Supporting Online Students E-Book

Anita Crawley

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 395

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Supporting Online Students shows how effective and efficiently delivered support services improve academic success and course retention for online learners. Drawing on a decade's worth of research, Anita Crawley describes the scope of services from admissions and registration to advising and student engagement. The book includes guidelines and standards, planning and implementation, innovative practices, and describes specialized services needed by particular online student groups. "Effective student support is the single most important factor in sustaining high-quality online learning programs. Anita Crawley presents the most effective guide to achieving that success. Her book is a blueprint for building thriving online programs through comprehensive student support." --Ray Schroeder, director, Center for Online Learning, Research and Service, University of Illinois Springfield "As distance learning continues to grow, this book addresses the often neglected other side of the coin: online student services. This book provides a great introduction and overview of the research, literature, and innovative practices for planning, implementing, and evaluating support services for online learners." --George Steele, director, eStudent Services, OhioLearns "Anita Crawley has crafted a splendid volume on a topic of increasing importance in contemporary higher education. Her book promises to be the foundational piece for those who work with students in an online environment. Her thinking and analysis are superb and undoubtedly will provide the basis upon which to develop online programs and services in the future." --John H. Schuh, Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Emeritus, Iowa State University "Bringing together extensive examples of innovative practices, summaries of current research, and a wealth of experience in student services, Anita Crawley's comprehensive guide to supporting online students is a rich resource for institutions with existing, growing, or new online programs. --Diane J. Goldsmith, former executive director, Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title page

Copyright page

Dedication

Foreword

Preface

Why This Book Now?

Purpose

Scope of Book

Chapter Descriptions

How to Use the Book

Audience and Uses

About the Author

Chapter One: Setting the Stage: The Transformation

Growth of Online Learning

Definitions and Terminology

Transformation of Relationships via New Media

Responsibility for Supporting Online Students

Conclusion

Chapter Two: Profile of Online Students

Demographics of Online Students

Adult Students

First Generation Students

Students Taking Developmental Courses

Low-Income Students

Military Service Personnel

Support Services for At-Risk Online Students

Conclusion

Chapter Three: Supporting Online Students with Disabilities

Challenges and Benefits of Online Learning

Students and Their Needs

Laws and Standards

Plans for Improvement

Services for Online Students with Disabilities

Conclusion

Chapter Four: Putting Services Online

The Launch Pads

The Scope of Online Student Services

Categories of Services

Benefits of Providing Online Student Services

Development of Dynamic Online Services

Institutional Characteristics

Student Affairs and Support of Online Students

Conclusion

Chapter Five: Administrative Suite

Admissions

Catalog

Course Schedule

Financial Aid and Financial Planning

Registration

Student Records and Accounts

Conclusion

Chapter Six: Academic Services Suite

Academic Advising and Counseling

Assessment and Testing

Bookstore

Library

Technical Support

Tutoring

Conclusion

Chapter Seven: Personal Services Suite

Orientation to Online Learning

Career Services

Personal Counseling

Health and Wellness

Ethical and Legal Services

Conclusion

Chapter Eight: Communications Suite

Effective Online Communication

Student Engagement

Social and Multimedia

Faculty-to-Student

Institution-to-Student

Student-to-Student

Conclusion

Chapter Nine: Planning and Implementation

Online Student Retention

Prevalence of Online Student Services

Priorities of Online Service Development and Delivery

Use of the CENTSS Audit Tool for Planning

Conclusion

Chapter Ten: Evaluation

Importance of Measuring Quality

An Approach to Measuring Quality

Sources of Standards and Guidelines

Measurement Instruments

Conclusion

Final Thoughts

References

Index

Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Crawley, Anita, 1946–

 Supporting online students : a guide to planning, implementing, and evaluating services / Anita Crawley. – First edition.

pages cm. – (The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series)

 Includes bibliographical references and index.

 ISBN 978-1-118-07654-5 (hardback)

 ISBN 978-1-118-19284-9 (e-bk.)

 ISBN 978-1-118-19285-6 (e-bk.)

 ISBN 978-1-118-19286-3 (e-bk.)

 1. Web-based instruction. 2. Students–Services for–Technological innovations. I. Title.

 LB1044.87.C75 2012

 371.33'44678–dc23

2011047501

I want to thank Tom, my husband and life partner, for always being in my corner. Together we produced two wonderful offspring, Alisha and Gregory. While the offspring are no longer physically close, they are always in my heart, as are grandchildren Juliana, Amaya, and Quentin and son-in-law Jon. Thanks for all your support.

