1. The Impact of Technology

2. Daniel Linzer, Provost Jake Julia, Associate Vice President for Change Management and Associate Provost for Academic Initiatives Sean Reynolds, Vice President and CIO Joel Shapiro, Assoc Dean of Academic Programs, School of Continuing Studies Gad Allon, Professor, Kellogg School of Management Ron Braeutigam, Associate Provost

3. Opportunities and Challenges
Online Education:
Opportunities and Challenges
Dan Linzer

4. Forms of Online Education
1. Alternative delivery of courses for students enrolled for credit
– for example, School of Continuing Studies
2. Massive Open On-Line Courses (MOOCs)
– for example, Coursera and EdX
3. Live (synchronous) virtual classrooms with pre recorded (asynchronous) materials
– for example, 2U master’s programs

5. Why Should Northwestern Participate In Online Education?
Help shape evolution of higher education
Evaluate learning outcomes from modes of education
Explore new pedagogical methods
Broaden and deepen curricular choices for students
Add flexibility in student schedules, off-site options
Increase faculty-student interactions
Expand faculty and institutional visibility and impact
Bring together students from range of backgrounds

6. Disruptive Change?
What is the value-added of a residential university?
Who teaches?
What will be the faculty market for new PhD’s?
How do we design classrooms?
What is the revenue model?

9. Overview: Online Learning Initiatives Worldwide Jake Julia

10. Current Headlines Harvard and MIT Offer Free Online Courses
New York Times, 5/2/12
After Leadership Crisis Fueled by Distance-Ed Debate, UVa Will Put Free Classes Online
Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/17/12
Instruction for Masses Knocks Down Campus Walls
New York Times, 3/4/12
Sebastian Thrun’s Udacity Gets $15M for Online Courses
Wall Street Journal, 10/25/12

11. Online Education is not new
Online education has been available for decades through University extension activities or through new providers, e.g.
University of Phoenix (1989 online program launched)
Western Governors University (1999 first students accepted)
Online education has tended to be quite non-disruptive to many traditional Universities, especially research intensive ones

12. The Changing Position of Online Education
Most institutions now offer online courses
Four-year public colleges 89% Two-year colleges 91%
Four-year private colleges 60% For-profit institutions 71%
Lines between online/in-class students & methods are blurring
% of undergrad students taking at least one online course: 2002: LT 10%, 2010: 31+%
88% of residential institutions offering online courses offer them to their on-campus students
Blended learning approaches - more virtual interaction, mixed media - receive positive response from students and continue to expand
Much discussion now about “flipping” the classroom

13. Open Online Education is not new either
Open Courseware (OCW) movement started in Germany in 1999
MIT’s OpenCourseWare (2001)
Others such as Yale, UC Berkeley, Michigan followed
No interaction, no credentialing, JUST content.
Khan Academy (2006)
Free YouTube library of ~3,000 micro lectures, 140mm+ views, 320,000 subscribers
Funding from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, and contributions
Khan Academy website adds automated self-service guidance and progress tracking functionality
Udemy (2010)
Hundreds of courses, most but not all are free.
Faculty Project: “the best professors from the world’s leading universities coming together to teach online for free” (13 courses, highest enrollment ~6,700)

14. The New Context for Online Education
The recent explosion of press about Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCS), new delivery organizations, and new collaborations is matched only by the buzz about online education during the dot.com bubble
The context for this discussion, however, is very different this time:
The world is flatter – high speed networks, much wider-spread computing, much more sophisticated software platforms, social media, mobile computing
Online education more ingrained in society and higher education
Not totally focused on immediate monetizing – scale 1st, monetize 2nd
Open content combined with credentialing and interaction (faculty, students)
Innovative combining of universities’ online courses for credit at other institutions
Online providers offering to provide additional services such as recruitment, internships search, etc.

15. Online Education Companies in the News
Udacity
Founded in 2012 by Sebastian Thrun at Stanford University
For profit; funded by Charles River Associates
MOOC targeting continuing education in STEM market; 19 courses by 2013
Taught by prominent faculty on leave from prestigious traditional universities
edX
Founded as a joint venture between MIT and Harvard in 2012
University of California – Berkeley and University of Texas – Austin joined
edX in 2012
Open source, interactive platform for delivery of free online content
Original investment of $60 million
Certificates available for modest fee – not in name of Harvard or MIT

16. Online Education Companies in the News
Coursera
Founded in 2012 by Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller at Stanford
MOOC focusing on self-paced instruction, Interactive platform with system of testing, student-to-student help (and even grading)
40 courses announced; Courses under $100; certificates of completion
$16mm venture capital; partnerships with Stanford, Princeton, Michigan, Penn
Universities own content

17. Online Education Companies in the News
Venture backed, raised $96mm to date
Identified as one of Forbes “Ten Startups Changing the World”
Offering “school as a service” to top-tier universities, e.g. USC, Georgetown, UNC
Courses utilizing live web cams as a key element, along with interactive software
USC Rossier School of Education was the first partner in 2008, offering a Masters in Teaching
100 students working towards teaching degrees in 2008
2,200 students now.
Curriculum, content, conferred degree the same as the on-campus program
Northwestern evaluating two potential offerings

18. Key Points - Global On-line Initiatives
Distance/online learning will continue to grow as an integral part of the higher education spectrum
The current environment is extremely fluid
Delivery mechanisms
Pedagogical approaches
Market emphasis
Consortial/collaborative efforts
Business/monetization models

