The Tennessee Board of Regents Online Degree Program: A (remarkably) integrated learning environment
The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) is the sixth largest Board of Regents
in the nation. It governs 47 colleges, universities, community colleges, and
technical centers that offer degrees ranging from basic certificates to doctorates;
its schools serve over 180,000 full- and part-time students. In September of
2000, the TBR approved the Regents Online Degree Program (RODP) projected to
serve 7000 students in 2005.
The Regents online degree program was designed to provide statewide access
to higher education using flexible, technology-based delivery systems. Specifically,
the RODP's mission is:
· To increase access to higher education for adult Tennesseans, especially
those with some college experience. Census data document that Tennesseans lag
behind both the national and regional averages of educational attainment. Further,
attainment is uneven across the state, with rural areas lagging far behind urban
areas. Economic development of the state depends on increasing the skill levels
of the population.
· To maximize the effective use of technology for delivery of college-level
instruction. Distance delivery through the use of technology will increase access
to higher education, especially in remote areas of the state and for adult learners
for whom time flexibility is a critical resource.
· To provide student access to Web-based courses and degree programs.
Web-based courses will reach populations not currently enrolled in higher education,
and will also permit students who are currently enrolled in on-campus courses
to take additional courses, thus completing their programs sooner.
· To encourage and support collaboration among TBR institutions. Course
development and delivery will be cost-effective because courses will be developed
by one institution and used by all.
By Autumn quarter of 2001, The RODP had inaugurated a virtual, online university,
offering degree programs that drew from the resources of all the TBR institutions.
They opened with 1,950 student course enrollments. By the second semester, the
number had nearly doubled to 3,500 and the Regents capped the program to avoid
overextending their new online educational system. In 2004, the RODP served
over 5,000 students (with over 9,000 course enrollments) seeking online degrees
and continued access to education in Tennessee.
All of the programs at all of the Tennessee institutions are fully accredited.
Twenty-seven technology centers deliver and award the technical certificates
and diplomas, thirteen two-year community colleges deliver and award the noted
associate degrees, while all six TBR universities deliver and award specific
bachelor and master degrees. Courses completed in the Regents Online Degree
Programs are entirely online and transferable among all the participating institutions.
Students are able to choose the technology center, college, or university (home
school) for their admission, registration, and the award of their certificate,
diplomas, or degree. The TBR virtual library includes a variety of electronic
quick references, 14 InfoTrac databases, and access to the library resources
of the home institution of the course instructor. They also offer an online
bookstore, managed by MBS Direct of Columbia, Missouri. MBS Direct works in
partnership with local campus bookstores to purchase and sell required materials
for the online courses. There is a 24/7 toll free phone help center, a Web form
for submitting questions and searching a knowledge base, and live chat help
available, also 24/7.
The final part of the equation is the TBR eLearning Professional Development
Center located at the Renaissance Center; a comprehensive faculty development
program based on the Southern Regional Electronic Campus Best Practices in Online
Learning (http://www.electroniccampus.org/student/srecinfo/publications/principles.asp).
The center offers on-site and online training in the pedagogy of teaching and
learning online, best practices for student achievement online, and using instructional
tools such as WebCT, FrontPage, Dreamweaver, and related programs. Their clientele
includes faculty from both K-12 and higher education, allied health agencies,
workforce development and continuing and distance education.
The RODP implementation presented quite a challenge for Robbie Kendall-Melton,
Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, who was hired specifically to
initiate online teaching and learning at the TBR. First, she had to serve as
a "change agent" and "motivator" for assisting the system
in embracing the vision and mission for online education. Second, she had to
coordinate various committees and teams to select a single online course development
authoring system for RODP, work with course designers to establish a common
template, assist the campuses in developing online student services, implement
the "train the trainer" model to assist faculty to develop and teach
online courses, institute guidelines and policies for quality and measurable
outcomes, coordinate the SACS System Wide Substantive Change for RODP, and work
with the campuses in developing assessments for program, course, faculty, and
student evaluations.
Kendall-Melton and her evaluators chose WebCT Vista as the program delivery
learning management system. All of the RODP's two- and four-year institutions
use SCT's SIS. "Because WebCT interfaces directly with SCT, online courses
created with WebCT are automatically populated with the appropriate registered
students from the SIS," says Raja Kodali, the interim Assistant Vice Chancellor
for Information Technologies whose staff supports the RODP team in coordinating
registration of the campuses.