Foreword

In this age of always-on, always-available uber-connectness, the value of deploying interactive web-based technologies to help more students achieve the dream of a college education may seem obvious and self-evident. Yet, the phenomenon of online learning—where a significant percentage of an academic program is delivered to students via web and online technologies—has only recently emerged from the margins of postsecondary education practice to assume its long-anticipated, mission-critical role.

Today’s evidence points to increasing rates of online learning adoption, growth in the numbers and kinds of online program offerings available at colleges and universities of all kinds and sizes, and the diversification of the technological forms of instructional delivery. As the goal of increasing college graduates in the United States by more than 1 million students in less than six years has become a central part of the national postsecondary education conversation, the role of online learning takes on even more significance. The ongoing recognition that today’s economies demand new skills for future workforce success has further accelerated online learning’s move toward the middle of the mainstream institutional adoption.

As online learning has moved toward the mainstream, the need for services that maximize online student success has never been more pressing. Anita Crawley has written a timely and highly relevant guidebook that will come to be prized by its readers for helping them navigate the complex ecosystem of today’s online learning. Crawley provides the essential framework needed to provide the full range of support services that are known to contribute to student success. As student success becomes the de facto measure of quality for online learning programs, the student services that maximize probabilities of student success become an important and integral part of the formula.

Crawley provides online learning practitioners, educational policy makers, and program managers with a comprehensive overview of today’s world online learning. She makes a strong case that student services are an essential ingredient in every institutional strategy for online learning that wants to ensure student success as measured by progress, retention, and completion. She then considers how the student populations drawn to online learning need support and services that actively spark momentum and engagement while reducing barriers shown to impede progress. She provides a detailed look at essential administrative services such as online scheduling and online registration, while also walking readers through financial aid and financial planning considerations about which every online learning stakeholder should be aware. She provides a useful overview of academic services required by online students that include advising, counseling, assessment, testing, book store services, library services, and tutoring services. She helps readers understand the value of personal services for online students, such as career advising, that take on even greater significance when federal concerns for “gainful employment” continue to swirl around the discussion of online learning quality. Readers are provided with planning and implementation guidance, with particular attention paid to using Center for Transforming Student Services (CENTSS) audit tools to evaluate the delivery of online student services. Readers are also offered advice and guidance on quality measurement.

Anita brings an experienced perspective to the online student services conversation. Her writing is informed by her more than twenty years of experience in all facets of online learning. She has worked as course developer, has led faculty development efforts, has served as a director of an online learning program, and has served as a faculty member at such notable institutions as UCLA, Montgomery College, and the University of Illinois. At the heart of her experiences in postsecondary online learning is a notable dedication to ensuring that students completing online learning programs have a fair shot at securing high-quality student services.

What makes her contributions so exceptional is that she has literally helped define the field of online student services in her work with the Center for Transforming Student Services (CENTSS). Established as a collaborative effort with WCET, the Minnesota State College and Universities-Minnesota Online, and Seward, Inc., CENTSS has extended the effective practice efforts that Anita Crawley developed while working with WCET during the mid 2000s. Today, CENTSS is a virtual resource for higher education institutions interested in assessing the quality of their student services offered via the web. Since 2005, more than 200 institutions of higher education have used the CENTSS audit to assess their student services. In addition to the CENTSS audit, CENTSS offers opportunities for learning and collaboration through its workshops, webcasts, and recognition of innovations in student services online.

In these days, when the perceived value of the online learning experience is directly correlated with the quality of the online learner’s academic experience, there is no doubt that high-quality online learning student support and distributed services are a key determining variable. This book fills a major gap in the professional and academic literature addressing student services because it is laser-focused on meeting the needs of online, distance, and distributed students.

The ultimate significance of the book will be determined by its ability to address the rising tide of unmet expectations that typify online student excellence. Tomorrow’s student services providers will be working with online students who will not be satisfied with an online learning experience that is any less satisfying than their other online consumer experiences. Today’s demands for excellence in online learning have sparked a new sensibility about the value that high-quality online student services provide. Anita Crawley’s book gives us the conceptual framework we need for realizing the value that online student services offer, and provides guidance and direction for achieving excellence in providing services and support to online students.

Ellen Wagner

Partner and Senior Analyst, Sage Road Solutions LLC, and Executive Director, WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET)

Preface

The growth of online learning shows no sign of leveling off. According to the study, Class Differences: Online Education in the United States, 2010, 5.6 million students took at least one online course during fall 2009, an increase of 21% over the previous year. This represents the largest annual increase in the eight years of this survey and occurred at a time when overall enrollment growth in higher education was less than 2%. With 63% of the institutions participating in the study identifying online learning as a critical part of their long-term strategy, the consensus is that online learning is here to stay (Allen & Seaman, 2010).

