Webcast Series

"Providing Student Services to Distance Learners"

Transcript of Tutoring Online: Developing Program Based Online Learning Support Services Webcast

Slide: WCET presents a Webcast Series: Providing Student Services to Distance Learners

PAT: During today's session, we invite you to make comments related to the presentation in the chat box and some of you have already welcomed other folks that are here, so you've used it. But if you would use it during Mike's presentation to exchange information on tutoring and your experiences and knowledge of that topic from your institutions, and that would be an extra bonus for those people attending.

If you experience connectivity problems during this presentation, please click on the help button to send an e-mail message to tech support.

SUE: If you would like to have a private conversation with someone whose name you see in the box next to the WCET logo, you can click on the "tell" button and select that person's name and your message will go just straight to that person.

And I'd also like to mention a quirk of Internet technology. This isn't a television broadcast where you get sound and pictures all at the same time. They come by various packets. So this is an asynchronous transmission of our voices and the slides. So if what you see and hear are not matched up exactly, please be patient and know that it will get better aligned eventually.

PAT: Okay, and so we can get a better sense of your interest today, please respond to the question that's about to appear on your screen.

Question: Does your institution provide tutoring?

"Does your institution provide tutoring?" and please click the radio button on your screen, the most appropriate answer, and you should see "in person only,""online only," you do both "in person and online tutoring," or you don't provide any tutoring.

And while you're responding to that question — we'll have the results tabulated here in a few minutes — I want to tell you that tutoring online, developing program-based online learning support services, is the eighth in our webcast series on providing student services to distance learners.

This series is part of WCET's work on its Learning Anytime, Anywhere Partnership project, which is funded by the US Department of Education. The project involves three partner institutions and a corporate partner in creating web-based student services for online learners.

The partners in that LAAP project include Kansas State University, Regis University and Kapi'olani Community College. And Kapi'olani has been focused on tutoring in this project and have really, I think, stretched the definition of tutoring and that's why we're really looking forward to hearing what Mike has to say.

Sue, do we have some results?

Results: Does your institution provide tutoring?

SUE: We do. This is so cool. It looks like we have about fifty-four respondents, and we can see from the bar graph that looks like most of the tutoring is going on in person only. But there are some schools that, half of that many again, tutoring is going on both in person and online.

PAT: Okay. So we're starting to see some changes there, and Mike's model actually involves both some in person tutoring and online tutoring. While we're still waiting here for Mike, let me tell you a little bit about WCET for those of you that are not familiar with it.

Slide: WCET: The Cooperative advancing the effective use of technology in higher education

WCET is a cooperative of higher education institutions, agencies, non-profit organizations and corporations involved in distance learning. Our focus is on advancing the effective use of technology in the higher education. You can see some of the information about us on the screen. And I hope you will visit our website to learn more.

We have an institute, an MDE institute, that's coming up in July in Park City, Utah. I think they're just a few more openings there, so if you missed going to Park City for the Olympics, here's an opportunity to spend some time in an absolutely beautiful location and really come up to speed on some of the pressing issues and challenges with distance learning and also some of the great opportunities in new technologies.

SUE: Do you want to talk about our new website?

PAT: Yes. Let's do that. We have a new website as of today that Sue's been working on for several weeks now. Months might be more accurate. Where we've gathered a lot of resources on student services in a variety of different topic areas. And we've had experts write some overviews in each of those sections.

SUE: I hope you will visit that site. If you go to our www.wcet.info, and then go to "Projects" and then click on "Beyond the Administrative Core," you will find lots of resources that I think you'll find helpful.

PAT: I hope that you will send us some additional resources to look at that we might want to also add to the site. We're looking for some good models of delivering student services online and we're particularly interested in certain areas. And those areas include academic advising, tutoring, orientation, financial aid, library services, career counseling, career planning, and personal counseling.

So if you know of schools doing a good job in any of those areas, we'd be very interested in taking a look at their models. So if you will send us a note there's a place on our site where you can submit recommendations for additional materials to add to the site.

SUE: We have introductions by national leaders in the field of each of these student services. And we have information about the history of the student service, of the responsibilities that are involved, the challenges and issues.

Then we have hundreds of links that go to various associations and organizations, publications and articles, we have campus sites that are doing a good job, and we have also have corporate sites that offer a variety of different kinds of services for all the different student services.

So there's a lot of information there. And we're looking forward to hearing from people more examples so we can just keep adding to it.

PAT: One possibility, while we're waiting for Mike, is to launch the site, Sue, and take a little tour. Would you like to do that?

SUE: Sure. Let me see if I can figure out which button to use. That's not it. Wonderful. Okay. I'll do that right now.

PAT: Okay. I'll just tell you about the other two — while Sue's doing that — partners in our project. Kansas State University is working on academic advising. They're hoping to create a way to provide a more simplified degree audit that could be displayed in a split screen environment, so that distance students could carry on a chat with their academic advisor at the same that both the academic advisor and the student are looking at some of their data.

