Higher Learning Commission – Action Project Update
Due to Dean’s Council: August 3, 2012
Due to HCL: September 7, 2012
Project Title: Distance Learning College Action Project 2.2.1
Champion Name: Eric Kunnen
Annual Update Questions
The institution's responses should be direct and factual to provide a clear picture of its progress,
accomplishments, and challenges.
1. Describe the past accomplishments and the current status of this Action Project.
Describe concrete achievements: meetings, data gathered and analyzed, plans made or
implemented, changes in processes, and measured results. If the institution hasn't made much
progress, explain why things are moving slower than planned.
The following list describes highlights and accomplishments and projects related to this DL CAP:
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September 24, 2010 – Initial planning with for establishing research for measuring
student retention in online courses with Starfish Early Alert, Student Orientations, and
Student Support, etc. criterion.
October 8, 2010 - Deans Update for DL CAP –Provided an update at the academic deans
work session on the DL CAP.
October 29, 2010 - GRCC’s first ever faculty professional development computer lab is
finished and will provide effective and efficient Blackboard and online/hybrid course
training.
November 5, 2010 - A capacity study report was finalized and submitted.
November 11, 2010 – DL CAP presentation to Deans and AGC Exec Preview of
Presentation.
November 12, 2010 - Online Student Research Project meeting was held on what makes
students successful in online courses. This research project will include a survey of all
online students. Here's the inventory http://www.k-cat.org/tools/clei.html December
8, 2010 – Webinar on accreditation for online programs. "Accreditation Standards for
Online Programs" was presented by Jennifer Lerner (jlerner@nvcc.edu), Associate Vice
President, e-Learning, Northern Virginia Community College.
December 14, 2010 - Delivered a presentation to AGC on the DL CAP.
December 22, 2010 - GRCC visited with representatives from the Alamo Community
College System / Palo Alto College. Discussions centered around supporting faculty,
increasing online course offerings, as well as online course quality.
January 5, 2011 - Garry Brand and Steve Abid presented on teaching online/hybrid
classes at GRCC at the Faculty Learning Day.
January 14, 2011 – Online Behaviors and Student Success research begins. 1,000
students responded to the survey which makes up about 1/3.
January 27, 2011 - John Cowles provided an update to Deans on the Student Success
CAP. Referenced in this update was the use of Starfish Early Alert for the full campus
including online courses through automated attendance flags.
February 1, 2011 – Deans Sub-committee was created to streamline and speed
approvals.
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February 9, 2011 – A course evaluation rubric through support from the DLIT
department was created. Rubric is available here:
https://bb.grcc.edu:443/bbcswebdav/xid-1299808_4
February 21, 2011 - Instructional Designer Job Description Proposed – A position
description was drafted for a position that will be intended to provide course
development support and faculty assistance for the growth and advancement of
Distance Learning at GRCC. [Approved at mid year budget]
February 21, 2011 - Online Student Research Update – Frank Conner provided a quick
update regarding the research project for online courses. Research Question: “Is there a
relationship between a student’s learning readiness and success in an online class?”
There are 3039 total students taking online classes and 1038 responses to the survey.
Key areas of focus: Academic Self-Efficacy, Organization and Attention to Study, Stress
and Time Press, Involvement with College Activity, Emotional Satisfaction, Class
Communication.
March 1, 2011 - ECAR Survey Sent - GRCC has participated in the EDUCAUSE Center for
Applied Research Study for student data gathering around instructional technology use
by students.
March 3, 2011- Academic Deans Presentation - Prepared an Associate Deans Report at
Acad Deans work session Thursday. This was on the topic: Process work on online
course development.
March 15, 2011 – Presentation to AGC on Student Success in Online/Hybrid/F2F classes
with Bruce Morrison and Frank Conner (online student readiness research).
March 18, 2011 – Business plan writing begins. DL CAP Team Meeting – The DL CAP
Team met and discussed a template for the Business Plan. The team will select areas
and begin writing the plan.
March 25, 2011 – Online Course Review Team Formed – A team will review fully
developed courses that have been approved to be developed through Deans Council.
June 10, 2011 - Early College Meeting to discuss plans for increasing online enrollment
through providing Early College courses to high school students.
June 20, 2011 – Instructional Designer/Technologist begins working in the DLIT
department.
July 1, 2011 – Conference Call regarding online opportunities provided by Blackboard’s
Developmental Education solution.
July 1, 2011 – The Distance Learning and Instructional Technologies Department
received a dedicated campus budget.
July 20, 2011 to current date – A HLC Substantive Change Application for Distance
Delivery document authored for the inclusion of a new information security degree
being implemented by the Computer Apps department.