Why This Book Now?

To the extent their budgets allow, institutions committed to online courses and programs are funding quality online courses, training faculty to become effective online instructors, and paying for the required technology. Yet services that support online learners are insufficiently funded, sometimes leaving students new to online learning ill-prepared to succeed in this relatively new learning environment.

For online students, their course instructor is often their prime and sometimes only point of contact. However, online instructors are frequently overwhelmed with transforming course materials for online delivery and learning new methods of teaching remotely located students. Course management tasks in the online environment become a significant responsibility that far exceeds comparable tasks required of faculty who teach in the traditional classroom. When online faculty members are the only source of support for students, the quality of support services may be compromised. Student affairs and other student service professionals with appropriate expertise are best positioned to provide academic and personal support, so that online faculty can return to what they do best: teach their courses.

During the past decade, as online learning grew from a few courses at select institutions to expansive programs on many campuses, distance learning and IT departments provided most of the support for online students. When the accepted view was that online students needed only technical support, that model may have been a reasonable approach. However, to be successful, online students require many other forms of support. In addition to the services needed by all students, online learners need to know what to expect from online learning, how to access the required technology, and what skills are needed to succeed in the online environment. The good news is that professionals who can meet these needs are found throughout the institution.

At the same time that online learning is growing exponentially, colleges and universities must do more with less. Local students who are willing to come to campus can take advantage of the already established face-to-face services. However, as online programs expand and attract remotely located audiences, institutions are rethinking their delivery of support services. Institutions have found that online students, as well as many other students, appreciate the ability to complete transactions from the convenience of their computer. They want electronically delivered services, and they may take their tuition dollars to the colleges and universities that can effectively and efficiently support them as they earn their degrees.

When institutions devote insufficient attention to the needs of online learners, the result is lower course completion and success rates of online students compared to their peers who take courses in the traditional classroom. Angelino, Williams, and Natvig (2007) combined national undergraduate attrition rates from several online learning retention studies. Using data from these studies, they found a drop rate of between 52 and 62% for online students and between 10 and 20% when comparing online and traditionally delivered courses. To succeed in the online environment, students need the support services provided for all students, along with some unique services.

Purpose

This book serves as a resource for the reader to review research, literature, and innovative practices for planning, implementing, and evaluating support services for online learners. Institutions planning their initial launch and institutions that already offer online courses and programs may benefit from a review of award-winning electronically delivered student services, examples of effective planning processes, and approaches for online student services evaluation. The book discusses how effective and efficiently delivered online support services may improve online student academic success and course retention and may ultimately contribute to improved rates of college certificate and degree completion. Online learning can contribute to college completion rates, but only if online students are well supported so they can achieve their academic goals. The book focuses on how to develop and deliver services that enhance the success of students taking most or all of their coursework online who cannot or will not come on campus to receive services.

Scope of Book

The book uses the framework developed by WCET (WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies), which created the publication Guidelines for Creating Online Student Services. The guidelines grew out of a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) through a Learning Anytime Anyplace Partnership (LAAP) program. A major contribution of this project was the creation of Student Services for Online Learners Spider Web (Figure 4.1), which illustrates the scope of online student services (Shea & Armitage, 2002). This book uses the Spider Web as a means of organizing support services for online learners. The book also uses the Spider Web framework to summarize information about retention, success factors, and standards.

Chapter Descriptions

ChapterOne summarizes technology’s role in changing the higher education landscape, especially as technology relates to the support of online students. It also provides an overview of the growth of online learning, use of new media for communication, and current methods of supporting online students.

ChapterTwo describes the demographics of online students. It also reviews the needs of student populations (adult learners, first-generation college students, students who place in developmental coursework, low-income students, and military personnel) and discusses innovative practices that may contribute to the success of online learners with one or more characteristics historically associated with a higher risk of students not completing their academic goals.

ChapterThree examines barriers that affect full participation in online learning by students with disabilities. It shows how those barriers may be overcome when institutions provide an accessible online environment where students with disabilities can learn and take advantage of remotely delivered support services. It describes the needs of students with various types of disabilities, reviews laws and standards that institutions must follow, and recommends approaches that institutions might adopt to provide accessible online student services.

ChapterFour defines online student services (services delivered electronically through college websites, learning management systems, and social networking applications) and presents the organizing framework used throughout the book: the WCET Student Services for Online Learners Spider Web. It describes the scope and benefits of online student support services. The chapter continues with a description of how institutional characteristics may either contribute or create barriers to the development of online services. It ends with a discussion of those responsible for the support of online learners and highlights the role and responsibilities of student affairs professionals.