Slide: Website: WICHE - Beyond the Administrative Core

Regis is working with Datatel, their student information system, to create some automatic messaging so that students are notified about the process of their admissions application and what parts are missing. It will also give them access to RegisNET, which gives them access to the library. It will also keep their academic advisor aware of the progress that the student has made, and then when the student is ready — when all the materials are in for the admissions process — and they're ready for their first appointment. All of this messaging happens automatically with event triggers.

So it really is going to ease some of the burden off the academic advisors for the distance students, because a lot of this type of work was what occupied the first ten minutes of the first academic advising appointment for the academic advisors at this campus. And now all of this will happen automatically. So that's pretty exciting.

MIKE: Sorry, we were having some technical difficulties at our end, with equipment changes.

PAT: Well, you're joining us just at the perfect time. Sue has just put up our new website for people to take a look at it. We've been telling them all about it. And I was just getting ready to introduce you, so I'll give you another minute's breather while I do that and Sue can find the place where we need to be for slides.

And so let me tell you a little bit about Mike. I've been working with him for three years on this LAAP project that I explained a little bit about earlier. And I think he's one of our most innovative thinkers in student services and I'm very pleased that he could be with us here today.

He is from Kapi'olani Community College in Hawaii, and they've made a lot of progress in creating online learning support system there, despite a series of system-wide difficulties — which we won't go into — but believe me, it's been a difficult couple of years.

Slide: Tutoring Online: Developing Program Based Online Learning Support Services

Before advancing through several positions at Kapi'olani, Mike earned a Masters Degree in Geography and a Bachelors in Horticulture. He also worked as a pineapple harvester and aircraft turbine engine mechanic in the US Army and served in the Peace Corps in Colombia.

But he is now the Dean of Health and Legal Education, Library and Learning Resources, and Technology Services at Kapi'olani Community College. So, Mike, welcome.

Mike, we're right at the point where it would be helpful perhaps for you to know who is out there. We had an opportunity to get acquainted with people a little bit earlier, but I know you wanted to ask people what their primary responsibility is, whether they are an instructional designer, a director of instruction, academic advisor, a faculty member, a director of distance education.

If people could just enter in the chat box what their major areas of responsibility are that would be helpful for Mike to get to know people.

SUE: Yes, see where it says Send a Message next to the text field, just type in your job title and hit enter. That's how content gets into the chat box.

MIKE: Denny says reception is good in Washington.

PAT: Distance learning program manager. Oh, great. These are the right people to talk to.

MIKE: Quite a variety of people from different backgrounds including faculty, student services, and online tutoring. Good. We have a nice mix of people in the audience.

SUE: And I also like to mention where I've noticed people said they're from. We have people today from Hawaii, Colorado, Arizona, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Connecticut, Washington and California.

PAT: So from all over. That's great.

MIKE: Okay, let me get oriented. We are on slide number 2.

MIKE: Well, thank you for joining us. Today we'll be taking a look at some characteristics of tutoring services and explore the potential for transforming these into a more complex program-based learning support system for distance learners and students in general.

Our approach will be to explore a series of scenarios and by asking for your feedback as we go along.

Now, here's our first scenario. In this instance, try to determine who provided Sarah with tutoring. Sarah Student is a freshman who met with Conrad Counselor. Together they developed an academic plan to prepare Sarah for the nursing program. Based on Conrad's suggestions, she enrolled in math in her first semester.

Sarah had difficulty with the math course, and asked her best friend for help. Her friend helped her with a few homework assignments and then loaned Sarah her copy of Algebra for Dummies.

Sarah also met with her instructor, Tanya Teacher, for further assistance during office hours. However, since Tanya's time was limited, Tanya recommended that Sarah use a math lab tutor for assistance.

Ultimately, Sarah passed the course.

Question: Who provided tutoring?

Based upon the scenario, there's the following question. Who provided Sarah with tutoring? Please make your selection now.

PAT: And so the choices we have, the math tutor, Tanya Teacher, Sarah's friend, the Algebra for Dummies book, Conrad Counselor, or all of the above. And I see people are sending in their responses.

While members of the audience are voting, Mike, could you describe some of your initial challenges in the development of your online tutoring solution there at Kapi'olani?

MIKE: Sure, Pat. I believe our first challenge was trying to understand the function of tutoring from the perspective of the student rather than from the perspective of the college.

While we do have tutoring centers, it became apparent that lending assistance occurred in a variety of different ways. It was provided from a variety of sources and was both academic and non-academic in nature.

Slide: Results: Who provided tutoring?

SUE: Okay. Fifty people have voted. Here are the results.

PAT: And now, Mike, do you agree with it?

