With each successive matriculating class, colleges and universities find themselves serving a population with greater exposure to and connection with technology. This increased technological curve delivers students with a greater expectation of what technology means in their daily lives, both personally, and educationally which means schools need to stay ahead of technology solutions before the start of each new year. For years, schools have been spending considerable time and resources on using technology to transform the educational experience for students in the classroom, investigating new methods and strategies, and expanding online and distance learning offerings. While this will continue to be a focus for years to come, Ovum’s 2017 Trends to Watch: Higher Education identifies other areas of focus for colleges and universities, including improving the overall student experience through technology, and a movement toward “next-generation IT strategy [that] will focus on agility.” While considering IT solutions to address these needs there are three challenges that are present in the minds of IT departments and CIOs as the new school year is set to begin. Increased Need for Mobility Students are no longer sitting in a computer lab, accessing course notes on a university desktop, at least not in the numbers they were just five years ago. The expectation that information will be available and optimized for mobile viewing combined with the likelihood of the consumption and creation of course material on a myriad of devices across campus, across town, and around the world, has made the mobility and agility of data and network resources a rising priority on campuses everywhere. Mobility for IT Support The need for mobility does not end with the students, or even with the professors and staff members who are creating and managing the content the students are consuming. It extends to the IT department, systems administrators, and network support people who are doing the non-stop work of keeping the many vital systems of the university up and running 24 hours a day. “Admin users of ERPs and SISs want mobility too, with a consumer-grade experience and mobile-friendly access to perform work on-the-go.” – Ed Brown, Educationtechnology.co.uk Pagely for Mobility With multiple buildings, on multiple campuses, in multiple cities, spread across multiple states, higher ed institutions have been turning in increasing numbers to cloud-based solutions. The movement to the cloud, previously considered primarily for cost-saving reasons, is increasing for many of the core applications not just for the savings, but also for the speed of access and flexibility of use. To facilitate the type of mobile access, system flexibility, and synchronicity of data through the cloud, web hosting services like Pagely provide managed, scalable WordPress hosting for colleges and universities. These services exist largely so universities can provide the security their students, faculty, and staff deserve, the flexibility and personalization they desire, and the mobility they’ve come to expect in all their technological interactions. They expect no less from their school experiences than they have in their personal lives when it comes to mobility and personalization. Colleges and universities are moving to make this expectation a reality as part of their desire to engage, retain, and graduate their students. Upgrades to Student Information Systems The Student Information System (SIS) has become an indispensable part of campus life, all the way down to the Jr. High level, over the last decade. The ability to track student performance across courses and over time has been a boon to students, parents, and teachers alike in identifying students who may be struggling or in need of academic or social interventions. Universities, with SIS as a part of their larger enterprise resource planning (ERP) software can, according to Jessica Leigh Brown with UniversityBusiness.com, “begin to forecast student outcome,” something that is becoming increasingly important as schools face greater challenges recruiting, retaining, and graduating students. As a reminder, ERP is software that can also include admissions, alumni, assessment, curriculum, faculty/staff, financial aid, fundraising, and housing management, as well as scheduling modules and student portals. Ed Brown sees a need to upgrade student information systems to better serve the non-traditional students, who are primarily, or even partially, distance learners. He also notes an opportunity for artificial intelligence to be used with the SIS to simplify admissions, registration, or orientation processes as well as integration with apps like Siri and Cortana to connect with students in the ways that are most helpful to them. And while more integration between your SIS and LMS is often desired, and in many cases, logical, making it work can be hard. As Allen Chen, chief information officer at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, put it, “you have to find a company that’s good at both, and that’s really difficult.” In fact, at present, while integration between your SIS and LMS is seen by many institutions as desirable, none of the most widely used student information systems have an LMS directly integrated with it. That said, here are the best options, Ellucian Ellucian’s different CRM options, Banner, Colleague, and PowerCampus Student are all part of larger ERPs that provide many of the other customer management tools, but none of them are directly integrated with an LMS. Unit4 Neither Unit4 or its Windows-based predecessor, CAMS, has, as yet, developed an LMS that will work in tandem. The same is true of Jenzabar, PeopleSoft Campus, and CampusNexus. These student information systems and ERPs interface with 3rd party learning management systems through APIs. They also provide support to help bridge the gaps between their products and the learning management systems, but native integration is still elusive. The efficacy and ease of use, of these pairings will vary. Integrated Options Canvas and Powerschool announced integrated features in 2015, but this is primarily advantageous of K-12 schools. Integrated LMS on the Salesforce cloud-based platform is one of the only products at present that provides a CRM, LMS, and SIS as an integrated suite of products. The Good and Bad News The good news is that these ERPs, CRMs, and SISs all offer, or will soon be offering cloud-based solutions to