ChapterFive discusses the Administrative Suite, online student services including Admissions, Catalog, Course Schedule, Financial Aid, Registration, and Student Accounts and Records. As students become accustomed to the ease of using these online services (applying for admission and for financial aid, registering for courses, viewing the college catalog, paying bills, and viewing their records online), they expect to access other support services from their computer or handheld Internet-connected device. Students use services throughout their enrollment at the institution.

ChapterSix describes online student services from the Academic Services Suite: Academic Advising and Counseling, Assessment and Testing, Bookstore, Library, Technical Support, and Tutoring. Each service is essential to the success of online learners.

ChapterSeven describes services that historically have required a high level of human interaction. Some institutions are concerned about whether it is appropriate to provide online, interactive activities for some services in the Personal Services Suite (Career Services, Ethical and Legal Services, Health and Wellness, Personal Counseling, and Orientation Services).

ChapterEight describes methods of electronic communication found in the Communications Suite that student affairs and other student service professionals can use to shape online student engagement and enable students to make connections with the institution and with each other. The chapter describes how students use technology, discusses the importance of effective online communication, and briefly reviews student engagement literature in the context of supporting online students. A primer on social media, multimedia tutorials, and virtual classroom applications suggests a common language that will help the reader see the potential of these tools to deliver online student services.

ChapterNine describes models and innovative practices for planning and implementing online student services and for making decisions about how to present student services electronically to best leverage the capabilities of college websites as a platform for delivery of online student services. This chapter includes a review of online student retention literature and explains ways institutions can prioritize development of online student services.

ChapterTen summarizes guidelines and standards of online student services, quality indicators, approaches to measure effectiveness of online student services, and how to use results to improve services for online students.

How to Use the Book

Each chapter can be read separately, but a reader might want to start with Chapter One to understand the educational transformation brought about by online learning and Chapters Two and Three to understand online students and their issues. Chapter Four provides a broad description of student services for online learners, which serves as a basis for the services and examples described in Chapters Five, Six, and Seven. Chapter Eight describes many forms of communication, including use of emerging technologies such as social networking applications. Chapters Nine and Ten delve into general online student services planning, implementation, and evaluation; the reader can also find service-specific approaches to these processes throughout the book.

I developed a website for the book that provides links to the college websites and resources referenced in the book and links to additional materials about relevant topics. To access the website, go to http://anitacrawley.net/Resources/bookcompanion.html

Audience and Uses

This book is designed for all practitioners who support online learners: student and academic affairs deans and vice presidents, directors of career services, admissions, enrollment management, advising, counseling, student success, library, tutoring, financial aid, admissions, and distance learning at two-year and four-year, public and private, for-profit and not-for-profit colleges and universities. This book will also be useful for graduate students in leadership in higher education, student affairs administration, and distance learning degree programs.

The book provides administrators, practitioners, and graduate students with guidelines for developing online student services, an understanding of the scope of services, and a survey of electronic delivery methods that range from providing static web-based information to highly interactive, customizable, and individualized services. Readers can learn what services students need at three different times of enrollment and learn how research supports the relationship between online student retention and the delivery of effective support services. The innovative practices found throughout the book may be of particular interest to student affairs and other student service practitioners who have direct responsibilities for developing and delivering student services, as well as to online faculty.

About the Author

Anita Crawley has more than twenty years of higher education experience as a community college counselor and faculty member and, most recently, director of a distance learning program. She brings the perspectives of a student affairs practitioner, an online instructor and course developer, and an academic affairs administrator.

With an early interest in using technology to enhance the work of student service professionals, Ms. Crawley has developed seminars, online courses, and web-based tools for use with students. She has taught online since 1999, and has earned an Online Teaching Certificate from UCLA Extension, an M.A. in Educational Technology Leadership from George Washington University, and an M.A. in Counseling and Human Development from Roosevelt University. She is currently working on a Ph.D. in Instructional Design for Online Learning from Capella University.

Ms. Crawley has researched and developed online student services for various colleges and consortia since the beginning of web-based distance learning. She has presented at numerous national conferences and has consulted and written for WCET (WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies), an organization that, along with CENTSS (Center for Transforming Student Services), is at the forefront of developing online student services.

Chapter One

Setting the Stage: The Transformation

During the first decade of the twenty-first century, technology transformed higher education by changing how colleges and universities interact with students, from the first recruitment effort to the last request for alumni contributions. Many see distance learning as the application of technology that has done the most to revolutionize the way students earn college degrees. In the 1980s and 1990s, distance education was a combination of telecourses and correspondence courses. But once the Internet could support text, graphics, audio, and video, institutions chose web-based delivery to provide distance learning instruction. With this mode of delivery, distance education became known as online learning.