MIKE: Okay. Well, I think all of the answers are correct, and I wouldn't disagree with any. I think the audience has sort of approached tutoring from the perspective of perhaps their backgrounds. I would like to suggest that in reality all of these sources of information or people, whether it be a person or a textbook, a teacher or a counselor, provided some sort of instruction to Sarah, the student.

And I think, as we began to take a look at tutoring at our institution, and began to define it more broadly along these functional lines, I think we began to feel that all of these players were involved in some sort of supplemental instruction.

PAT: Okay. So taking a different perspective.

MIKE: That's correct.

From a functional perspective, I think we've come to the conclusion that tutoring comes from a variety of sources. We can view tutoring as having a content management component.

Slide: Tutoring Overview: Common Management Strategies

MIKE: No points deducted. Okay. Functionally, we can view tutoring as having a content management component. Sarah received tutoring in academic planning, as well as in math. We also have a delivery and learning component. Sarah received tutoring from various people and a textbook. And the final component involved an assessment piece. Sarah passed the course.

Sarah actually experienced three content management strategies for tutoring. Tanya Teacher provided Sarah with an instructor-based strategy where content was managed at the course level by an instructor. The math tutor, on the other hand, represented a discipline-based approach that provided content integration among different instructors.

Finally, although we don't usually think of advising as tutoring, it represents supplemental instruction designed to help Sarah achieve a program-level goal: admission into the nursing program.

Slide: Tutoring Overview: Common Delivery Strategies

Next, tutoring was delivered to Sarah in a variety of ways. The counselor, teacher and tutor represent one-to-one individualized tutoring.

The textbook also represents a source of learning content and was used by both Sarah and her friend. An example of one-to-many tutoring. If Sarah had asked for help from several of her friends, we would have an example of many-to-one tutoring.

Although there are many ways to model tutoring, a functional approach at Kapi'olani Community College was taken because it loaned itself to our challenge of moving tutoring into an online environment. We needed to determine what we wanted to provide tutoring in and who was to provide it, what technologies to employ in its delivery, and ultimately, how to evaluate the effectiveness of the tutoring provided.

Slide: Tutoring Overview: Instructor Based Assessment

Now let's explore assessment. To understand the issues here, let's explore a second scenario.

Nancy Nurse, the program director for nursing, just had a meeting with her Dean who expressed concern over student retention rates in the program. This was triggered by a student complaint where George Griever, a student with a 3.5 GPA, failed a practical nursing course because he could not perform dosage calculations with 100% accuracy, a program requirement.

Nancy subsequently met with Calvin Calculus, George's math teacher. Calvin expressed dismay at George's problem with dosages since George had passed math with a B. However, in checking his grade book, Calvin discovered that George had actually been weak in ratios and proportions, but that overall George had been an excellent student when it came to doing proofs, the emphasis in Calvin's math course.

Nancy then met with Loretta Lab, the director for the math lab. Loretta checked her files and explained to Nancy that George only had a minor problem with ratio problems. His real difficulty involved solving word problems. In addition, George demonstrated poor time management skills, which was compounded by the fact that George had a full-time job.

Nancy felt that she now had a handle on the problem, but sighed because the Dean had also cut her budget and could not afford to hire additional tutors.

Question: Which strategy would you recommend that Nancy take to help nursing students?

Question: Based on Nancy's investigation, which of the following strategies might prove useful in assisting her nursing students? Choice 1, change the math program to include more word problems; 2, expand lab hours; 3, track knowledge about George from many sources; 4, nothing, because the Dean is unreasonable.

PAT: Now do you identify with that, Mike?

MIKE: Oh, I've heard that a number of times.

PAT: Okay. So we want people to respond to that question. Some creative names you have here for people.

While folks in the audience are voting, Mike, have you explained why you are using a program-based approach to delivering tutoring services online at Kapi'olani?

MIKE: Sure, Pat. One of my areas of responsibility is the health programs — and health programs are usually held to very high levels of accountability. The programs are directly responsible to demands from the healthcare industry, standards established by the profession, and increasingly, reporting requirements to government agencies that provide vocational funding.

More importantly, I hope this scenario suggests that the primary issue is not just the delivery of tutoring services to students, but the need to integrate the many sources of learning that a student experiences that affects the likelihood of student success within a program.

PAT: Okay, let's see if Sue has any results yet.

SUE: Well, I've been encouraged to be slow and ask if anybody else wants to vote before I publish, because, by my count, looking at the yes/no numbers below everybody's names on that very bottom gray bar, forty-one people have voted.

PAT: Okay.

Results: Which strategy would you recommend that Nancy take to help nursing students?

SUE: I see only forty-two votes, but I'm going to publish the results for now. Track knowledge about George from many sources is the big winner. I hope we got everybody's vote right this time.

PAT: Okay. So, clearly that seems like the best strategy. I've suspect that that's going to be a little bit difficult.