August 2011 - The "HLC Substantive Change Application Distance Delivery" form was
edited.
August 19, 2011 – AQIP Update provided to IRP.
August 31, 2011 - DL on GRCC Home Page was added to Students menu. And Distance
Learning Data Highlight – 19.4% of GRCC students (3,390) are enrolled in at least one
online course for the Fall 2011 semester.
August 31, 2011 - HLC Application for Distance Delivery Application was submitted to
Deans.
September 8, 2011 - Streamlining Online Course Process reviewed with goal to continue
to streamline and make more effective this process. This first meeting reviewed the
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current process and made notes about areas that could be improved, such as when an
instructor is compensated for development.
September 8, 2011 - College Action Plan 5.1.2 – Eric Kunnen joined the Starfish CAP
which is to “Integrate the Starfish Early Alert program into all GRCC programs and
courses.” The Starfish Early Alert system is an important part of our student retention
and student success plans for online learning.
September 22, 2011 – Present an update on DL CAP to Deans
September 22, 2011 – Moved Jose Mora, Educational Support Professional, to 125M
(the main DLIT offices) for better alignment and support.
October 21, 2011 – DLIT met with several key faculty and stakeholders to begin
establishing a Distance Learning Faculty Advisory Board.
October 21, 2011 – DLIT participated in a webinar through the Instructional Technology
Council on: “Reviewing Online Course Development and Delivery: An Ongoing Process”.
October 24, 2011 - DL CAP update presented to Strategic Leadership Team on Oct. 24.
October 28, 2011 – The Online Faculty Evaluation Team (Denyse Bening, Sandy
Andrews, Bill Faber, Deb Dewent, and Paula Sullivan) met to discuss a process and
procedures for online faculty evaluation.
October 28, 2011 – Frank Conner shared research findings about characteristics of
student success through the Institute for Faculty Research through the Center for
Teaching Excellence.
November 4, 2011 – Submitted survey results to the Managing Online Education WCET
and Campus Computing Project Survey.
November 4, 2011 – DLIT met with Blackboard Developmental Education to learn about
Blackboard’s online developmental education resources.
November 4, 2011 – Met with the Jenison International Academy to discuss potential
partnerships for K12 and local ISDs.
November 11, 2011 – Held a meeting with Laurie Foster and Garry Brand on assessment
strategies for exams and online science labs.
November 11, 2011 – Prepared a Bb Collaborate pilot to support live technology for
online tutoring, professional development, real-time teaching, and office hours. The
pilot will occur in Winter term.
November 18, 2011 – The Access End Report was given to the Board of Trustees
meeting and part of that report included distance learning.
November 30, 2011 – The DL Faculty Advisory Board members were selected and the
first meeting was scheduled.
December 9, 2011 – Attended a webinar on “Measuring Student Satisfaction with
Online Learning” through the MCCVLC.
December 9, 2011 – The first ever DL Faculty Advisory Board held their first meeting.
December 16, 2011 – GRCC’s Business Department online professor Garry Brand
awarded the ITC Outstanding eLearning Faculty Award.
December 16, 2011 – Met with the Early Alert CAP team to work to connect this CAP to
distance learning.
December 23, 2011 – Updates were made to the student orientation for online learning
site and the new student welcome letter. Also updates were made to the student
readiness for online learning website.
January 6, 2012 – GRCC was highlighted in a Blackboard Press Release for involvement
in the Blackboard Analytics for Learn Field Trial which will contain data and analytics for
tracking, trends, and predictive analysis for distance learning.
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January 6, 2012 – DLIT attended an ITC webinar on the topic of teaching lab science
courses online. Bill Faber, Meegan Willi, Laurie Foster, and Jennifer Batten attended.
January 13, 2012 – DLIT facilitated a meeting with the new student orientation team to
consolidate and collaborate on new student information for online learners and for on
campus.
January 20, 2012 – The DL CAP team held a worksession to discuss assignments and
establish leaders for a selection of 6 key themes.
January 27, 2012 – The first ever GRCC Student Distance Learning Satisfaction Survey
was deployed.
February 3, 2012 – IRP and DLIT worked together to build a DL data set and began to
collect related data.
February 5, 6, 7, 2012 – The HLC site visit team came to campus and held interviews
with a wide array of faculty, students, and staff.
February 10, 2012 – The DL Student Survey results were compiled and shared with
Deans, the DL FAB, and DL CAP team.
February 24, 2012 – Prepared a budget request for Blackboard Collaborate to be used
for accreditation requirements around student services, online faculty office hours,
tutoring, and for online faculty training.
