After reading Adaptability to Online Learning: Differences Across Types of Students and Academic Subject Areas from the Community College Research Center (CCRC) (http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/publications/adaptability- to-online-learning.html) I was very happy I had attended the Instructional Technology Council eLearning conference a couple of weeks ago.
This report looks at online courses in the Washington State Community and Technical College system. Although I may not agree with everything listed in this report it really did illustrate to me that we need to be doing more to support online student success. I believe that the eLearning department at TCC has done a great job supporting faculty and students with the technology used to teach/learn online, but there is more to teaching and learning online than just the technology. We really need to start incorporating other skills around time management, productivity and work/school/life balance to our workshops as these can be just as, if not more important, than some of the technological skills.
There were a couple of really good sessions at the eLearning conference that I think will be helpful as we develop activities to help promote online student success. The first session was a vendor hosted session on SmarterMeasure. SmarterMeasure is an assessment tool that helps students identify their readiness to take online classes. The assessment focuses on technical aptitude, school/life balance and time management. Once the student has completed the 30 minute assessment they receive a report that gives the student a good picture of their readiness to take online courses. This information is also available to eLearning staff so we can work with students on problem areas and refer them to campus resources as necessary.
The second helpful session I attended was about an online student success course that the Alamo colleges are offering. This course covered the technology but also focused on the other areas mentioned above that promote student success. This course was offered in the learning management system so students could become familiar with the tools.
I think using the SmarterMeasure assessment in conjunction with an online student success course will be invaluable to our eLearning students. Maybe this strategy will go a long way to change some of the troubling statistics that were mentioned in the CCRC report.
What do you think? If we created a free online student success course that was offered during Week Zero, would you be interested in taking it? Let us know in the comments.
Not only do I think that a student success course would be INVALUABLE to students (and instructors), but I would be willing to help design it. This would be time WELL INVESTED! I feel this is especially important as we move toward Canvas as our LMS. Students can easily be overwhelmed in the first few weeks of a class, and taking the technology stimulation out of the equation would most certainly have a profound impact on student success (my two favorite words, by the way).
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