1. Busted! Challenging Myths about the Effectiveness of Online Student Support Services
OLC Presentation by Ivy Tech Community College System and
Penn State University World Campus By
Dr. Stacy Atkinson, Strategic Initiatives Project Manager
Ivy Tech Community College System
November 16, 2016

2. OVERVIEW OF PRESENTATION
Introducing our roles at our institutions and our online programs
Identifying student support services for online students
Identifying similarities and differences in 2 year versus
4 year online students
Busting the myths
Q&A

3. WHAT ARE THE MYTHS? Myth #1
No measurable difference in student success for an online student using support services or not
Myth #2
Faculty do not buy into online support services
Myth #3
Students won’t take advantage of online support services

4. IVY TECH COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Indiana Community College System member
31 campuses in 14 regions
81,000 students with 20,000 students at least 1 online course
Ivy Tech Online: 14,000 exclusively online students
16 fully online degrees and 350 courses
Mostly part time and “traditional age”
IPEDS Data
Retention Rates = Full Time (48%) and Part Time (37%)
Graduation Rate = 11%

5. PENN STATE WORLD CAMPUS
Penn State University was founded in 1855
Penn State World Campus started in 1998
15,000+ exclusively online degree students
120+ fully online degree programs
Associate’s, Bachelor’s, Masters, and Doctoral Programs
Degree seeking students from all 50 states and 60 countries
Most online adult learners are >30 years old and part time
IPEDS Data
Retention Rates = Full Time (53%) and Part Time (46%)
Graduation Rate = 40%

6. STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES
BOTH SCHOOLS
Academic Advising
Asynchronous help and academic resources
Online Tutoring and Library Services
HelpDesk Staff with and Online technical help
Veteran’s Resources
Online Bookstore
Ivy Tech: “Campus Connect”
World Campus: Student Affairs Director for Online Students and Career Counselors

7. 2 YEAR vs. 4 YEAR? – MANY SIMILARITIES AND KEY DIFFERENCES
Often working students with packed schedules
Seek convenience and flexibility
Look to advance education and credentials
Prefer regionally-located institution
Often bring prior credits from other institutions
Often challenged by personal and family schedules
Often have military-related connections
May have been out of the classroom for many years
Career oriented

8. 2 YEAR vs. 4 YEAR? – KEY DIFFERENCES
2 Year Online Student
4 Year Online Student
Traditional learner
Affordability
Shift careers
Often needs to take General Education Requirements
Adult learner
Brand identification
Enhance career qualifications
Comes with Associates degree and/or many transfer credits earned

9. Will use Online Tutoring to address myths
WHAT ABOUT THOSE MYTHS?
Myth #1
No measurable difference in student success for an online student using support services or not
Myth #2
Faculty will never buy into online support services
Myth #3
Students won’t take advantage of online support services
Will use Online Tutoring to address myths

10. #1 – SUPPORT SERVICES DO NOT DRIVE STUDENT SUCCESS
Recommend:
Involve Institutional Research to assess impact on student success
Design analysis to capture success metrics like:
Course completion rates
Grade rates of C or above
DFIW rates
Measures of persistence
Retention rates
Graduation rates
Collect student by student use data (by # of sessions, subjects, etc.)
Assess by different student attributes (e.g., GPA, gender, ethnicity, etc.)

11. STUDENT SURVEY RESULTS FROM USERS
Ivy Tech – survey response rate of 34.15% from 25,345 sessions, Sept
Live one-to-one Sessions Feedback
Are you glad your organization offers this service?
98%
Would you recommend this service to a friend?
97%
Is this service helping you complete your homework assignments?
Is this service helping you improve your grades?
Is this service helping you be more confident about your school work?
Penn State– survey response rate of 48.35% from 5,991 sessions, Sept
Live one-to-one Sessions Feedback
Are you glad your organization offers this service?
98%
Would you recommend this service to a friend?
96%
Is this service helping you complete your homework assignments?
Is this service helping you improve your grades?
94%
Is this service helping you be more confident about your school work?