MIKE: Well, as a Dean who finds himself in very similar situations, let me say that I am glad that most of you don't think that the Dean was being completely unreasonable.

Slide: Tutoring Overview: Discipline Based Assessment

In her research, Nancy Nurse discovered that George was in need of some math remediation. But the scope of his problems included problems not related to mathematics.

Nancy has now begun to look at George's learning support needs from a program perspective.

This experience suggested to her that there were learning support issues that were not only student based, but issues related to how the institution managed learning support.

SUE: Mike, we have some people in the audience who would appreciate just a quick review of what you mean by instructor-based, discipline-based and program-based tutoring strategies.

MIKE: Okay. Well, in instructor-based and I think one of the slides that are coming up will demonstrate this, I'm referring to tutoring pretty much designed around a course or an instructor. Tutoring in a good example of instructor-based. In this case it would be, let's say, office hours provided by an instructor, where the instructor meets with students in a one-to-one situation.

Slide: Tutoring Overview: Program Based Assessment

When speaking about discipline-based tutoring, I'm referring to the kind of operation that's often associated with a tutoring center. In the case of our scenario, it would be the math lab. And in this instance, the tutoring support provided crosses all of the different math courses taught by individual instructors. I think that the basis for the tutoring provided is a little bit different from the tutoring that's provided from the perspective of the individual instructor within his course.

In the math lab setting, I think the math tutors are providing a more across-the-board approach to the delivery of tutoring around mathematics.

From the perspective of program-based tutoring, what I'm referring to is tutoring within the context of the entire program. I think what we discovered in our scenario was that when you began to take a look at the issue of a student performing an applied math problem in a nursing course, the problem that the student faced was a little bit more complex than just the ability to solve a math problem.

As the nursing director investigated the problem more completely, I think what she discovered was that the ability of a student to perform an applied math problem in a nursing course was not solely the function of a student having taken a math course successfully or not in the past.

So in subsequent courses, like a nursing course, which uses applied math, I think the issues are a little bit more complex than whether or not a student had performed math successfully in a previous course and I think Nancy Nurse has begun to discover this.

So from a programmatic context, what we're trying to do is take a look at the learning needs of a student in performing the applied math problems, not only from the basis of courses taken or math scores attained in the past, but from a much broader range of skill sets that are all directly tied to that student's ability to perform that particular applied math problem in that particular nursing course.

PAT: I think that should make it clear.

Slide: Characteristics: Management Strategies

MIKE: Most institutions employ a variety of content management strategies, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. This is not to say that one method is preferred over another.

As we began to take a look at tutoring from the perspective of student success in a program, it became clear that we needed to more effectively integrate a variety of learning support services.

Interestingly enough, as online learning support materials were being developed, it proved easier to integrate online materials than it was to integrate the myriad of face-to-face services provided by various organizational units at the college.

Slide: Characteristics: Delivery Strategies

MIKE: Similarly, there exists strengths and weaknesses associated with the different methods of delivering learning support.

The challenge that lay before us was to decide on which communication vehicles to employ in the online environment, who was to have control over them, and who was to have access to them.

This also had to be done in a manner to expand the scope of service to being available around the clock since most of our students are like George, who works and goes to school.

Slide: Characteristics: Assessment Strategies

PAT: Okay, so we're going to revisit Nancy scenario for a minute.

MIKE: Let's revisit Nancy scenario for a minute and explore what Nancy discovered about learning assessment at her institution.

Calvin Calculus was a good math teacher, but his course was designed around his interpretation of the math curriculum and not requirements set by the nursing program.

The math lab had correctly diagnosed the student's problem, but the ability to track George's learning needs was limited to the lab.

The nursing program had been so focused on student performance of dosage skills that it had overlooked other complementary skills required to perform that applied math task.

Finally, even though the problem was now understood, the cost of expanding and coordinating these traditional sources of learning support was quite high.

PAT: Mike, you've talked a little bit about one of the problems that you've found there with students was that sometimes there were implicit skills that students needed for programs, but there was no explicit instruction in those. And I assume that that's what you're referring to here a little bit when you're talking about the nursing problem was so focused on the dosage skills and that it missed maybe some of these other softer skills that you've talked about a little bit? Maybe observation and listening skills? Is that right?

MIKE: That's correct, Pat. Again, as we began to take a look at student performance, or use of math skills, as well as reading skills and writing skills and so forth and trying to determine what was affecting a student performance in the nursing program, for example, we began to explore and assess students along a large number of foundation skills, or soft skills. This included things like listening skills, reading for information skills, writing skills, observation skills and so forth.

Slide: Online Learning Support: Broadening Management Strategies

And what we discovered, I think, very interestingly, that two major areas where students demonstrated weaknesses were in areas of listening and observation skills.

So one of our concerns that became apparent to us was that our curriculum was well-designed — our nurses were graduating from our program and passing the n nursing board exams at very high rates — however we were getting feedback from industry that students often times were deficient in various soft skills, or foundation skills.

