“Strengthening Our Institution The Power of Title III in Impacting Assessment, Distance Learning & Advising at a Small, Rural Community College” Donald Staub, Director, Title III, Carteret Community College Virtual Co-presenter : Patrick Keough, Distance Learning Director, Carteret Community College

Presentation Introduction Location and Demographics Associate, Diploma, and Certificate programs: 34 Curriculum Enrollment: 1,500 Online Courses Offered: 120+ Full-time Faculty: 68 Part-time Faculty: 95 Staff/Administration: 108

Initial Concerns and Weaknesses Reliance on anecdotal data SACS on the horizon Lack of purposeful, systematic, institution-wide assessment process DL expanding rapidly No concerted advising program Mean overall retention rate: ~50% Annual graduation rate: ~16%

Initial Concerns and Weaknesses In Spring 2006, 31% of online students failed, withdrew, or filed for incomplete.. In 2006, 39% of faculty reported having received orientation for student advising.

Initial Concerns and Weaknesses

Proposed Solution Assessment Distance Learning Advisement

Goals and Objectives Goal 1 Improve assessment of student learning and institutional effectiveness

Goals and Objectives Goal 2 Improve student retention through increased focus on instructional technology and methodology

Goals and Objectives Goal 3 Improve student retention through increased focus on advising

Outputs and Outcomes The Dialogue - from the top down Professional Development (conversations, workshops, & more workshops) Institutional Level Learning Outcomes Program & Unit Reviews Program Level Learning Outcomes Assessment

Assessment Outputs January workshops 54 FT faculty 18 PT faculty 20 staff June days of workshops One-on-one with Phase I teams ILLO workshop 44 FT faculty September overview workshops 12 Admin Outcomes workshops 8 follow-up workshops 4 Instructional Outcomes workshops 36 FT faculty 63 staff September 2007 Survey Writing Workshops (2) 16 Faculty / 12 Staff

Assessment Outputs Instructional Program Reviews

Assessment Outputs Administrative Unit Reviews

Assessment Outputs Program Review Teams

Assessment Outcomes Institutional Level Learning Outcomes

Assessment Outcomes Program Level Learning Outcomes

Assessment Outcomes Administrative Unit Outcomes

Advising Outputs What’s been done so far… Established: Career and Academic Planning Services (CAPS) An entity & a physical space Guidance in selecting a career direction. Professional assessment services Assistance in selecting an academic or vocational training program Over 2,000 students seen since July ‘07 PD plan of action created Advising Outcomes

Distance Learning The Distance Learning Department has made great strides in a variety of key areas over the past two years because of funding and resources made available through Title III Grant.

Blackboard Boot Camp A comprehensive Professional Development initiative was initiated for all online faculty in both the technical aspects of teaching online and in instructional design strategies and methodology. Every full time and part time adjunct (120 +) have been certified by attending our 6 hour Blackboard Boot Camps over the past 2 years.

QAP “Peer Review” Process A QAP Online Course "Peer Review" process has been implemented campus wide. Before the QAP was initiated there was a lack of visual and instructional continuity in our online course offerings. Over the past year a team of veteran online faculty and instructional design staff have been in the process of reviewing every online course at Carteret Community College using a comprehensive check-sheet that addresses a variety of technical and instructional design best practices.

Distance Learning Pioneer's Dl Pioneers represent a cross section of Carteret Community College faculty and staff that have committed to either completely upgrading and retooling their online classes (adding content specific visuals, producing audio instructional podcasts and enhancing course content) they are already teaching or developing new online courses (or innovative online work environments for staff) for the college. These distance learning pioneers are also participating in a variety of professional development activities (paid for by Title III) such as, workshops, conferences and seminars in order to not only upgrade their courses technically, but are upgrading their online teaching methods as well.

CCC Online Tutoring Service. Online tutoring service is available for English, Math, Biology and Anatomy & Physiology and as more and more faculty and students learn of the benefits of this service it is beginning to grow and become part of the fabric of the learning process at CCC. The service is in its infancy (4 Tutors) as we continue to learn what does and does not work, but in the meantime, we continue to move forward with this exciting initiative.

Online Tutoring Statistics Online Tutoring Pilot Program Funded by Title III March 08 - September 30th 210 Hours of Online Tutoring for 4 Discipline Areas English, Math, Biology and Anatomy & Physiology Approximately 70 Students Served English 33 Students Math 20 Students Biology 10 Anatomy & Physiology 7

“One on One” Distance Learning Training Any faculty member at CCC can contact the Distance Learning Lab and make an appointment with our Instructional Technologist Pre-Ah Hill or a distance learning intern for one on one intensive and focused course specific training.

Distance Learning Campus Wide DL Forum Carteret Community College held its first Distance Learning Forum moderated by Dr. Abbie Brown and Dr. Bill Sugar both Professors in the Instructional Technology Graduate Program at East Carolina University. It was an extremely productive event, and I believe will be a catalyst for some of the initiatives we implement in the coming year.

Applying and Receiving other Grants Due to the great strides our Distance Learning Department have made in the areas of professional development and instructional media production over the past 2 years thanks to the funding and resources made available through Title III. We've been recognized at the state level for our work and in turn have applied for and received additional state grants to produce online instructional design resources for the state Community College System.

DL Assessment All of these initiatives are at different phases of progress and implementation at CCC. We plan to continue building on our success (and efforts) in these various areas and hopefully will be able to start gathering viable data as to how these campus wide initiatives are effecting and impacting student success and retention at Carteret Community College. Title III has been a primary catalyst for faculty and staff upgrading, online course evaluations, generating additional grant funding, self study through our forums and adding new services like online tutoring for our students.

Faculty Accountability As part of our T3 sponsored Professional Development initiatives such as our DL Pioneer program we have instituted monthly benchmarks (goals and objectives) that must be achieved and documented with reports. In exchange for the funding and equipment like laptops and IPOds we expect accountability in the form of achieved and documented goals that can be posted to our T3 Blog.

Contact Information Donald Staub, Director, Title III, Carteret Community College Patrick Keough, Distance Learning Director, Carteret Community College