March 2, 2012 – Compiled the top 20 and bottom 20 online student success rates along
with IRP and shared the results with Deans.
March 7, 2012 – DL CAP Strategy Plan first draft created with the sub-team theme
recommendations.
March 23, 2012 – DLIT attended a Blackboard webinar on accessibility and online
courses with Anne Sherman and Sarah Rose.
March 23, 2012 – Mark Nordblom from IT received Blackboard certifications for
successfully completing Bb Content and Learn system administration training.
February – HLC Visited GRCC
April 13, 2012 – DLIT attended the EDUCAUSE ELI Spring Focus Session on Learning
Analytics.
April 20, 2012 – Held a meeting with the communications department to plan and
organize promotion for online learning. This included moving the student facing
website to grcc.edu/online
April 20, 2012 – Prepared data for the MCCVLC who is assisting with the new federal
requirements around state authorization.
April 26, 2012 – Professor Cheryl Kautz in the Computer Applications Department
received a Blackboard Exemplary Course Award for her online Photoshop class.
May 11, 2012 – Held a meeting with Bill Faber, Meegan Willi, and Garry Brand to discuss
the Online Course Review Committee membership and expanding it to include more
faculty.
May 18, 2012 – Completed a new GRCC HLC related budget review process for the DLIT
department.
May 18, 2012 – Held a meeting with the DSS office on the topic of ADA support for
faculty and students and the resources available through the disability support services
office. The OHCC course will also add resources for ADA into faculty training.
May 30, 2012 – Attended the MCCVLC DL Administrators meeting in Lansing.
June 13, 2012 – IT received performance tuning results from Blackboard for ensuring
server capacity and response time.
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June 18, 2012 – GRCC’s HLC change request to initiate and expand our distance
education degree programs was approved by the Higher Learning Commission's
Institutional Actions Council.
June 20, 2012 – GRCC becomes members of Quality Matters for focusing on online
course quality.
June 27, 2012 – Compiled information for the Deans Council HLC Report.
July 21, 2012 – Eric Kunnen completed the Instructional Technology Council 2012
Leadership Academy on Distance Learning.
July 25, 2012 – The final draft of the DL CAP Strategic Plan was developed.
2. Describe how the institution involved people in work on this Action Project.
AQIP wants information about motivation and communication: how this project was kept on the
institution's priority list, how general awareness of the importance and progress of the project
was maintained, and how those working on it directly were kept active and motivated.
The DL CAP team held meetings, exchanged email, hosted an organization site in Blackboard to
share resources, provided regular reports to Deans Council and the GRCC Strategy Team, and
leveraged resources on the college’s web site, on DLIT’s blog (dlitgroup.wordpress.com), and
GRCC Today (grcctoday.wordpress.com) to provide transparency and promotion. Web pages
were created to highlight the DL CAP Team: http://www.grcc.edu/dlcap and the DL Faculty
Advisory Board (which was adopted as a formal team by the Academic Governing Council):
http://www.grcc.edu/dlfab
Resources from the work of the DL CAP team were used in internal processes that include the
budget process review, departmental planning process, and the budget request process.
Promotional pieces around the expansion of online learning was also a result of this work to
include interviews by local radio stations (WGVU, WOOD Radio) and in printed pieces such as
“Cain’s Detroit Business” Journal.
Finally, GRCC’s online professors have received awards from Blackboard (Blackboard Exemplary
Course Award) and Instructional Technology Council (Outstanding eLearning Faculty Award).
3. Describe the institution's next steps for this Action Project.
Be specific about the next critical steps the institution is planning to move the Action Project
ahead. If planning is vague or there is no planning at this point, explain why.
The following recommendations were set forth by the DL CAP Team through the Distance
Learning Strategic Plan broken down by 6 key theme areas:
1. Planning, Administration, Budget, and Facilities
Recommendations:
a. Investigate the potential to leverage the $16 per contact hour distance
learning fee to increase staffing, resources, facilities space, and budget.
Some examples of additional funding needs include: a new course
developer position which will assist in the creation of master course
templates, a new student navigator position which will provide student
assistance for online learning to assist with student retention, the
acquisition of Blackboard Collaborate to provide live teaching, professional
development, and student services needs such as online tutoring, advising,
and librarian support.
b. Investigate the use of the Intelliworks CRM for student recruitment and
retention along with a team from Admissions, Communications, and the
Enrollment Center.
c. Establish a relational database for tracking online course development and
instructor certifications.
d. Identify opportunities for shared responsibility and collaboration among key
departments, roles, and staffing and receive support from those areas in the
operationalization of distance learning across the college.