improve mobility. But, full LMS integration still seems to be waiting just over the horizon. ERPs and SISs offer a wide range of features and options. Yours may already have the capabilities you’re looking for. Now’s the perfect time to investigate what you already have available to you. Capterra provides a handy tool where you can filter by feature and star-rating over 40 different software products for Higher Ed. More Personalized Student Connection In an effort to improve the student experience, universities are employing new methods to better understand the needs of their students and provide them with the support they need. “Retaining students is not very easy, especially for North American institutions. If they do more around the student experience and give students more value for money in the higher education experience, then they’re more likely to retain those students and help them succeed.” – Navneet Johal, Ovum’s 2017 Trends to Watch: Higher Education A sentiment Ed Brown echoed when discussing the broadening of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software and the deeper integration of the SIS with Learning Management Systems (LMS). “Given the financial investment they are making, students now demand a higher level of service while at university,” he said. This type of data-rich approach enables greater personalization and “reflects the move from institution-centric to a student-centric model.” Further pressing the issue of increased student connection is the inclusion of non-traditional students. With the increase in distance learning noted in Digital Learning Compass: Distance Education Enrollment Report 2017 and the challenges involved in preventing these students from feeling alienated from their classmates and the university, concerted efforts to keep students engaged and not let them slip through the cracks are of paramount importance. When students are connected to each other, the course material, and the university in ways that are convenient and meaningful to them personally, you’ve made a great step toward engagement. “Taken altogether, research studies using CCSSE [Community College Survey of Student Engagement] generally find that student engagement in educationally effective practices has a positive effect on outcomes such as retention, persistence, grade point average, and in some instances, on degree completion.” – Derek V. Price and Esau Tovar, Student Engagement and Institutional Graduation Rates: Identifying High-Impact Educational Practices for Community Colleges. Technology to Consider WordPress As instructors seek to build classroom experiences that extend beyond the walls of the classroom, many turn to WordPress to provide the options for customization and personalization that they need as part of a larger institution and that their students desire for personal expression and academic engagement. By migrating to WordPress you open up an ecosystem of solutions for things like speed, security, and ease of support for both the non-technically minded instructors and the IT professionals maintaining your website. All of this while allowing for the flexibility each instructor needs to create a platform that meets the needs of their course as well as the needs of their students. Want to know more? Connecting with Pagely during the summer months is an excellent first step toward mapping out the needs of your institution, identifying the goals and challenges of each department and user, and strategic planning to meet those needs in a way that is cost-effective and provides the mobility needed for users and IT support alike. Canvas Canvas is an LMS that prides itself on its adoption rates, and high levels of usage on campus. After all, what good is software that no one will use? Canvas provides open APIs to aid with the integration of third-party solutions like SISs and CRMs, which allows institutions to create the custom solutions that best their needs. Canvas also offers a number of features designed to increase student engagement. Course Notification by email, text, and social media Student profiles created by the students, allowing them to showcase who they are The ability for teachers to include audio, video, text, and images in learning materials Collaborative workspaces make it easier for students to work together Designed to work anywhere, anytime, on any device Students create and share multimedia within assignments Web conferencing for large and small group discussions Schoology Schoology positions themselves as the only LMS that allows students to connect, not just with their classmates in individual courses, but with the entire campus and the world beyond. One tool for all campus communication. Among the features Schoology offers are. One tool to manage all of your campus-wide communication Collaborative Spaces that are similar in look and feel to the technologies students are already using Faculty groups that allow for greater collaboration and idea-sharing A built-in network that allows for connection around the world, creating a global learning community A user-generated library of resources to share Easy to use data and course options that allow for more personalized instruction Blackboard Blackboard has long been the leader in the higher ed LMS space. With robust features and different solutions with a variety of features, Blackboard brings powerful collaboration tools to your teachers and students, including: Synchronous, asynchronous, and mobile learning options Live annotation, chat, and screen sharing Fast, and simple file sharing A hand-raising feature that lets students volunteer to participate and get called on Personal profiles The ability to record and share class sessions for an easily flipped classroom Action Steps to Take Now Use the time before next semester to explore and gather information on as many of the above tech solutions as you can. As a reminder, things to consider are student engagement, LMS options, content management, and web hosting solutions, student information solutions, and personalized student connections. Bonus: if you’re looking for better ways to attract new students, we’ve put together helpful guides on marketing to millennials and re-marketing for higher education. 