dla2011 five myths about e-learning

Five Distance Learning Myths Explored and Exploded

Barry DahlExcellence in e-Education

Barry Dahl dot com

Online Courses and Developmental Education

Data from Lake Superior College 2009-2010 academic year

#1

“Best Practices”

• NCDE Director, Dr. Hunter Boylan

• Keynote speech: “Best Practices in Developmental Education.”

• During Q & A, he was asked to share examples of good practice in offering developmental courses via online delivery.

His Response?

“There aren’t any!”

He Continued

He went on to say that the completion rates (or success rates) in online developmental courses “are abysmal. Way below the rates for on-ground courses. ”

Case Study – Lake Superior College

• Developmental Math Sequence – 3 courses• First taught online during Fall 2002• As of Spring 2010, a total of 91 online

sections have been taught.• MATH 0450 Pre-Algebra• MATH 0460 Algebra I• MATH 0470 Algebra II


• Developmental Writing Sequence – 2 courses• First taught online during Spring 2004• As of Spring 2010, a total of 23 online

sections have been taught.• ENGL 0450 Writing I• ENGL 0460 Writing II


• Developmental Reading Sequence – 2 courses

• First taught online during Spring 2005• As of Spring 2010, a total of 17 online

sections have been taught.• READ 0460 Reading II

AY 2010 Student Completion Results

• 510 students enrolled in online sections• 2,226 students enrolled in on-ground

sections

• Course withdrawal rates were identical at 15.7% for both groups.

Grades Earned

A B C D F FN W0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%LSC Developmental Courses - 2009-2010

Online On-ground

Passing Grades in These Courses

C or better D or better50%

55%

60%

65%

70%

60.4%

67.5%

62.3%

66.8%

Passing Grades in Developmental Courses

Online On-ground2009-2010

AY 2010 Results

• More A’s were given in online courses: – 25.1% online – 21.3% on-ground

• More F’s were given in on-ground courses:– 17.5% on-ground – 16.8% online

• GPA in these courses: – 2.37 for online – 2.31 for on-ground.

My Retort

Completion rates (or success rates) in online developmental courses “are no more abysmal than and NOT way below the rates for on-ground courses. ”

At least that is true forLake Superior College

Discussion Time

Online Courses and Developmental Education

QualityMatters™ should be the focal point of our

online quality efforts.

#2

Through the use of rubrics and standards related to the quality of online courses

(i.e. Quality Matters™), we are sufficiently addressing the questions

about e-learning quality

40%

60% 1.Reality2.Myth

QualityMatters is Sufficient

• QualityMatters looks at the quality of course design.

Learning

QualityConcerns

DesignTeaching

• That’s good, but it’s only one leg holding up the stool.

• Um, no, it isn’t!!

Learning LevelIs High

Teaching LevelIs High

Course DesignMeets Standards

Learning Assessment

Performance Eval Qua

lityM

atter

s®

Learning LevelIs Low



Learning Assessment


lityM

atter

s®

Learning LevelIs High


Course DesignBelow Standard

Learning Assessment


lityM

atter

s®

Learning LevelIs Low

Teaching LevelIs Low


Learning Assessment


lityM

atter

s®

Discussion Time

Moving Beyond QualityMatters™

Digital Natives and Non-Traditional Students

#3

Generations

Digital Natives

Net Generation

Next Generation

Nexters

Texters

Generation Y

Generation Why

Millennials

Generation Now

iGeneration

Echo Boomers

GoogleGeneration

NintendoGeneration

TrophyGeneration

Screenagers

That’s Crazy Talk.Let’s consolidate.

DigitalNet-Gennials

More crazy talk.Let’s compare.

Conflicting Cottage Industries

• “Digital Net-Gennials” are loosely defined as being born from 1980 (or ‘82) to 2000.

• So, many of this “group” are between 25 and 30 years old.

• “Non-traditional” age students are usually defined as being 25 years and older.

So, which is it?

Treat them as Digital Natives?

or as Non-Trads?

Discussion Time

Digital Natives and Non-Traditional Students

Sense of Communityfor Online Learners

#4

Online Community

• Are you trying to build an online community for your e-campus?

4

4.5

5

5.5

6

6.5

7

Importance Scale - PSOLPSOL – Importance Scores on 36 Items

Importance of sense of community

Why don’t they care about community?

Because they’re already up to their eyeballs in ….

Already establishedcommunities

Discussion Time

Sense of Communityfor Online Learners

Online Student Satisfaction Surveys

#5

Option 1 - PSOL

Why PSOL?

59

PSOL BasicsThere are 72 questions that comprise the PSOL. Average completion time is 15 minutes.

NOTE: questions are answered on a 7-point Likert scale, where 7 is high.

26 Priorities statements (can add 10)

7 Information sources about school/program

11 Factors to enroll in the program

3 Overall satisfaction questions

14 Demographics questions (can add 1)

The Importance of Importance

That’s all good,

but…….

Strengths/Challenges

• Noel-Levitz identifies strengths and challenges based on your data.

• I call these “internal” strengths and challenges. They might not be a strength or a challenge when compared to others.

Are online students, as a group, more satisfied than the on-campus students?

64NOTE: SSI is the Noel-Levitz Survey for on-ground learners, PSOL is the Noel-Levitz survey for online learners.

65NOTE: SSI is the Noel-Levitz Survey for on-ground learners, PSOL is the Noel-Levitz survey for online learners.

What’s Missing?

• Student tech usage rates• Student uses of non-campus technology• Computer skills assessment• Student success rates• Comparison between online and on-

ground students (using same survey)

Student Uses of e-Services

0.56%

5.70%

2.80%

25.70%

33.70%

25.30%

0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00%

6

5

4

3

2

1 Never used it; didn't know about it.

Never used it; but was aware of it.

Have used it a little; will use again.

Have used it a lot; planning to continue the same.

Have used it a little; won’t use it again.

Have used it a lot; planning to reduce usage.

Online Library Services

Great Expectations

2009 PSOL – Summary Statement

1=Much worse than expected

2=Quite a bit worse than I expected

3=Worse than I expected

4=About what I expected

5=Better than I expected

6=Quite a bit better than I expected

7=Much better than expected

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

So far, how has your college experience met your expectations?

Overall score 5.0

But seriously…

Discussion Time

Online Student Satisfaction Surveys

Five Distance Learning Myths Explored and Exploded

Barry DahlExcellence in e-Education