Running head: Learner support proposal based on group case study The Collegiates Proposal for Learner Support

OMDE 608 Section: 9040 November 2013 Assignment 3: Proposal

Learner Support Proposal for Johns Hopkins University for the Advanced Academic Programs

Leila Liberman, RDH, BS OMDE: 608 Assignment 3

1 Leila Liberman, The Collegiates OMDE 608 Section: 9040 November 2013 Assignment 3: Learner support proposal based on group case study

Learner Support Proposal for Johns Hopkins University for the Advanced Academic Programs Summary of The Collegiates Case Study and challenges faced The purpose of this paper is to provide a proposal for a learner support system at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) for the Advanced Academic Programs (AAP), in review of the case study presented by The Collegiates. The AAP programs at JHU provides an opportunity for those seeking advanced degrees, without the time investment required to perform extensive research (Byrne et al., 2013). Advanced Academic Programs has entered the international educational market, pursuing a diverse population of students from many countries around the globe (Byrne et al., 2013).The leaders of AAP are concerned that a proper balance of faculty to student ratio continues to exists in the expansion of the programs (Byrne et al., 2013). Advanced Academic Programs is the largest online, part-time graduate school within the university (JHU, 2013). The AAP program provides support services for all enrolled students, a registrar, library support, nine instructional resource staff, and full time technical support (Byrne et al., 2013). Advanced Academic Programs have been successful in attracting large numbers of worldwide students and has been challenged by the main school to increase enrollment by 200%. Therefore AAP needs to increase staff and faculty and increase technology support within the next three years in order to meet all challenges placed by the university. In order to remain competitive, be financially viable, continue to serve its learners, maintain and improve graduation rates, AAP must address the following challenges: Faculty-to-student ratio

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Mentoring students Maintaining a sense of community (SoC)

Maintaining a well-trained staff

Goals of the Proposal

Increase learner retention by increasing faculty to student ratio Develop a strong e-mentoring program Increase learner engagement via SoC in the classroom Increase skill development for learners and faculty to maintain an engaging

constructive class through the use of technologies

Elements for future development

The elements of the learner support system which must be in place now, and enhanced for the future, in order for AAP to be more successful are:

A mentoring program to include counseling and tutoring Technology support which includes self-help tutorials Staff training to include staff performance assessments and feedback

Organization of staff and services

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According to the case study presented by The Collegiates, the administration at JHU does not mandate professional development, leaving technology literacy to suffer and frustrate

students and faculty (Byrne et al., 2013). Institutions must be proactive in developing a system focused on retaining high quality distance education (DE) faculty (Pferdehirt, Smith, & AlAshakr, 2005). Training for all levels of online DE instructors, from beginners to experienced DE educators, who are interested in continuing their professional development, must be available (Pferdehirt, Smith, & Al-Ashakr, 2005). When faculty are not well versed in current technology, increased turnover rates occur. This potential loss can involve course design and redevelopment, faculty training, and increased staff support (Pferdehirt, Smith, & Al-Ashakr, 2005). According to The Collegiates case study (2013), funds for the AAP program are already limited, thus the importance of instituting a yearly educational program for faculty enhancement. This course for faculty will be in the form of a Web-conference, with mandatory participation followed by an evaluation mechanism. As the presenter of this proposal, it is recommended, in accordance with the research, that yearly training of new and improved technology/media programs be introduced to all faculty to eliminate frustration in faculty and students.

Achieving goals and objectives

The Collegiates report the following are the existing resources for the AAP:

The Investment Fund ($150 technology fee from each student)

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25% of the tuition (Byrne et al., 2013)

The Collegiate group representative recommends that each course director develop a proposal asking for support from the department chair and apply for Investment Fund monies to be used to

hire and train new faculty. This approach will lower the frustration of learners, with better developed courses and maintain a low student to faculty ratio. The representatives advise the marketing department of AAP to utilize its Alumni. The alumni will hold fundraisers with the funds going directly back to the AAP for student support services. By increasing the revenue within the AAP, allowing them to create a better trained staff and faculty, will have a positive effect on learner retention, learner engagement and skill development for learner and faculty.

Evaluation of said recommendations A Likert Scale survey questionnaire will be developed and administered to students in all courses within the AAP. Each item in the scale should to be closely related to the same topic of measurement. Therefore, a questionnaire will be developed focusing on each of the four objectives listed in the proposal. The results of the survey will be discussed at departmental meetings, as well as at the executive level of AAP, and appropriate action taken. This survey will be part of the final week of class in which each student participates.

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Table 1 Likert scale for course evaluation

Strongly Disagree Did you find it stressful to complete this course? Was there ample faculty present in the virtual classroom? Did you feel mentored by the instructor? Did you feel mentored by an outside classroom source? Did you enjoy the ice breaker exercise? Did you feel part of the virtual classroom? Where you able to bond with fellow students? Where you frustrated with the technology in the virtual classroom? Was the instructor familiar with the technology within the virtual classroom? Was the virtual classroom interface easy to navigate?