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Higher education online learning and distance learning have been on the rise for some time. According to the Digital Learning Compass: Distance Education Enrollment Report 2017, distance learning continued its annual growth trend. In the fall of 2015 more than 6 million students took at least one distance course, a 3.9% increase from the previous year. Plus, 30% of students in higher education are currently enrolled in a distance learning course. Image from http://digitallearningcompass.org/ No longer the domain of private for-profit schools, distance learning plays an even larger role in public and private nonprofit higher education every year, with nearly 30% of students taking at least one online course in 2015. For over 20 years, colleges and universities have worked to conquer the challenges and maximize the opportunities presented by distance learning, a task that is becoming more and more important as the number of students choosing, at least in part, a degree path containing distance learning. As you prepare to join the ranks of your colleagues by bringing your expertise and subject matter online for your students, it’s the perfect time to examine how to create an online course that engages your students, provides them with an opportunity that they can’t get in the traditional classroom setting, and frees you up to be as innovative and creative as possible, while maintaining your sanity. Best Practices It’s tempting, when discussing education technology and distance learning, to talk about the mechanics of delivering your content, the tools and technology you can use to build an online course. And while it’s important to make the right decisions about the tools you use in your course and method of delivery and course interaction, spending a great deal of time discussing specific hardware, software, apps and programs, provides diminishing returns over time. Change and innovation happens so quickly that six months from now it will seem quaint that I’m discussing how popular Snapchat is when it’s been replaced by TalkMonster, (the newest social media site that I just made up right now but might exist this Christmas, who knows). It’s better to focus instead on the underlying priorities, best practices, and challenges that will exist regardless of the technology de jour. If you do want to learn more about connecting with students, read this. Many of the Six Cs that make up these Best Practices apply equally to traditional courses, but they take on a different level or type of importance in an online course. Clarity It’s harder for students to ask questions and get quick responses when the lessons and course materials are location and time shifted. That’s why it’s important to provide clarity from the start. The more clear you are in your own mind and in your course materials, the better the learning experience will be for all the students. Be clear in your course objections, assignments, timelines, expectations, what will be covered, where it can be found, and how to best communicate and many of the hurdles presented by having a class that is 100% online can be easily cleared. Complexity By selecting an online course, many students are choosing a level of freedom and control that they don’t have when a class meets in person on set days and times. They are not selecting a course because they expect it to be easier. Ok, some are, but that’s true of a percentage of every student not enrolled in Organic Chemistry. One of the prime challenges for students in online courses is staying engaged in the course. Combat this by taking full advantage of the flexibility offered to you by having your class online and create complex lessons with varied instructional practices, course materials, and assignment options. Your course, if you take advantage of the freedom provided to both you and your students, can be intricate and complex in ways a standard lecture can’t match. Shoot for complexity and you will find engagement. Challenging Your students, by and large, are digital natives. Mastering the technology involved in your course will be, for many of them, easier than finding the room the class would have been held in on campus. Mastering the content shouldn’t be. You are fighting the distractions of social media, online video and music streaming, and anything else that might distract a college student sitting in their dorm room or apartment. If your course is not challenging and does not require their attention and interaction, you will lose them. Make the access to the materials easy. Make the concepts, ideas, and assignments challenging. Content first As an undergrad, the location, date, and time a course was being offered was frequently a tie breaker at registration, but those factors were not the first things I considered when choosing a course. I tried very hard not to have any Monday morning or Friday afternoon courses, but first I looked for courses that I found interesting. Distance courses work the same way. As such, when you are building your course, focus on the content first then choose the technology you’ll use to help deliver it. This is backwards design carrier to digital platforms. You’d never plan your class meetings around the fact that you’d really like to show a movie next Thursday. You know what the students need to learn and you choose the best way to deliver that information to them. That’s how your online course should work too. Get your content ready first, then figure out how each piece is best presented to drive learning. Northwestern, a Pagely customer, uses a digital learning hub online to stay connected to students and prospects. Creativity This is the best part of building your online course. The restrictions you face in a classroom; layout, available technology, number of seats, time limits. All gone. The order, delivery method, length of your materials, assignment types, due dates, submission options, are all open for reimagining. No more timezone constraints for your guest speakers – you can broadcast it live and make it available later for consumption whenever. No more need to get that video clip down to 20 minutes so you can fit the rest of your lecture in around it. No more are you bound to a powerpoint presentation, lecture, Q&A format. If you can dream it you can do it. The more creative you get, the more energized you’ll be by the course and the more engaged your students will be. Embrace the possibilities. Community You need to keep them engaged. Have I mentioned that? Distance learning can feel isolating, though I’d wager this is a truer statement for Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers, than it is for Millennials who are accustomed to interacting