“When learners are at a distance, the careful design of assessments is particularly important, because society somewhat unfairly imposes higher expectations on the assessment of online learners.” Oosterhof, et al. (2008) Assessing Learners Online

Donald Staub, Title III Director Carteret Community College Assessing Distance Learning: Are they learning what we think we’re teaching? ? ? ? ? ? ? Donald Staub, Title III Director Carteret Community College

http://ccctitle3.wordpress.com/

The Lineup DL @ CCC Why Worry about DL Assessment? How We’re Doing It The DL Program DL in Programs & Courses Possibilities & Challenges

DL @ CCC 33 programs @ CCC Enrollment ~1800 DL is 10+ years old Spring 2011 399 total sections 261 seated sections 90 Internet (23%) 40 Hybrid (10%) 8 Web-based 5

Why worry about assessing DL? @ the College & Program-Level: Student Success Persistence (btw: success vs. retention vs. persistence) “Good assessment guides good PD/ID”

Generalizability @ the Course-Level: (c.f. Oosterhof, et al, 2008) “…the degree to which learner performances that are observed generalize to performances that are not observed.” [i.e. are they learning what we think we’re teaching?]

So, how are we doing this? Caveat: We’re not saying this is right or wrong…it’s just the way that we’re currently approaching it.

“Comparability of distance education programs to campus-based programs and courses is ensured by the evaluation of educational effectiveness, including assessments of student learning outcomes, student retention, and student satisfaction.” (CS 3.3.1) COC Distance Education Policy Statement http://www.sacscoc.org/pdf/Distance%20and%20correspondence%20policy%20final.pdf

The (former) Guidelines

Q1: Is the distance education program reflected in the institution’s strategic (or master) plan? 2009-2012 Strategic Plan We will create a culture where all institutional actions are focused on improving student learning and success and leading to student goal completion. PM 16—Success and Withdrawal Rates by Instructional modalities

Q2: Is there evidence that outcomes for the program have been identified? DL-AO #1: Faculty demonstrate the ability to teach in the online environment in a proficient (student centered) manner. DL-AO #2: Students have more educational options to pursue degrees, diplomas, and certificates due to expanded online course offerings at CCC.

Assessment: The number of internet/hybrid sections offered. Q3: Is there evidence that the effectiveness of the distance education program is regularly assessed and steps taken for improvement of the program? AO #1: Faculty demonstrate the ability to teach in the online environment in a proficient (student centered) manner. Assessment: Quality Assessment Plan, Success/ Persistence Rates, Student Surveys/Evaluations. AO #2: Students have more educational options to pursue degrees, diplomas, and certificates due to expanded online course offerings at CCC. Assessment: The number of internet/hybrid sections offered.

QAP

The QAP (Quality Assessment Plan) Developed in-house (using models) Peer-reviewed by content specialist Stipends (T3) All current online courses have been reviewed All new online courses must be reviewed/ certified http://web.carteret.edu/keoughp/TitleIII/FinalQAP.xls

The QAP Score Card points is the total possible a teacher can earn - believe its 91 minimum is what they need to pass - I am happy if they get 63 or above (hybrids may do feedback in class or individually so we learned the way the QAP is now hybrid instructors may get lower scores due to no feedback to students even through they may do it during or after class - so we are modifying this for hybrids next go around earned is what they actually got so Laurie Freshwater may have earned a 70 and Mary Walton a 67 - below 60 we have them come back to Pre-Ah to do a 2 hour meeting to fix what needs to be addressed.

