This interactive presentation will share institutional strategies enacted by the Virtual Campus (VC) at Indian River State College (IRSC) to build a successful online learning program. Presenters will discuss the success IRSC has experienced with online student success rates and retention rates since the launch of the Virtual Campus in 2013. Attendees are invited to participate in a dialogue about strategies for creating and maintaining online programs. Takeaways will include successful strategies for implementing a Virtual Campus and enhancing the online student experience.
The following evidence-based strategies represent those selected approaches, implemented and refined by the IRSC VC team, that have yielded positive results. The presentation will address each strategy in detail, starting with a brief overview and introduction to the method. An in-depth description of how the strategies are executed should elucidate the practice behind the action.
Master course design model
In order to meet growing workforce needs, IRSC faculty and administration strategically planned the formation of the VC. The VC leadership team determined that the institution would deploy master courses created and maintained by instructional designers and course developers. The decision to employ a master course model yields several benefits within the context of the IRSC VC.
A result of using the master model is consistent design for students. Across courses, the template provides a standard organizational structure and appearance. Students quickly become familiar with the layout of VC courses, which places the focus on content rather than navigation.
Cross-college teams
Virtual Campus Workgroup
The Virtual Campus Workgroup consists of administrators, faculty, and staff who focus on key issues critical to online success. Each academic year the team addresses topics such as virtual proctoring, the creation of online student resources, and the implementation of a virtual student life community.
Partnership with Instructional Services Division
Members of the Virtual Campus work closely with the Instructional Services Division. The Virtual Campus Student Learning Coordinator partners with the Advising Department and members of the Career and Transfer Services Department to create analytics reports. These reports consist of information on online students that track their academic progress throughout a semester, as well as predictive analytics reports that help an advisor identify at-risk students.
In an effort to ensure student readiness at the beginning of the college experience, Indian River State College revamped their New Student Orientation (NSO). Members of the Virtual Campus and Instructional Services Division worked together to include a section focused on the technologies at the institution. The module is designed to familiarize students with the IRSC Learning Management System (LMS). The goal is to expose students to all of the tools necessary for success in online courses. Students navigate within a sandbox environment and gain exposure to posting and replying to a discussion board, taking an assessment, uploading an assignment, viewing grades, and other third-party resources they may encounter. With over 50% of the student body taking at least one online course, this module contains helpful information to ensure that students are successful in their online classes.
Creation of the Student Success Guide
This interactive Student Success guide, which includes the technical and academic resources needed for success in online courses. It is available to all students within the college LMS in an electronic format and printed versions are distributed at the New Student Orientation. The Student Learning Coordinator worked with Provosts, tutors, faculty, and advisors to create the Student Success Guide.
The Use of Learning and Predicitve Analytics
Indian River State College implemented its analytics initiative in the spring semester of 2015, and immediately experienced an institutional shift in the intervention strategies for online students. For the first time, instructors and advisors had real-time data at their fingertips, which allowed them to make appropriate interventions before students fell behind in their courses. The analytics reports fostered meaningful conversations among instructional deans, advisors and faculty, resulting in heightened collaboration around student success. Efforts led to an increase in success rates and a decrease in student withdrawals within online courses. To date, the Virtual Campus has closed the gap between online and face-to-face success rates while experiencing enrollment growth over the semesters.