2. Curriculum and Instruction
Recommendations:
a. Adopt and implement Quality Matters through a faculty leadership model to
improve online course quality.
b. Create a plan to use Quality Matters in a comprehensive review and
redesign of all existing online courses.
c. Identify and implement online course template standards to create
consistency across all online courses.
d. Identify a plan to improve online student success and retention rates
through student surveys, faculty evaluation, and course redesign through
Quality Matters.
e. Identify a process to include online teaching standards in the faculty
evaluation process.
f. Investigate the use of Blackboard Analytics for Learn to provide additional
data to improve course design and student interactions.
g. Identify a task force that includes Deans, Associate Deans, and Department
Heads to coordinate and facilitate the development of online programs.
Also include the Communication Office to identify and promote online
courses and program needs in the community.
h. Establish a process for curriculum, outcome, and program review with Katie
Daniels and Patti Trepkowski.
i. Ensure that all CARP courses are developed with online/hybrid delivery in
mind.
j. With support from Disability Support Services, review all online courses
through an ADA assessment and improvement process.
k. With support from the Library, Danielle Corteville, Danelle Sedore, Hailey
Mabrito, Stewart Kurlikowski, set a goal to review all online courses through
a copyright assessment and improvement process.
l. Ensure faculty and students have access to electronic Library resources and
that they are accessible and easily integrated into Blackboard.
m. Work with the GRCC Bookstore to provide eTextbook options for students
that are integrated with Blackboard.
n. Ensure that all online courses are delivered through GRCC’s Blackboard
system to ensure compliance with HEO, federal financial aid, and student
identity and authorization requirements.
3. Students and Support
Recommendations:
a. Improve student intake process to include an enhanced and revised online
student orientation.
b. Provide 24x7 student help desk support.
c. Integrate online tutoring options for accreditation for students in online
classes through acquiring technologies such as Blackboard Collaborate.
d. Identify possible minimum GPA requirements or a required online
orientation for online courses.
e. Expand use of the Starfish Early Alert system with direct connection to the
student retention specialist support.
f. Investigate the use of Blackboard Analytics for Learn to provide additional
data to improve student success.
g. Implement student success workshops or supplemental instruction out of
the Counseling and Advising department dedicated to improving student
success.
h. Investigate the hiring of a new student support position for online learning
such as an Online Navigator position.
i. Ensure online testing services are available for assessment proctoring in the
Testing Center.
4. Infrastructure, Identity, Security, and Support
Recommendations:
a. Replace Senior Solutions Engineer position that was vacated in the Fall
2011.
b. Acquire Blackboard Collaborate for synchronous teaching, professional
development, and student services needs such as tutoring and advising
online.
c. Ensure technology supports effective online faculty office hours.
d. Investigate online proctoring tools such as ProctorU, local libraries, Acxiom
and Respondus Lockdown Browser to assist with accreditation requirements
for proctoring.
e. Use Blackboard Analytics for Learn to plan upgrades, track feature use, and
schedule capacity growth.
f. Investigate Coradiant by Truesight for end user support and performance
tuning.
g. Ensure data recovery and effective backup procedures for crisis
management.
h. Implement 24x7 faculty support for Blackboard and technology use in
teaching.
5. Faculty and Support
Recommendations:
a. Investigate the hiring of a new Multimedia Courseware Developer position
to support master course template development process that is a table
agreement in the current faculty contract negotiations.
b. Plan to expand equated overload faculty to serve as course level and
department coordinators to support the master course template
development process that is a table agreement in the current faculty
contract negotiations.
c. Improve the OHCC certification course to include Quality Matters standards.
d. Provide extended training and professional development to existing
certified instructors through an Advanced OHCC course.
e. Establish a required course design template to create consistency across all
online courses.
f. Enhance professional development through the use of online technologies
such as Blackboard Collaborate.
g. Leverage the AGC Distance Learning Faculty Advisory Board for online
course quality initiatives and faculty evaluation processes.
h. Involve the Disability Support Services Department in the training of faculty,
and in the provision of transcription, closed captioning, and other resources
related ADA related concerns and content development.
i. Investigate a faculty mentorship program.
j. Clarify and ratify through AGC the DL Standards and also adopt the Quality
Matters program for course quality.
k. Expand use of equated overload faculty in the training of faculty in online
teaching and in the use of Blackboard technologies.
l. Identify strategies to improve the adjunct vs full-time ratio for online
instructors to respond to accreditation feedback from the February site visit.