12. STUDENT SUCCESS FOR USERS OF SUPPORT SERVICES
Ivy Tech
Penn State World Campus
Analysis in process
Preliminary Propensity Matching Analysis conducted across 25 attributes
Discovered positive contribution to course completion and graduation rates
Continue to work with Institutional Research on analysis of impact
Analysis in process
Pilot assessed on:
Student usage
Student satisfaction
Faculty satisfaction
Success metrics
Continued service beyond pilot
Analysis of efficacy ongoing

13. STUDENT COMMENTS ON SUPPORT SERVICES
From Ivy Tech Students
“If everyone took advantage of these resources we would have a lot more college graduates in the world! I have never had such a useful resource while in school! Such an amazing thing, and now I can move on to my
next assignment.”
“I think this service is outstanding, especially for people who do not have time to go to the in-person tutoring center.”
From World Campus Students
“This is my first time using this service and I am blown away. This is awesome! thank you Penn State for this.”
“Super great to be able to get such quality people at any time. This is a GREAT value add to my Penn State World Campus Experience.”

14. #2 – FACULTY WON’T BUY INTO SUPPORT SERVICES
Common Attitudes
How Resolved
Opposition to contracting out instructional support
Skepticism on ability to build relationships with online tutors
Belief there would be minimal knowledge of “our” course, assignments, preferred learning styles
Belief that students didn’t manage their time well
Belief that students should come to them for help
Pilot (for the World Campus)
Formal meetings with faculty to address concerns, issues
Transparency of services – access to sessions, usage data
Use of early alert to assist in student success (Ivy Tech faculty experience)
Instructional load sharing (World Campus writing experience)

15. #3 – STUDENTS WON’T TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SUPPORT SERVICES
At Ivy Tech
At Penn State World Campus
25,400 sessions since March, 2015
21,545 active student accounts
Average session length of minutes
Implemented with the Spring term of 2015
Covers 43 courses plus a writing center
Primary service occurs in the Gen Eds
10,000 sessions since January, 2015
2,307 active student accounts
Average session length of minutes
Piloted for four academic terms from January, 2015-May, 2016
Started with 12 courses and now up to 70 courses covered, plus a writing center
Service across undergrad and grad programs

16. IVY TECH TOP 10 TUTORING SUBJECTS
18,639 OF 25,300 SESSIONS – 43 COURSES IN ALL

17. WHEN IVY TECH STUDENTS CONNECT FOR HELP
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Total by Hour
0:00
0.27%
0.58%
0.53%
0.54%
0.28%
0.25%
2.98%
1:00
0.22%
0.39%
0.35%
0.21%
1.91%
2:00
0.18%
0.20%
0.15%
0.14%
1.28%
3:00
0.11%
0.09%
0.13%
0.08%
0.69%
4:00
0.06%
0.59%
5:00
0.03%
0.07%
0.45%
6:00
0.12%
0.65%
7:00
0.19%
0.85%
8:00
0.23%
0.31%
0.29%
0.37%
0.10%
1.77%
9:00
0.55%
0.46%
0.50%
0.24%
2.95%
10:00
0.43%
0.78%
0.71%
0.77%
0.51%
4.29%
11:00
0.62%
0.92%
0.79%
0.72%
0.52%
4.93%
12:00
0.73%
0.81%
1.10%
0.90%
0.66%
0.60%
5.65%
13:00
0.93%
1.00%
0.89%
5.79%
14:00
0.84%
0.99%
1.04%
1.03%
0.68%
6.16%
15:00
1.06%
0.88%
1.05%
0.63%
0.74%
6.06%
16:00
1.22%
0.82%
6.23%
17:00
1.09%
1.08%
6.15%
18:00
1.20%
1.14%
0.98%
6.25%
19:00
1.18%
1.40%
1.30%
1.16%
0.83%
7.01%
20:00
1.42%
1.38%
1.32%
7.70%
21:00
1.51%
1.34%
1.24%
7.74%
22:00
1.41%
1.11%
1.01%
0.57%
6.83%
23:00
0.95%
0.76%
0.42%
0.44%
5.07%
Total by Day
16.13%
16.85%
16.77%
16.40%
14.61%
9.40%
9.84%
100.00%
1,734 sessions have occurred at 10:00 pm and 2,499 sessions on Saturdays

18. WORLD CAMPUS TOP 10 TUTORING SUBJECTS
6,456 OF 10,0000 SESSIONS – 70 COURSES IN ALL

19. 568 sessions have occurred at 10:00 PM and 1,397 sessions on Saturdays
WHEN WORLD CAMPUS STUDENTS CONNECT FOR HELP
568 sessions have occurred at 10:00 PM and 1,397 sessions on Saturdays

20. Questions Stacy Atkinson Ivy Tech Community College
Amanda Mulfinger
Penn State World Campus