Disagree

Agree

Strongly Agree

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Rationale for proposal

There is much research on the need for institutions to maintain a high level of learner support via the student to instructor ratio. Brindley (1995) states that more service oriented and customer relations is needed in educational institutions to attain the overall goal of retaining students and higher course completion rates. Increasing the number of faculty and maintaining a low student to faculty ratio, will allow the leaner to have discussions with the instructor and receive guidance for the comprehension of critical concepts and principles (Berge, 1995). By maintaining a low student to educator ratio, the educator will be able to maintain flexibility with the adult learner (Berge, 1995). This presenter supports the need to maintain small class sizes with appropriate faculty. Mentoring can be done in the fashion of e-mentoring (Thompson, Jeffries & Topping, 2010). Electronic communications possess qualities which foster the development of open and supportive relationships (Thompson et al., 2010). An effective e-mentor requires skills in elearning development, skills in communicating in online environments and skills in mentoring (McLuckie & Topping, 2004). Thompson et al. 2010, acknowledge that more studies need to be done to support e-mentoring; however, the representative of this proposal recommends this form of learner support be put in effect. A SoC for online learners needs to be established to avoid learners feeling isolated (Shackelford & Maxwell, 2012). Shackelford and Maxwell (2012) state the importance of using

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social constructivism pedagogy, in which the educator establishes an environment with active participation between learners to learners and learners to instructor. When the learner engages in interaction with peers, instructors, and content, he or she is enabled to become a part of the classroom community (Shackelford & Maxwell, 2012). In the constructivist approach, the instructor takes part in these discussions, and acts as a facilitator who guides the dialogue, rather than controlling it, allowing all participants to feel a part of the group (Nicholson, 2005). This can be accomplished by the instructor having a contact information list accessible to all students (Berge, 1995). The instructor needs to increase the classroom relationships. The representative recommends that the formation of a SoC is essential to online education classes and must established in every online class. This representative recommends an emphasis be placed on the training of faculty. Higgins and Harreveld (2013) report there is not sufficient research on this topic; however, they describe part time faculty as casual academia. Casual academia persons have an average of 6.5 years of teaching, during which these part time faculty have participated in minimal professional development activities (Higgins, 2012). Berge (1995) states the technology must be transparent and this can be achieved by the institution maintaining a support system for the learner and the educator. Higgins and Harreveld, (2013) report results from their study show that these part time (casual academia) instructors admit to wanting and needing professional development to ensure they deliver quality teaching. The study done by Higgins and Harreveld (2013) reports that teaching in the studied settings revealed 80% was taught by casual academia.

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Since we know that AAP is tight on monetary resources, with 25% of tuition kept in house, it is safe to say that there is a high percentage of casual academia presence. Therefore, it is recommended that all casual academia have access to technology classes to eliminate any frustration from the learner within the online classroom. It is being proposed that all faculty, no matter their years of experience, be exposed to ongoing training and professional development. Conclusion A proposal for additional learner support for the AAP at JHU has been presented by a representative of The Collegiates stating the need for increased staff and faculty, establishing an e-mentoring program, developing a SoC, and maintaining a faculty with the understand of technological advancements. The proposal clearly states the needs for additional funds that will remain within the confines of AAP, mandated yearly training of all faculty no matter their employment status and years of experience, and requiring an evaluation on these issues via a Likert survey. By accepting this proposal, the AAP will meet and exceed the challenges facing them from the main executive board of JHU and meet the needs of the increased global learners in the program.

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References Berge, Z. L. (1995). The role of the online instructor/facilitator. E-Moderators.com. Retrieved from http://www.emoderators.com/moderators/teach_online.html Brindley, J. E. (1995). Learners and learner services: The key to the future in distance education. In J. M.Roberts & E. M. Keough (Eds.), Why the information highway: Lessons from open and distance learning (pp. 102-125). Toronto: Trifolium Books Inc. Byrne, K., Eichelberger, J., Liberman, L., Masterodonato, T., Mentzer, M., & Wells, K. (2013). JHU online expansion via Advanced Academic Programs. Paper submitted as an assignment for OMDE 608 Learner Support in Distance Education and Training, Fall, 2013. Master of Distance and E-Learning program. The Graduate School, University of Maryland University College, Adelphi, Maryland. Higgins, K. (2012). A grounded theory study of academic work: The experience of distance education university academics. DE Quarterly, 10, 78.

Higgins, K., & Harreveld, R. (2013). Professional development and the university casual academic: integration and support strategies for distance education. Distance Education, 34(2), 189-200. doi:10.1080/01587919.2013.801759

Johns Hopkins University (JHU). (2013). Johns Hopkins [fact book]: Everything you wanted to know about Americas first research university. Retrieved from

10 Leila Liberman, The Collegiates OMDE 608 Section: 9040 November 2013 Assignment 3: Learner support proposal based on group case study

http://webapps.jhu.edu/jhuniverse/information_about_hopkins/facts_and_statistics/johnsh opkinsfactbook.pdf McLuckie, J., & Topping, K.J. (2004). Transferable skills for online peer learning. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 29(5), 563584. Nicholson, S. (2005). A framework for technology selection in a web-based distance education environment: Supporting community-building through richer interaction opportunities. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 46, 217. Pferdehirt, W., Smith, T., & Al-Ashkar, K. (2005). The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Master of Engineering in Professional Practice (MEPP) program: The road to quality online graduate engineering education. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 9(2). Retrieved from Slaon Consortium http://www.sloanc. org/publications/jaln/v9n2/pdf/v9n2_pferdehirt.pdf Shackelford, J. L., & Maxwell, M. (2012). Sense of Community in Graduate Online Education: Contribution of Learner to Learner Interaction. International Review of Research In Open And Distance Learning, 13(4), 228-249. Thompson, L., Jeffries, M., & Topping, K. (2010). E-mentoring for e-learning development. Innovations In Education & Teaching International, 47(3), 305-315. doi:10.1080/14703297.2010.498182