The QAP Score Card: Learning

QAP Success/Persistence

seated: 75% success (persist: 87.1%) Success - Spring 2010 75 sections seated: 75% success (persist: 87.1%) internet: 66% success (persist: 81.7%) hybrid: 73% success (persist: 87.8%) FA09 internet: 62 sections; 68% success FA08 internet: 61 sections; 67% success FA07 internet: 59 sections; 66% success FA06 internet: 48 sections; 66% success 20

QAP Success/Persistence Program/Course Evaluations

Surveys & Evaluations: DL Program

Surveys & Evaluations: DL Program 23

Surveys & Evaluations: Course-Level

ILLOs (Gen Ed outcomes) Q3: Is there evidence that the effectiveness of the distance education program is regularly assessed and steps taken for improvement of the program? Modality Comparison Grade Distributions Program Reviews ILLOs (Gen Ed outcomes)

Modality Comparison

Modality Comparison Institutional-level

Modality Comparison Program-level

Modality Comparison Course-level

Modality Comparison Grade Distributions

Grade Distributions institution-level

Grade Distributions course-level

Modality Comparison Grade Distributions Program Reviews

Evaluate Instructional Modalities

Modality Comparison Grade Distributions Program Reviews ILLOs

ILLOs (Gen Ed outcomes) Communication Computer Literacy Critical Thinking Humanities & Fine Arts Information Literacy Personal Growth & Responsibility

Computer Literacy - CIS 110 Outcome: Students demonstrate proficiency in the use of computer technology including application software, system software, and internet browsers. Assessment: Final Exam in CIS 110.

Computer Literacy - CIS 110 Section analysis

Computer Literacy - CIS 110 Same instructor teaching one section of each

Q4: Has the institution developed student learning competencies for the courses/programs offered by distance education? If these are the same competencies for courses/programs offered by “traditional” methodologies, is assessment identified for distance learning students separate from students taking courses by “traditional” methodologies?

So, are they learning what we think we’re teaching? “Comparability of distance education programs to campus-based programs and courses is ensured by the evaluation of educational effectiveness, including assessments of student learning outcomes, student retention, and student satisfaction.” So, are they learning what we think we’re teaching?

And the answer is… Yes! … No?…maybe?? PLLOs CLLOs

PLLOs

PLLOs (SLOs) Same instructor teaching one section of each (common assignment from each section) Business Administration ACC 120 BUS 110 ECO 251/252

PLLO: preparation of financial statements as part of mid-term Assessed in: ACC 120 45

BUS 110 ECO 250

PLLOs CLLOs

Course-level assessment - CLLOs ACC 120 ART 111 EDU 119 ENG 111 HIS 111 PSY 150 & 241 RCP 114 SOC 210 48

Course-level assessment ~ CLLOs BUS 110 … Students will be able to: A: Explain Business Ethics and Social Responsibility B: Describe the major concepts of business, such as Entrepreneurship, Management, Marketing, Human Resource Management, and Financing C: Describe Business Globalization

Use of Results: “The on-line section needs some extra material to ‘reinforce’ or explain globalization.”

“Students placed more value on the CMS as an effective learning tool when they perceived the CMS as supporting interactivity among student, instructor, peers, content.” (Chou, Peng, Chang, 2010)

ART 111

A - (100 - 90): - You posted 3 or more times and you completed the Assignment with a well thought through response. (The more you post MEANINGFUL responses over 3 the higher your grade. Though welcome and expected, please understand that a One or Two sentence "feel good" post such as (... Great response Michaela!!) or (... I love how you put the meaning and then went down and talked about them. it made it easy to understand!!) will count for very little towards your grade. 54

HIS 111 Essays (online) vs. Research Paper (seated) … same rubric

RCP 114

Other Possibilities Downstream assessment E-ports 57

Challenges

“I have to pull teeth to get them to post even when they get a score” “I got rid of [the discussion board]…it’s a pain in the ass.” “I have to pull teeth to get them to post even when they get a score” “Value of discussion board is suspect at best.”

“I don’t know” [what texts and assessments the other instructors are using in this multi-section course] “My first goal is to get the instructors to agree on common CLLOs. Then we’ll work on common assessments.” Outcome-Assessment alignment

Title III Director Carteret Community College staubd@carteret.edu Donald Staub Title III Director Carteret Community College staubd@carteret.edu 252- 222-6010 http://ccctitle3.wordpress.com www.carteret.edu