Capítulo 3 - Adding clicks to bricks in online education. The impact of student support sevices and a trusted industry-standard

Nancy Lynch Hale, Bernice Houle, Barbara Farrell,
David Sachs and Stuart Varden

Pace University, New York

 

1.  INTRODUCTION

Higher education has historically been made up of brick and mortar institutions that continue to struggle to provide the technological services demanded by their consumers: the students, faculty, alumni, and administrators.  According to Terry, the building has been the key point of contact between faculty, students, and alumni (Terry, 2001). However, there is a disconnect occurring about the use of technology.  While many faculty have discovered «the home offices» and most students wander the hall carrying laptops, most accrediting organizations continue to measure the dimensions of labs, offices, and libraries, and fund raising is driven by building campaigns. Although university courses have begun to incorporate the «click» into course delivery, they are slow to develop the infrastructure needed to deliver totally online support services.  According to Annand, «university education is still generally conducted within pre-Industrial Age organizational structures» (Annand, 2007).

Since 1999 Pace University’s NACTEL program has delivered associate level, on-line degree programs to telecommunications workers around the United States. In 2004, the bachelor’s completion degree was added to provide adult students who have earned the NACTEL associate degree, a NEXT Step associate degree or up to 64 college credits the option of obtaining an industry designed  technical Bachelor of Science degree in telecommunications.  Students who participated in the B. S. degree program from September 2004 to August 2008 were included in this study.

2.  SETTING OF STUDY

Pace University, where the study was conducted, is a Middle States accredited, comprehensive, independent University with campuses in New York City and Westchester County.  The University has a total enrollment of approximately 13,500 undergraduate and graduate students with a college of arts and sciences and schools of business, computing, education, nursing and law.

In 2001 the University participated in New York State’s Department of Higher Education, Institutional Capabilities Review Process which was developed by the Taskforce on Distance Higher Education.  The University was one of the first institutions in New York State to be certified as «capable» of delivering distance education.  Based on this review, the NACTEL program’s proctoring program was included in the State’s model of best practices in Learner Support (www.highered.nysed.gov/ocue/ded/examples.html).

In addition to the NACTEL program, which offers online associates and bachelors degrees, the University offers an online masters degree and several blended or web assisted programs including a Doctorate of Professionals Studies (DPS) Degree in Computing and a DPS in Business.

3.  DESCRIPTION OF THE NACTEL PROGRAM

The National Coalition for Telecommunications Education and Learning (NACTEL) was formed in 1999 with $500,000 in grant support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems was identified as the education provider and worked with the Council of Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) and the NACTEL partners’ representatives from at&t, Verizon, Embarq, Qwest, Citizens, the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) to develop an Associates in Science degree in telecommunications.

The members of this coalition are competitors in the telecommunications industry but recognize the value of supporting an industry standard curriculum that prepares the technical workforce needed by the industry.  In 2004, a 56 credit, bachelor’s completion degree in telecommunications was added for graduates of the NACTEL AS degree programs.

4.  STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES

In addition to providing for the formation of the NACTEL coalition, the grants received allowed the program to develop systems to support distance learners. The following support systems were designed to support the online learning environment:

1. A database-driven website which contains complete program information including the calendar for the five overlapping semesters, degree descriptions, course descriptions indicating the semester the courses will be offered, links to bookstore information by semester, program policies and procedures, and links to key program administrators, advisors and instructors.
2. A student information system which provides a web interface for the student application, transcript management, registration, payment procedures, and advisement information for all students.  These systems were developed and refined using feedback mechanisms in the form of surveys. Information in the student’s portal is driven by the database in conjunction with advisement from three academic advisors, one each at the associate degree level, the almost bachelor degree level and at the bachelors degree level.
3. The Proctoring System provides verification of the learners.  The student can select a proctor from a list of acceptable proctors.  Proctors are trusted individuals who are not members of the students’ family or household. There is a list of acceptable proctor titles which includes pastors, librarians, work supervisors, etc. All proctors complete an application which must be signed and notarized.  The proctoring database maintains information about all proctors and the distribution and verification of the taking of the exams. This system has been cited as a model of best practices by the New York State Department of Higher Education and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
4. Embedded course assessments are performed in every course in weeks 4, 8 and 12. These assessments are completed by all students and are provided in real time to the faculty and program administrators. The assessments are reviewed with the faculty every 4 weeks. Students are given feedback from the administrators on their feedback sessions with the faculty. This process encourages student participation in the course evaluation process.
5. The Online Seminar was designed to provide the student with a first-hand experience in learning online. It also allows the student to ready his or her learning station with the necessary software and plug-ins that are required for instruction in the content areas.
6. Prior Learning Assessment Evaluation is provided to all students upon application. Students’ credit and non credit work is evaluated via transcripts, proficiency exams and portfolio to ensure proper advisement.
7. Academic Reviews are held monthly to ensure that the students are making good academic progress. In addition, student participation levels are monitored in the third week of every semester to ensure adequate participation. Students are contacted by advisors if their participation levels are not what is expected.