6. Data, Analytics, Evaluation, and Assessment
Recommendations:
a. Establish online teaching review, quality control/standards assessment, and
monitoring process through a faculty evaluation cycle with Denyse Bening,
Deb DeWent, Sandy Andrews and Bill Faber.
b. Gather a baseline of data such as enrollment, courses, sections, student
success rates, faculty certifications, etc.
c. Identify data inconsistencies, validity concerns, and accuracy in existing
reports and data around online learning and create a plan to rectify.
d. Review HLC online program site visit feedback from February 2012.
e. Recommend to IRP the purchase and use of the Noel-Levitz online student
survey.
f. Working with Deans, Associate Deans, and Department Heads conduct an
assessment of the existing courses that are not offered online and how they
relate to the identification of fully online programs. After the assessment
put in place a plan to develop the remaining courses to achieve the 25%
benchmark set at part of the DL CAP.
4. Describe any "effective practice(s)" that resulted from the institution's work on this Action
Project.
Share practices (or processes, policies, procedures, or initiatives) that could be adopted or
adapted at other institutions. AQIP is most interested in practices that would give value (better
educational services, cost-savings, improved morale, more satisfied stakeholders, etc.) to other
institutions if they copied them. If the institution's work on this project has little or no value for
other institutions, explain why.
As a result of the DL CAP, several initiatives were established. First, the college has established a
Distance Learning Strategic Plan which includes recommendations to expand and improve the
colleges online learning program. This plan is an important component of communicating the
collective effort needed to successfully integrate distance learning into the college’s operations.
A Distance Learning Faculty Advisory Board was created and was adopted as an official subcommittee by the Academic Governing Council. Faculty advisory opportunities provide
guidance and involvement in the establishment of quality initiatives.
During the HLC site visit in February 2012, the assessment team suggested that the 5 week
Faculty Online and Hybrid Certification Course was an emerging best practice. This course
provides both a technological understanding but more importantly an instructional design
foundation that assists instructors in preparing to teach online. The final project is a week of
instruction that adheres to a quality rubric. Work has begun to further enhance and improve
this training.
GRCC is beginning a data warehouse initiative with special focus on “learning analytics” through
Blackboard Analytics for Learn which has potential in improving course design and student
retention by combining activity of instructors and students with the college’s SIS (Peoplesoft)
demographic data.
A Deans Council Sub-Committee was created to better streamline the approval of online
courses.
A Course Review Team was created to review courses that have been developed. This team also
began using a new course review rubric for quality.
An Instructional Designer was hired to focus resources on the development of quality online
courses and to support faculty.
The Online Student Research Project provided valuable insights into what makes students
successful in online courses and information was used in the DL Strategic Plan and in work to
improve the Online and Hybrid Certification Course.
The college has established a wide array of quality initiatives that include an in house course
review rubric, selecting Quality Matters as an industry standard, and secured awards from the
Instructional Technology Council for eLearning Faculty of the Year, and the Blackboard Catalyst
Exemplary Course Award.
GRCC’s use of the Starfish Early Alert system provides real-time tracking of student logins to the
Blackboard system and alerts students and faculty who haven’t signed into the system within 7
days. Intervention can then be taken by the student retention specialists and the faculty
member.
The college effectively leverages a wide array of instructional technologies such as Blackboard in
the teaching and learning process and in the delivery of online learning. For example,
Blackboard IM is used instant messaging for supporting tutoring and online office hours.
Throughout the year, a pilot of Bb Collaborate was executed to further extend the synchronous
features available to the campus for increased tutoring and student services as well as live
teaching capability and more efficient and effective faculty professional development.
A budget request for the 12-13 fiscal year was not funded, however, this request will be resubmitted during the next cycle as this technology is used by the majority of institutions
delivering distance learning.
5. What challenges, if any, still face the institution regarding this Action Project?
This is an opportunity to get constructive, actionable feedback and advice from AQIP's review
process. Use this question to specify blocks, gaps, sticking points, or problems. If the institution
has already fashioned strategies to deal with any challenges it faces, share both the challenges
and strategies for meeting them.
The remaining challenge that faces the institution will be in the execution and operation of the
recommendations set forth by the Distance Learning Strategic Plan. The work involved includes
acquiring adequate resources in staffing, technology, and budget along with the engagement of
related stakeholders and departments to develop the necessary shared responsibility and
collaboration that will be required to fully operationalize distance learning across the institution.
6. To what extent have the measureable criteria established for this project been met? (Prepare a
table(s) that presents your results.)
7. Do you recommend this project continue for another year? Why or why not.
The DL CAP Team recommends closing this action project and transitioning the responsibilities
and operational work to the related stakeholders and departments connected to the
recommendations presented in the Distance Learning Strategic Plan.