19. Key Points - Global On-line Initiatives
University online learning strategies need to flexible and mobile
Determining the appropriate mixture of on-campus/blended learning/off-campus delivery
Potential consortial efforts
Credit/non-credit/certificate courses
Graduate/Undergraduate

20. Online Education for
Campus Courses
Sean Reynolds

21. Current Use of Educational Technologies – Northwestern
Educational Technologies are Heavily Used!
NU Learning Management Platform adoption numbers:
Spring Qtr 2012
1,587 instructors
18,000+ students
1,891 NU course sites
Adoption metrics fairly level for the past 3 years

22. Educational Technologies - Northwestern
Used to augment the classroom experience
Components:
Course Management System and Extensions
Smart Classrooms
Video Capture Services, Video webcast services,
Audio Capture and streaming
“Classroom Clickers”: student response system
Media Management Services
Videoconferencing Services
WiFi for Classrooms
Computer Labs

23. Current NUIT Efforts in Educational Technologies
NU’s Lecture Capture Services
About 600 NU lectures captured per year – expect this to double in next few years.
Majority of videos now distributed through Blackboard.
Selected NU classrooms now equipped for automated capture.
Videos distributed the evening of that days lecture.
Greatest NU faculty interest growing in video “course nuggets”?

24. Emerging Opportunities
Flipped Classroom/Active Learning
E-textbooks
Social Networking as a Learning Platform
Analytics
Fall, Fall, 2010 Growth
Students enrolled in higher ed 16,611,710 19,641, %
Students taking at least 1 online course 1,602, ,142, %
Online Enrollment as % of Total Enrollment % %

25. Flipped Classroom/Active Learning
Fall, Fall, 2010 Growth
Students enrolled in higher ed 16,611,710 19,641, %
Students taking at least 1 online course 1,602, ,142, %
Online Enrollment as % of Total Enrollment % %

26. Challenges for Efforts in Educational Technologies
Students demands for more online and interactive content
Supporting faculty in curriculum redesign is staff-intensive - moves at a slower pace
NU faculty and support staff very accustomed to Blackboard (15+ years!)
Perceived costs and risks for faculty to adapt successful teaching methods
Meeting new demands in rich media publishing services for teaching, learning, scholarship, outreach
However, it is getting easier and more universal.
Blurring of content creation for campus based and online learning.

27. School of Continuing Studies
Joel Shapiro

28. SCS Distance Programs Graduate Programs ~ 1,500 active students
Five fully online programs, including partnerships with
Feinberg School of Medicine
Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communication
Undergraduate Programs
Post-baccalaureate certificate in accounting
Massive Open Online Courses
Currently in development
Other Non-credit Programs

31. We believe in pragmatic constructivism
cognitive presence
social presence
faculty presence

35. SCS DL Programs Guiding Principles
• Ensure active teaching and learning
• Ensure engaged faculty and students
• Create equity to (not replication of) on-ground experience
• Adhere to Universal Instructional Design principles
Lessons Learned
• Good education = good education
• Teaching online ≠ teaching on-ground
• Online teaching can help faculty become better on-ground teachers
• Adults like rich, flexible environments
• Learning analytics will improve and differentiate learning environments

36. Faculty Use of Massive Open Online Courses
Gad Allon

37. Udemy’s Faculty Project

38. Instructor’s Dashboard View

39. EXAMPLE

40. Discussion Board

41. Faculty Tools: Immediate Reviews

42. Short and Simple Videos

43. Outreach: Location of Students

44. Faculty Perspective: Why?
Four audiences:
Those who will never attend a US university
Our full time students
Prospective students
Former students

45. Faculty Perspective: Why (and How)
Continuous improvement view:
Experiment by building a Minimally Viable Product and iterating
Asset view:
Enhance classroom experience
Stress view:
Stimulate other innovations
Experiential view:
Learn by doing

46. Faculty Challenges
Low completion rate
Assessment
Course shelf-life

47. Academic Implications Ron Braeutigam

48. What Online Offerings Make Good Academic Sense in a Consortium?
What array of courses should a consortium offer to make students better off?
How will universities in a consortium decide which courses are offered by the participating universities?
Will the availability of online courses “free up” university resources to offer additional courses?
Will a university be required to accept for credit any course offered by another university in the consortium?

49. Impact of Online Education on the Residential Experience
How will undergraduates take online courses?
…while in residence taking other “on ground” courses?
…while away from campus? (study abroad, coop, during the summer, other)
How should online courses count?
…toward graduation?
…toward a major or minor?
…toward the Undergraduate Residence Requirement?
…in the same way as transfer and study abroad credit?
Should courses taught by Northwestern faculty “count” differently from courses taught by faculty from other universities in the consortium?

50. Some Business-Related Challenges?
Who owns the intellectual property of an online course?
…the professor?
…the consortium (having invested in the development)?
If a faculty member leaves a university, can she “take the course with her?”
How will tuition revenues be allocated to the consortium and the university offering the course?
How will faculty teaching an online course be compensated?
…as part of a faculty member’s regular teaching load?
…as an overload?

51. Other Examples of Logistical Challenges
How and when will financial aid be available to students taking online courses?
How will calendars be coordinated?
Northwestern faculty would need to re-design courses (semesters)
Start and End dates of courses
How will violations of academic integrity be addressed?
Example: Student at University A takes a course taught by University B.
Which university’s standards of academic integrity apply?
Who adjudicates an allegation of a violation?
Who decides on the sanction?
Should each university “prescreen” students before allowing them to take online courses?

52. DISCUSSION