October 15, 2008

Distance Education Report - November, 2008 - Full Issue PDF
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14 Tips for Better Retention
By Jennifer Patterson Lorenzetti
Xeturah Woodley has taught online for 14 years, in both corporate and educational settings, so one might expect that she knows a thing or two about retaining students in online courses. In her work as director of distance learning for Central New Mexico Community College (CNM), she is continually considering what she needs to do in her online courses to reach her goal of retaining students as well or better than in face-to-face courses.

Throwing Away the Old Business Model
By Jennifer Patterson Lorenzetti
"We don't have all the answers," Dan Jones said self-effacingly when he sat down with Distance Education Report to talk. Jones is executive dean in the office of instructional systems development for Coastline Community College. But Jones and CCC appear to be asking some of the right questions, and these questions are leading to their quest to throw away the old business model and begin thinking about the way they deliver and share their online courses differently.

Building Data-Driven Culture
By Paul R. Brown & Santanu Bandyopadhyay
Although the demand for effectiveness and accountability has increased the need for both institutional researchers and for effective collaboration between administrators and researchers, a recent survey showed that nearly half of the community colleges had only one, or less than one, full-time equivalent (FTE) staff member in their institutional research departments (Morest & Jenkins, 2007).

Penn State’s Quality Assurance e-Learning Design Standards
By Ann H. Taylor, Associate Director, Dutton e-Education Institute & Lawrence C. Ragan, Director-Faculty Development, Penn State World Campus
The number of online courses and programs offered through Penn State Online has demonstrated tremendous growth. For example, the World Campus has grown from four academic programs with 41 students in 1998 to over 60 academic offerings, 7,000 students, and over 17,000 course enrollments in 2008.

Recommendations for Increasing Minority Student Success
By Jennifer Patterson Lorenzetti
Most colleges and universities are concerned about their retention rates, with community colleges often particularly concerned about their ability to help foster minority student success. These institutions might well want to listen to the words of Byron McClenney.