The two teams created a page that TBR administrators and faculty can consult
to see which students have logged into the courses; all the information comes
directly from the SIS. SIS integration has eliminated a triennial chore: manual
downloading of grades. "When you consider we have over 7,000 students to
grade three times a year, that is a lot of effort and manpower," says John
St. Clair, Executive Director of ROPD Technical Services and Training. "Now
all we have to do is have the instructors enter the grades in their gradebooks,
and we just pull and post grades for each student and pass them on to the appropriate
campuses." St. Clair and the TBR RODP Campus Administrators use the grades,
plus easily obtainable data on student log-ons and page views, to document class
participation for students receiving financial aid.
From the outset, Kendall-Melton knew that with WebCT's wide range of teaching
and learning tools, courses could be designed to engage the students. "Ninety-seven
percent of the math faculty use the whiteboard feature to enhance instruction,"
says Kendall-Melton. Chat boards and discussion boards are valued by the students
for interaction, and several instructors have begun using Wimba voice support
to deliver audio lectures online.
"We've met the board's expectations for interactive courses, and then
some," she says. "Visit an RODP sample course at http://www.tn.regentsdegrees.org/students/sample.htm
to experience some of the course features appreciated by Tennessee students."
Faculty members benefit from WebCT's modular course home pages, that allow
them to put lessons, discussions, quizzes and any other content all in one place
so that students don't need to hunt around for course elements. Students like
the My Progress feature, that lets them monitor their grades for the trimester
and the year and having a separate e-mail account just for school," says
Kendall-Melton. For her part, Kendall-Melton sees the Calendar feature as "vital"
to help keep students maintain the steady progress important for completing
online courses. RODP also employs the Student Home Page feature to help students
bond with the instructor and with their other classmates. They have found the
"My Progress" tool allows students to check on their progress and
grades at any time. The most recent innovation for RODP has been the virtual
online student center, which provides an audio and animated WebCT tutorial for
both students and faculty. Other items incorporated with WebCT have been the
Virtual Library and the online live tutorial labs (24 x 7) for English, Math,
Spanish, and Science Courses sponsored by Smarthinking.
While the TBR has not taken an official measure of student satisfaction, overall
response to the RODP - and to WebCT - is extremely positive. In a recent survey,
84% of RODP students indicated satisfaction with their online courses and experience.
The RODP has added a graduate level (masters) program and two technical certificate
programs. Perhaps more telling, 90% of the TBR campuses have adopted WebCT for
their own online learning programs. "Remember, these schools are free to
choose their own tools," says Kendall- Melton. "There's no question
that the immediate success we had with WebCT at the RODP has driven participating
campuses to the product."
Now in its third year, the Tennessee Board of Regents online program is experiencing
solid growth. Enrollment has grown each semester (7,000 students projected for
2005) and the attrition rate has fallen as students and faculty gain familiarity
with tools and pacing for online learning success. Kendall-Melton is justifiably
proud of the progress her program has made in four short years. She attributes
the program's growth to: the collaborative efforts of the campuses, the guidance
of the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs (Dr. Paula Short) in establishing
a Strategic Plan for RODP, the governance of the RODP Curriculum and Oversight
Committees, the support of the Chancellor (Dr. Charles Manning) and the Board
of Regents, and most importantly, the commitment from the faculty and campus
RODP staff members.
For states hoping to emulate Tennessee's success she offers this advice: "Start
with willing faculty members who are not afraid to think and work out of the
box. Remember not to reinvent the wheel. Consult with your WebCT Team for knowledge
and skill training for preparing faculty for online education. Learn to collaborate
and share best practices with others!"
*RODP was rated as one of the top three virtual programs in nation by The
Center for Academic Transformation Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2003, recognized
by SREC for online student services, and showcased as an exemplary system wide
model at the national WebCT International Conference, 2003. Most recently, RODP
has been selected by the American Asian ELearning Support Services (non-profit
educational agency in Bangladesh) as the virtual university of choice. For more
information please contact Dr. Robbie K. Melton, Associate Vice Chancellor for
Academic Affairs Tennessee Board of Regents E-Mail: [email protected]
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