And when we began to take a look at students who were failing the clinical portions, like in the case of our scenario, George Griever, it's not unusual for us to find students with very high grade point averages who have difficulty in clinical situations.

And one hypothesis is that some of these difficulties may be caused by the student lacking these kinds of soft or implicit skills in the clinical setting — listening and observation skills that are very important — but these are not defined or addressed anywhere in our entire curriculum, and I think we need to re-examine that.

I would suspect that student success and student success is also affected by these kinds of foundation skills which I think, whether it's in the nursing program or in the liberal arts, general education courses that lead into the nursing program, probably are not addressing a host of these kinds of foundation skills that are probably prerequisites for success in an academic program.

PAT: And so you're using some assessment and tutoring modules to address those soft skill issues?

MIKE: Currently, we're using ACT's WorkKeys to perform assessment of our incoming health students. And there is WorkKeys. ACT has a partnership with a company that produces a product called KeyTrain and we've been using KeyTrain, which is a computerized software to provide remediation in these various areas.

A very interesting piece of software because the assessment tool in the software are geared towards occupational standards for various professions. So for example, for a nurse, there is a standard set for nurses in the areas of observation skills, listening skills, teamwork skills and so forth.

And where we have identified skill gaps among our students, we've been trying to bring to bear some remediation to improve student performance in these areas.

This is our first year that we're testing out the product and I'll have a better sense of its effectiveness by next academic year.

PAT: Okay. Well, I guess we're now on slide twelve, Mike, and you can tell us, in addition to using the KeyTrain?

MIKE: And WorkKeys.

PAT: And WorkKeys. Okay, in addition to using those tutoring programs, what else are you doing in online learning support at Kapi'olani?

MIKE: Well, when we look at the potential for online tutoring, I believe that it goes beyond the simple transformation of existing services into comparable online services. Although this is a reasonable first step, I believe that most of us who are developing online tutoring might want to explore the underlying technologies involved, because I believe a lot more could be done.

For example, a program-based system of learning support services could be designed around student learning needs in its broadest sense by incorporating foundational learning skills, as well as academic advising.

More importantly, the technology suggests they need to integrate services across organizational units, and a need to integrate student information into a more unified student history.

Further, I cannot stress enough the need to address student skills not explicitly addressed by the curriculum. As I mentioned, in a recent study of our incoming health students, we discovered that a majority of our students did not possess the required level of listening and observation skills required for healthcare professionals.

These are critical skills in healthcare practice, but not explicitly defined within our curriculum.

So how might all of this work?

Let's explore another scenario.

Suzy Student, Sarah's cousin, is enrolled in a distance learning nursing program. She also has a problem with dosage calculations.

She enters a student web portal and is instantly presented with an array of learning support materials required for successful completion of the nursing program.

Slide: Online Learning Support: Broadened Management Strategies Online

In essence, an online learning support system could serve as a one-stop shop that integrates a variety of learning resources important for student success in a program.

If this is the case, the true value of distance learning at an institution may not be so much in its ability to expand markets and create revenue streams, rather it may be the beginnings of the transformation of the learning support environment at an institution, an environment not designed around organizational structures, but around individual learner needs. And this includes both distance and traditional students.

PAT: It's a very interesting concept.

Slide: Online Learning Support: Broadening Delivery Strategies

MIKE: I hope so.

In the previous two slides, we explored how content management could be transformed in an online environment.

Similarly, when we begin to take a closer look at the communication systems available in the online environment, some very interesting potentials emerge around the delivery of that content.

First, the communication systems available are very diverse, suggesting a variety of ways to deliver learning support.

Second, these communication systems are relatively easy to integrate in an online environment.

And third, because so many people are converging on a website, it suggests an opportunity to engage all participants in learning support activities.

Slide: Online Learning Support: Broadened Delivery Strategies

If one looks at colleges offering distance learning programs, it's possible to find many examples of how traditional tutoring has been carried over into the online environment and the communication vehicles employed.

This includes everything from creative use of e-mail, bulletin boards, chat rooms, to the use of more complex course management systems to deliver lessons.

It's not difficult, for example, to use chat as a means for delivering one-to-one tutoring services. A bulletin board and online tutorials can be used to deliver one-to-many types of tutoring.

Perhaps the best example of the many-to-one type of tutoring is occurring in online courses where students support one another in a highly focused bulletin board environment.

Interestingly enough, the program director for our medical assisting program, which we offer online, describes this kind of support system that has emerged as the student underground. And I think what it represents is an informal student learning community that has evolved whereby students are providing a variety of support services to one another through the bulletin boards and e-mail.

PAT: That makes sense.