The factors that impact the persistence of the 402 students who participated in the NACTEL B.S. degree program in telecommunications from its first course offerings in 2004 through the summer of 2008 were examined using an adapted version of Kember’s Model of Student’s Progress (Kember, 1995).

The first goal of this research was to determine which factors predict a student’s withdrawal from the NACTEL B.S. degree program. This goal was accomplished by examining the withdrawn students’ responses to an adapted version of the Distance Education Student Progress inventory.

The second goal of this research was to establish the impact of support services including program administration, advisement and program design on a student’s persistence in the degree B.S. program. This goal was accomplished by comparing student responses to the Positive Program Evaluation and the Negative Program Evaluation Factors to the Age, Gender, Marital Status, Program Status, Transfer Status, and Union Affiliation entry characteristics.

The third goal of this research was to determine the impact of the NACTEL’s industry-standard curriculum, or «branding» on a student’s enrollment and persistence in the B.S. degree program. The response to a survey question on the industry-branded curriculum was analyzed using each student’s entry characteristics.

The fourth goal of this research was to determine which factors cause a student to persist in the B.S. degree program. This goal was accomplished by examining the Graduated students’ responses to an adapted version of the Distance Education Student Progress inventory. In addition, the characteristics of the successful student were identified.

For the working adult students in the online NACTEL B.S. degree program who studied for 24 months, (47.3%) graduated, (38.0%) were still registered, and (14.7%) withdrew from the program. Overall, the NACTEL B.S. degree graduation rate is 31.5% higher than the national norm for working adults pursuing degree programs with 17.6% fewer students withdrawing from the program after two years.

5.  SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

1. The  Graduated student in the Age group of the 25-44 year olds is more motivated by rewards that are external to the program such as a promotion or an increase in pay or job responsibility than are the students in the 45-64 year old age group.
2. 62% of the  Graduated students in the Gender group female responding to the survey indicate a moderately high level of satisfaction with the Positive Program Evaluation factor. This is perhaps because the online B.S. NACTEL program’s online learning environment, program administration and support services are supportive of the needs of the female students.
3. A student’s Marital Status is a strong predictor of a student’s persistence in an online degree program.

a)  A feeling of Social Integration within the learning environment is a strong predictor of a student’s persistence in an online degree program.  The Withdrawn Single student in the online B.S. NACTEL degree program is at greater risk of withdrawing from an online degree program than is the Married student because the Single student does not feel as socially integrated into the online learning environment.

b) Family Encouragement is a predictor of a student’s persistence in the online NACTEL B.S. degree program.

1. The low level of Family Encouragement (16.7%) shown among the B.S. Withdrawn, Single group indicates that the Withdrawn, Single group does not have a support system from within the home, which makes learning a priority and the lack of this support may lead to withdrawal from the program.
2. The  Graduated Married student group is more persistent in the B.S. degree because of the Family Encouragement received that makes learning a priority in the home.

c)  A relationship between a Withdrawn student’s approach to learning (Deep Approach), meaning a student’s ability to maximize the value of the educational experience by relating the information learned to the student’s everyday life and a student’s Marital Status is a strong predictor of a student’s persistence in an online degree program.  This research indicates that 66.7% of the Withdrawn Single students feel unable to relate the materials being taught to their professional lives.

4. 63.1% the Program Status group graduated students responding to the survey indicate a moderately high level of satisfaction with the Positive Program Evaluation factor, which includes the program’s online learning environment, program administration and support services.
5. The student’s Transfer Type is an important factor in the student’s persistence in the B.S. degree program.

a)  66.2% of the Graduated students surveyed, regardless of the transfer type (technical or non-technical academic backgrounds), indicate a positive association between their enrollment decision and the value of the NACTEL Industry Driven Curriculum.

b) 81.5% of the  Graduated, Non-Technical Transfer Type students indicate a positive association between their enrollment decisions and the NACTEL Industry-Driven Curriculum.

c)  The  Graduated student’s persistence in the online NACTEL B.S. Degree with a Technical Transfer Type background depends less on Family Encouragement to be successful than does the Non-Technical Transfer students.

d) The Graduatedstudent with a Non-Technical Transfer Type generally takes a Surface Approach to learning.

e)  The Graduatedstudents with a Technical Transfer Type background looks deeper into the technical meaning of what they are learning.

6. A student approach to Reading is a predicator of a student’s persistence in the online B.S. degree program. Students in the Union Affiliation group Non-Union are at greater risk of withdrawing from the online NACTEL B.S. degree because the non-union student group approach to reading causes the students to struggle with the course reading materials.

Although the persistence rates of the students studying in the online NACTEL B.S. degree program are excellent, the results of this study provide significant insight into the factors that affect the students’ persistence. Some of the findings can provide possible program recommendations and others will provide opportunities for future research.

REFERENCES

ANNAND, D. (2007): Re-Organizing Universities for the Information Age International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 8 (3), 1-9.

KEMBER, D. (1995): open learning courses for adults: a model of student progress. Englewood Cliffs: ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY.

TERRY, N.P., JUNE (2000): Vol. N.º 1, Spring 2001 Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=233649 or DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.233649 (2001). Bricks Plus Bytes: How «Click-and-Brick» Will Define Legal Education Space. Villanova Law Review, 46 (1).