Additionally, other institutions are launching programs in Ag Ed--Iowa State for example.
..Dairy Science Certificate--threat is lack of exposure to potential students. Low student numbers has caused classes to be cancelled. This is getting better due to some new marketing initiatives that are outside of Illinois.
..LEEP's main threat comes from competing programs that can offer lower tuition, especially for students who pay out-of-state rates for UIUC.
..Engineering: faculty are busy and unless there are incentives, why participate; other universities collaborating with companies; students who have a difficult experience during their first course; inability to plan courses out several years
(e.g. current activity, existing UIUC models, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats).