Slide: Online Learning Support: Broadened/Integrated Delivery Strategies

MIKE: Let's return to our previous scenario. Suzy Student, the distance learning student, gets home from work, makes dinner for her son, and then accesses the nursing portal. She checks her e-mail from her peer mentor, a second-year nursing student who has been advising Suzy Student about what to expect on dosage exams in the first year of the program.

She accesses the online tutorial on dosage calculations, and then finally she checks the nursing bulletin board and goes through sample problems that other students have posted for practice.

Question: Who/what are the primary sources of learning support for Suzy?

Question: in this scenario, who or what are the primary sources of learning support for Suzy? 1, the math teacher; 2, the math tutor; 3, fellow students and computer; 4, all of the above. Please make your selection now.

PAT: And while people are responding to that question, Mike, a couple of slides back you mentioned a differentiation of labor. Can you maybe explain a little bit about what you meant by that?

MIKE: In the traditional learning environment an institution's first response to a learning support need is likely to be a teacher or a tutor. This is not the best strategy for distance students because of profs' lack of accessibility. And I am referring to the ability of an institution to scale up these services to accommodate a broader student population in the distance learning environment.

In an online learning support environment, the communication vehicles and underlying technology makes it possible to utilize both students and technology as the first responders to a learning need.

The teacher or tutor could conceivably then be positioned as a second level responder to learning needs.

In essence, then, I think what we have here is the potential to provide different levels of service to students in relation to the cost of that particular service.

PAT: Very interesting. Okay, Sue, do we have some results?

Results: Who/what are the primary sources of learning support for Suzy?

SUE: Well, I'm not sure if fifty is the magic number, but that's about all I ever get for these survey questions. I have fifty people, and if anybody else would like to vote, please go ahead. Okay. Here we go. The big winner: all of the above.

MIKE: Okay. I admit, that was a kind of a leading question.

Slide: Online Learning Support: Broadening Assessment Strategies

MIKE: Okay. In this scenario proposed we see how technology can be used to structure the delivery of learning support. And in doing so, enables us to utilize low-cost student expertise as our first line of response.

It is common to hear faculty complaining about how much time responding to e-mail takes in a distance learning course. This may not really be an attribute of distance learning, as much as an attribute of an unplanned and unstructured communications plan for providing learning support.

PAT: Yes, we just need more experience figuring out how to do it right.

MIKE: I think we all are in this mode of learning how best to adapt the technology to providing learning support.

PAT: Right.

MIKE: Thus far, we've talked about how online tutoring can broaden learning content and present a rich communications environment to provide a tiered approach to learning support.

The final component of the tutoring model assessment also suggests some interesting possibilities. Let's look at a final scenario.

Slide: Online Learning Support: Broadened Assessment Strategies

Conrad Counselor enters the portal and peruses the nursing bulletin board. There's a lot of student discussion surrounding the dosage exam. Conrad therefore posts the news item for nursing students reminding them that there is a tutorial about managing test anxiety.

Nancy Nurse, the instructor for the course, reviews the bulletin board and sees that students are struggling with one particular type of problem that requires metric conversions. She searches the student database and sees that 80% of her class are working part-time. She therefore routes an e-mail to all nursing students announcing an online campus review session that weekend and expanded office hours during the week before the exam.

Now, assuming that all of this could be done, how has technology modified the support role of the counselor and the instructor?

Question: How has technology modified the support role of the counselor and the instructor?

PAT: Yes. We're going to pose a question now. And the question is: how is the learning support role of the counselor and instructor transformed online? And the answers are: They are first responders to all help requests or they're active in learning management and support. And ask for your response to that question.

And, Mike, while people are doing that, this type of approach in providing learning support services, it sounds fairly complex. And I think someone indicated some numbers that they would be dealing with on their campus if they were to try this. Can you just kind of respond to that question about complexity a little bit?

MIKE: Actually, the answer is yes, it is fairly complex. And most institutions would find it difficult to do overnight. It not only involves technology, but changing organizational behavior.

We've been at this for about three years, and are now only pulling our model together. Planning the technology was actually the easiest task, even though we don't have all the technology in place yet.

The most complex and difficult task has been changing organizational mindset. This involved getting the health programs to recognize that we needed a plan to assess and address non-academic problems, getting counselors to be comfortable with the fact that some elements of advising could be automated, and getting faculty and counselors to be comfortable with the concept that students can actually play a significant role in providing learning support.

PAT: Okay. I notice that when you identified all these problems, most of these problems were associated with staff. What about problems with students, or is it too early to really know how students will experience this learning support system?

MIKE: I think we actually will be testing this out in our next academic year. I think the critical piece for us is to provide an appropriate context in which the student is presented with the technology. I think just making the technology available is not likely to produce the kinds of results that I'm talking about.

One of the things that we're trying to do is establish a cohort of students who will be going through a series of pre-health courses and creating a learning community with that population, and introducing that group to these technologies, and trying to establish some kind of framework for these students to become comfortable with the technologies involved.

