Supporting Learning and Success in Online Courses: Early Insights and Updates from the Postsecondary Teaching with Technology Collaborative. In this webinar for Postsecondary Teaching with Technology Collaborative partners, members of the research teams share what we are learning about strategies for supporting student success and skill development in online courses and will provide updates on Collaborative activities, findings, and plans for the upcoming academic year.
Self-directed learning instruction as a tool for equity: A framework for improving student outcomes in online STEM courses. OLC Innovate – learn more about the research around supporting diverse students’ self-directed learning skills and mindsets and practical strategies embed these strategies into online courses.
Pima Community College in Arizona is a Hispanic-serving institution that enrolls about 43,000 students, many of whom are working and have families. With 40% of students fully online, and more in virtual and hybrid courses, the college ensures that online courses are not just pale imitations of in-person courses and that their design takes into account how students learn.
As part of the collaborative, Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) intends to build on its existing campus-wide initiatives to foster metacognitive skill acquisition in prerequisite and introductory courses in preparation for more challenging upper-level content material. Bunker Hill Community College in Boston is the largest community college in Massachusetts, with more than 19,000 students enrolled annually. Founded in 1973, BHCC offers more than 100 academic programs, including associate degree programs, certificate programs and programs designed to allow students to complete their first two years of a bachelor’s degree before transferring to a four-year university. BHCC is a minority-serving institution.
Calbright College will leverage its involvement in the collaborative to further develop its model as an online-only college and enhance its faculty-development framework, which focuses on the affective dimensions of teaching, to deliberately integrate the student’s experience. Calbright College, California’s first online-only community college, focuses on careers not credentials. Calbright uses a combination of online classes, mobile apps, and career readiness training and services to provide working adults with the skills they need to move into higher paying jobs. Courses can be taken on each person’s own timeline and from wherever is most convenient.
As part of the collaborative, Macomb Community College will explore methods to encourage deeper student engagement in online courses by actively improving course design and faculty training. Macomb will align its participation in the collaborative’s research and development activities with its broader equity and inclusion initiatives. Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan, offers nearly 200 degree and certificate programs that prepare its students for life and work in the 21st century. Macomb is a commuter college with a campus life, with student clubs to join, study trips to take, cultural programs to check out, and college athletic and other events.
Odessa College will leverage its involvement with the collaborative to build on initiatives coordinated by the college’s Global Center in the Institutional Effectiveness office, which supports the development of innovative instructional design and facilitates scaling successful models across the entire college. Odessa College has been an integral part of educating West Texans since 1946. Currently OC offers more than 120 associate and certificate degree programs, including more than 30 occupational/technical programs to meet the needs of citizens who want to learn new or improve existing skills.
Palm Beach State College (PBSC) intends to use knowledge and experience gained through the collaborative’s research to enhance several ongoing initiatives, including the recent expansion of its e-Learning and Instructional Technology team and the implementation of Quality Matters, a faculty-development program. Palm Beach State College was founded in 1933 as Florida’s first public community college.
Already a national leader in teaching and learning innovation, Portland State University intends to leverage its participation in the collaborative to build on existing digital-learning initiatives and efforts to infuse academic-success skill development into its general education University Studies program. Portland State University is Portland, Oregon’s public research university. Its innovative approach combines education with creative problem-solving and collaboration across campus for maximum impact. From its founding to serve veterans home from World War II, it has grown into Oregon’s most diverse urban public research university with 26,000 students and more than 200 degree programs.
Tulsa Community College (TCC) recently trained faculty in online teaching, built an online instruction team in response to COVID-19, and now requires each course to have an online component. TCC intends to leverage its involvement in the collaborative to build on this work to improve online STEM courses and enhance online offerings throughout college programs. TCC has served Tulsa and northeastern Oklahoma since 1970.