Benchmarking St. Petersburg College:
A Report to Leadership
Project Eagle Evaluation Question #3
www.spcollege.edu/eagle/research/evaluation/peeq3.htm
How Can the eCampus Be Organized and
Run to Address Traditional Faculty Concerns, But Maintain an Innovative
Approach to Providing Educational Access?
Executive Summary
"If the current growth in on-line education continues, teaching on-line
will become part of routine faculty workload..."
(Gregory Hislop and Michael Atwood, Drexel
University)
Introduction
In
1999, St. Petersburg College (SPC)
received a multi-year federal grant (Project
Eagle) to build a national model for increasing access to four-year
degrees and workforce training for students attending community colleges.
Access would be enhanced by increasingly flexible educational opportunities -
with courses, programs and support services delivered at a time and place, in a
way and at a pace, best suited to the needs of the individual learner.
Part
of Project Eagle is an evaluation of e-learning practices at the college, using
a series of six critical questions formulated by the Project Eagle Action
Committee (previously known as the Project Eagle Working Group) and shaped into
a plan by the
project's external evaluator. The evaluation for the third question began with
an examination of the best e-learning practices related to that question, both
nationwide and worldwide, using the Web as the primary source of information.
The results were published in Best Educational E-Practices
(BEEP), Issue 8, May 1, 2001, Faculty Issues in an E-Learning Environment.
Then
a list of all practices related to the question currently in use at SPJC was
compiled and compared to those included in BEEP #8. A report was prepared
benchmarking SPJC, and the results submitted to the college leadership. This is
a summary of the findings and recommendations of that report.
Background
The
third question to be evaluated was related to faculty issues in an e-learning
environment. In April 2001, research was completed to compile a list of such
issues as identified by institutions nationwide and worldwide. The issues,
identified in BEEP #8,
included instructional, compensatory, intellectual property, and training
issues.
From
June to the middle of September 2001, steps were taken to determine how SPC has
addressed the faculty issues identified nationwide, as well as any that were
found to be unique to the college. These steps included examination of existing formal college policies
related to faculty issues; interviews with selected eCampus faculty, staff and
administrators; and an informal survey via email of all SPC online faculty.*
*To get input from the faculty, who were not working in late July
and early to mid-August, the originally scheduled completion date for Project
Eagle Evaluation Question #3 was postponed from August 31 to September 30.
Results
There
were four areas of faculty concern identified nationally. Those areas are
identified below and followed by a summary of SPC's efforts in dealing with
each.
1. Instructional technology
support. Of those recommended by ISU, SPC provides WebCT software, offering
faculty a spectrum of possibilities from syllabus only to full online courses;
solutions to faculty course development needs by Instructional Technology (IT)
staff who work one-on-one with faculty members; an online discussion area for
e-learning faculty to share ideas; and full technology support by instructional
technologists, technology design specialists, a trained and staffed help desk,
and both network and computer support specialists.
2. Instructional support for
course development. Support in areas identified by UN include opportunities
for interaction with students via an online survey of student
instruction; a bulletin board on the CyberAdvisor's Web
site; the inclusion of eCampus staff contact information on all
literature distributed to e-students; materials to support course content and
technology via a WebCT
tutorial for potential e-students; and extensive preparatory
information for students on the eCampus
Web site.
Also
available are an extensive marketing campaign, print and Web-based; online
delivery strategies like the newly developed E-Learning Journey faculty
training series; enhancement of faculty's general knowledge of distance
education by a mentorship program between experienced and new e-structors; and
the recent creation of a full-time CyberAdvisor position as a needed local
student contact point.
3. Other instructional needs and
concerns. Other nationwide concerns, as defined by SUWG, and addressed at
SPC are the college's incentives addressed immediately below in Compensatory
Issues, as well as a pilot program for using online student assistants; prompt
help solving WebCT problems by a good support staff; detailed instructional
materials in the form of the E-Learning Journey training series; and absence of
pressure on faculty to teach online courses.
1. To assist faculty in
developing or teaching an e-course, SPC provides an office computer
for all full-time faculty, a discounted rate for ISP service at home, and
permission from Microsoft to use any of its college-owned software at home.
Enrollment for online courses is capped at 30, and Project Eagle funds support
conference and meeting attendance/presentations for e-structors.
2. For developing e-courses,
SPC faculty receive supplemental pay and the support of instructional
technologists and technical design specialists.
3. For teaching e-courses,
faculty may be paid as either a supplement or part of their base workload. This
is an issue of concern to faculty and presently under examination by several
committees to develop a consistent, collegewide policy. Ongoing support for
e-structors is provided in the form of campus-specific computer and network
support specialists, as well as a collegewide help desk. A special initiative
is underway to provide laptop computers to e-structors, so they may work from
any location.
SPC
has developed an Addendum
to the Supplemental/Adjunct Contract(also known as the "right to teach"
contract) that states its policies on intellectual property. It has chosen to
be the sole owner of any coursework developed and any related copyright. If the
coursework is sold, faculty receive 50% of the proceeds. E-structors also have
the non-exclusive right to teach a course using coursework they developed for
the next three semesters that the course is offered.
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D. Training Issues. Based on work done by Melanie Clay,
State University of West Georgia.
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1. SPC provides its
e-structors group training sessions at the campus level; one-on-one lab
sessions with technologists; Web-based and printed materials; an online
discussion area; a mentoring system; and notification from the IT department of
new online developments relevant to them.
2. The college provides all
beginning e-faculty training in its E-Learning Journey to be able to utilize
WebCT as a student and facilitator; understand the basic strategies of creating
and delivering an online course with WebCT; and create a course template using
the Online Course Development Check List.
Review and Recommendations
Judging
from the number of services SPC offers its e-structors and the generally very
favorable responses of the online faculty themselves in an emailed survey, the eCampus
has so far succeeded in both addressing traditional concerns and maintaining an
innovative approach to providing educational access. There were a few
negatives, and, not surprisingly, the issue of compensation was one that drew
the most suggestions for change. However, some of the compensatory issues
raised are already under examination by the college.
The contents of BEEP were developed under a grant from the U. S. Department of Education (DOE). However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the DOE, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
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