So I do think it has to be managed in some fashion, at least until this becomes more commonplace, but I don't think we're at that point yet.

SUE: All right. Well, I have fifty-two votes in. Would anybody else like to vote before I publish? Now's the chance.

Results: How has technology modified the support role of the counselor and the instructor?

SUE: I'm going to go forward. We've got a big winner: active participation in learning management and support.

MIKE: Well, I think the audience is perhaps beginning to get a grasp of what I mean by the differentiation of labor. One cost-effective way to scale up services is to employ both students and technology to play a role in providing learning support and by repositioning more costly experts to become learning managers, as well as deliverers of learning support.

Slide: Challenges

There exist many challenges to implementing a system like this. The critical technology pieces are a good portal that can be structured around academic programs, a student information system that can be integrated into the portal and a course management system that can provide online courses and tutorials.

At Kapi'olani Community College, we are currently transitioning into a new student information system and portal, and piloting these services with interim solutions.

As I mentioned before, the greater challenge is to begin to initiate changes to alter organizational mindsets and behavior. We have taken both an evolutionary and revolutionary path.

The concept of learning support services that we are moving forward is radically different from current practices and, in that sense, is revolutionary.

However, our approach to implementation has been evolutionary. The model has been slowly assembled over three years around our health programs. But the ideas are now gradually diffusing outward.

Counselors from other programs are expressing an interest in what the health programs are doing and our counselors who led efforts to implement a foundational and workforce skills assessment program are now playing a much more significant role than learning management.

Other vocational programs from throughout our community college system are also expressing an interest in the system of non-academic and workforce skills assessment that we have implemented.

If we had taken a more revolutionary approach or had tried to bring about change throughout the campus all at once, I doubt that much progress would have taken place. There's too many players involved, the technology is not currently all in place, and we're part of a very large university system, so that adds to a lot of complexity in getting all of the players in our academic institutions moving together at the same time.

So although we've tried to start with a visionary plan for learning support services, we've moved forward slowly, developing our concepts, putting them online and testing them one at a time.

PAT: Demonstrating success always helps others get involved.

MIKE: That's correct.

MIKE: So, it's a slow but gradual process, but I think we're moving in the right direction.

Slide: Resources

To wrap things up, here are a few links that will enable you to explore institutions that have implemented first generation online tutoring services. And by first generation, I mean simply taking traditional methods of providing tutoring and then placing them in an online kind of environment.

The second set of links will take you to a listing of companies that provide learning management systems. This includes course management systems, as well as a handful, or at least one, tutoring management system.

The third set of links will take you to a listing of companies that provide tutoring online. Some of these companies operate independently, but there are a few of them that are willing to enter into a contract with educational institutions to provide services for a fee.

PAT: Mike, I'd like to mention that all of these URLs, as well as your PowerPoint slides and your comments are all available on the WCET website. People can download them there.

Question: What schools have good online tutoring programs?

MIKE: Okay. Well, since I'm a learner in this entire process, I too am always looking for good models of learning support. I'd like to tap into some of the expertise of our audience. For those of you who are in our audience, can you tell me about any institution that might have good online programs? If you have the URL or the name of the institution, could you enter it into the chat box, please.

PAT: Okay, so we're looking for tutoring programs at other institutions.

SUE: I have put on the screen a text box if people would like to enter any schools or tutoring programs that they know about as well.

PAT: Okay. And, Mike, would you like to comment any more about any of those ones that you've put in your set of resources, you've listed in your resources? What are the ones that you think have gone beyond first generation tutoring?

MIKE: There may be a few but I'm not really familiar with any of them. I think, for the most part, educational institutions are just beginning to move in this direction.

However, I am aware that some corporations have invested in fairly complex learning management systems for employee training. These systems employ such services as integrated student tracking, course development delivery, and delivery assessment and so forth.

Results: What schools have good online tutoring programs?

PAT: Okay. Looks like we've got a few examples there, Sue. Would you like to publish those so we can take a look at the ones that people think would be good to look at? The Connecticut Consortium is using SMARTHINKING. University of Hawaii. Citrus College. Utah Valley State College. Glendale Community College, in the Maricopa system. And another one here, a visual calculus tutoring program that would be interesting to look at. Someone also put that Kentucky Virtual U has a interesting tutoring program.

Slide: This is series is brought to you as part of WCET's work on its Learning Anytime Anywhere Project

Well, Mike, thank you very much for joining us today. I'm sorry you had the technology problems that you had, but we're glad that they got fixed. I think you did most of this presentation without being able to see your slides, so I applaud you on being able to do that.

MIKE: Well, we sort of have to learn to adapt whenever you're dealing with technology.

But I'd like to thank you, Pat, and everyone associated with this particular project. I think this technology has great potential in a variety of areas in higher education and I'm pleased that you asked me to be part of this LAAP Project.