with one another online to a much greater degree than those of us who made it to college before getting our first email account. Still, there’s a give and take in a live classroom discussion that is tough to replicate virtually. You need to connect with your students frequently and provide opportunities for them to connect with each other to truly get the most out of your online course. You are all involved in this learning experience together. Keep that sense of community at the forefront of your course design. Pitfalls to Avoid Lack of variety We are all creatures of habit and teachers can have a tendency to fall back on what you know works. This can lead to the same type of lesson, presentation style, and assignments being used over and over. Avoid this! Take advantage of time and place shifting, shifting and emerging technologies, and the differences brought by each group of students to add variety to your course. Poor Naming Conventions This goes to clarity. Be clear and consistent with what materials are called. Don’t tell students to open the “Procedures for Online Effectiveness” document and then post a document called “Effective Online Procedures.” This is confusing for students and incredibly frustrating. They’re sitting down, ready to get to work and they aren’t sure if they’re opening the right file or watching the right video because the names don’t match. And they can’t just raise their hand to ask. Response Delays They can’t ask you questions in person, don’t make them wait forever for a response. Be clear on your response turnaround and be true to what you tell them. This will help them learn and build a community of trust and respect. Being too available Working online allows students to engage with your content on their schedule, which may mean 3:00 am, or during your dinner time, or your kid’s baseball game. You do not have to be available to them at every minute of every day. Respond in a timely fashion, but don’t give them all of your time. If you answer a 3:00am email at 3:15am, they are going to start expecting that. Unless that’s also your preferred email time, don’t set the precedent. It will make you crazy. Solutions to Common Problems Lack of Support Not meeting as a class at a set place and time can make it more difficult for students gain clarity or understanding for a difficult concept or to find a solution to a technical issue they are facing. Setting and honoring policies on the best way to reach you and standard response time, establishing a time and method for group or individual conversations (virtual office hours or hangouts), and a library of easily accessible resources and FAQs can help provide the support students are looking for. Just knowing when and where they can get answers to their questions is enough for many students. Isolation The answer to the feelings of isolation is community. By developing an open dialogue and encouraging students to connect with each other from the the beginning of the course, you make it harder for students to become isolated. Establishing a set virtual hangout time once or twice a week is also a helpful way to keep the class connected. Either the students are there, talking with – and learning from – each other, or their absence is noted and you or other students can follow up to keep them connected to the class. Discipline Finding the discipline to do the work can be a challenge for some students taking online classes. You can’t solve this problem for them, but you can provide some scheduled times when the class will meet virtually, provide clear deadlines and instructions, and offer some peer check ins or group work to help offset this. But, in the end, it’s up to them to do the work. Technology Technology changes and your school may use one system or another, so getting into the specifics of pros and cons is not overly helpful here. What is important is that you choose your platforms for ubiquity. Your software selections should be easy to come by. Don’t choose things that are expensive for each student. Unless it’s something incredibly specific to a highly technical industry, there are cost effective, easy to use options that students can access on any device. Don’t choose software or platforms that only work on Mac or PC or Google. Unless your school requires or provides a specific device to students you are going to have a class filled with laptops, tablets, Macs, PCs, Chromebooks, Androids, and everything else. Prepare for this and don’t make their device an obstacle to success in your class. Make it a gateway. Get Help You are the expert in your content area, not in video production, website design, database maintenance (unless those are also you content areas). Find help as you build the course. Find help to keep things running smoothly as the course moves along. Professionals, interns, TAs – you can find a lot of people to help make all the pieces look, sound, and work great. You can focus on your content. Columbia University, a Pagely customer, offers online courses in everything from Medical and Business to Social Work and Earth Studies Implementation Strategy Start Early Take the lead time you normally use to get a new course designed and built, and add a couple of extra months to it, especially if this is your first time designing and offering an online course. You’re going to want that time to explore the options now available to you, solve for the complications that arise with not being in a classroom on a set day and time, and to fix any problems that occur. You’ll also be relying on more outside help than you’re likely used to. You need to allow for their schedules as well. The extra time may not be necessary, but you’ll feel better if you have it. Backwards design You’re designing a course. That’s it. That’s all. You know how to do that, so start how you always do, with your desired outcomes, goals, and objectives. Then build your assessments, lessons, and course materials. As you do that, keep in mind the Six Cs. Clarity, Complexity, Challenge, Content First, Creativity, and Community. Create your content, shoot your videos, line up your guest speakers, select your materials. Make sure you have excellent, engaging material that will teach help the students meet your desired outcomes. And then, when the class is designed, and the content is ready, find the technology to help you deliver it. Don’t cram your content into what’s available. As Horatio said, “There is more online than is dreamt of in your philosophies.”