I'd like to take the time for a minute here to thank Pat and WCET for their leadership and incredible efforts in managing this LAAP grant. For those of you not familiar with this project, there are three institutions of higher education partnered up in this project, along with SCT and I think WebCT might be involved in some fashion as well.

I know that trying to coordinate all of us has been pretty much like herding a bunch of cats. Nevertheless, thanks to their efforts, this project has grown from a very simple vision of generation one online tutoring to a much more complex vision of a learning support system.

Little did I know that, when we began as a relatively small project, that this would grow into one that would have campus and perhaps system-wide implications for the university.

Pat and WCET have also provided us with excellent resources that we have used to transform our face-to-face student services.

So, on behalf of Kapi'olani Community College, I would like to extend my appreciation to Pat and her colleagues at WCET.

I hope that the participants in today's webcast have benefited from my presentation and discussion. Again, it's not intended to be a perfect model, but it's a model that's in development and in work and I think, over time, we'll fine tune it and I think there's some interesting challenges ahead for our campus as well, I think, all institutions and higher education that are trying to provide learning support services to their distance students, and to their traditional students as well — one employing technologies.

PAT: Well, thanks, Mike, for the nice remarks. I wanted to call your attention to the fact that Gary Kleemann is in the audience. I don't know if you realize that.

MIKE: No. Hi, Gary.

PAT: Gary was very influential in the beginning with Kapi'olani's project, helped to run a workshop for a couple of days, a retreat, to try to get people to be aware of what online services could be like at Kapi'olani. So, it was a lot of fun to be involved with Gary in that, and I'm just really pleased with the work that Kapi'olani has been able to do despite so many difficulties.

MIKE: We've had a few challenges, Pat.

Slide: Providing Student Services to Distance Learners Webcast Series

PAT: That's true. So, Sue, I think you wanted to point out, again, maybe about the resources where people could find an archive of this site?

SUE: Yes. People can see on the screen one of our URLs, wcet.info, that will get you to our LAAP project and more information about our webcasts.

As I mentioned earlier, we've got just about everything from this webcast already there, including the slides, the URLs, and Mike's comments. You can check them out when it's convenient for you.

This webcast was recorded and will be made into an archive and posted probably within a day or two. It will be available from our site for approximately one year.

PAT: And we have gone over time, so normally we ask Mike to stay on board to answer questions, but since we got started a little late, we'll have to postpone that. But we want to put up a slide with his contact information so that you can contact him if you would like.

Slide: Contact Information

And the other thing we want to do is ask for your feedback. We'll put up an evaluation form and if you'd just take a few minutes to give us some feedback about this session it would help us in providing you with additional sessions in the series. So we'd like to know what you thought about this particular presentation.

Slide: WCET Evaluation

And we'll give a couple of minutes here for people to respond.

The next webcast, will be on June 5, which will be Dan Volchok from WebCT. We'll be doing one on orientation. We did this a little earlier. I think we did it the end of April, wasn't that right?

SUE: Yes.

PAT: And I had some technical difficulties. It was a very hot day on the east coast here and we had some problems with our audio, so we're repeating that one. And then we're doing one on June 24, at two o'clock Eastern Time with Marianne Phelps and Norm Finlinson on financial aid. So we hope that everyone can join us for that presentation.

Mike, do you have any final remarks that you would like to make?

MIKE: Well, I'd be willing to respond to any questions and then follow up further. You may feel free to e-mail me or give me a call at the number that has been posted, and I'll try to clarify any questions that you might have, or provide any additional information that I might be able to share with you.

But I'd be more than happy to hear from any of you out there and swap ideas and thoughts.

SUE: Well, two issues have emerged in the chat box. I thought they were pretty good. One is, Mike, could you address the issue of confidentiality of student records when trying to come up with effective tutoring plans or learning support for students?

MIKE: Well, I think that'll be something that we will have to manage in some fashion. I don't have an exact solution for that. Most of the information that we're talking about now that, at least, that we'll be dealing with requires some sort of authentication on the part of students accessing the information. And students are pretty much limited to seeing their own test results.

Now, when it comes to instructors, the system isn't really fully integrated into our student information system, in our current incarnation, program directors for each of the health programs have access to their student population within their particular programs in terms of various kinds of skill assessments that we have performed.

So we've not reached a point where we've had to address the more complex privacy kinds of issues and have designed some sort of a management system to ensure that student records are confidential and the proper people having access to them. But I think that'll be one of the challenges that we'll face down the road.

But at the present time, I think the limitations of our interim solutions have not made that a particularly messy problem.

SUE: Okay. Well, thank you, Mike. I'd like to tell everyone I'm going to close up the evaluation window and we will finish up in just a few minutes. We are run out of time.

Slide: Thank you for joining us.

PAT: Okay. Thank you very much, again, Mike. Thank you, Sue. And we'll see everyone on June 5th for the presentation with Dan Volchok.