How do academic leaders perceive online program quality and course design? Results from the OLC Administration Scorecard.

Concurrent Session 7
Leadership

Session Materials

Brief Abstract

Curious how administrators perceive the quality of online programs? Does it matter? This presentation will review the results of a quantitative study where participants completed the OLC’s Scorecard for the Administration of Online Programs resulting in recommendations for institutions looking to improve online program quality or hire an online administrator.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Amanda Korkow, Abilene Christian University

I currently serve as Director for Instructional Design and Development at Abilene Christian University. My role includes overseeing the course design and development of online graduate and undergraduate programs for the university. I specialize in adult learning theory, best practices for online instruction in higher education, and utilizing educational technology tools. My team partners with faculty to provide instructional design services and Canvas support as we transform their curriculum online.

Additional Authors

Andrew Lumpe, Abilene Christian University

Dr. Andrew Lumpe serves as a faculty member, Manager of Dissertations and Projects, and he also chairs doctoral dissertations within the College of Graduate and Professional Studies at Abilene Christian University. His 35 years of service to education includes both teaching and administrative roles at the K-12 and higher education levels. He earned a bachelors degree in Biology from Washburn University and completed Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Education from Kansas State University. The focus of his scholarship includes digital learning, program evaluation, and professional development.

Extended Abstract

Online higher education continues to see increases in enrollment requiring institutions to focus more resources on online program quality. Is your institution trying to improve its online program quality? Are you struggling with knowing who to hire for the administration of your online programs? Do you want to benchmark your online program quality against other institutions? What is course design and why should academic leaders care? This session will provide you with the answers to all of these questions and more!  

This presentation will review the results of a quantitative research study sought to examine college and university leaders’ backgrounds in, perceptions of, and experiences with the administration of high-quality online programs and design of online courses. The study was designed to understand how academic leaders perceive quality and what factors may impact their perceptions in the administration of online programs. Academic leaders of higher education institutions of all different sizes within the state of Texas with at least one, 100% online program were surveyed. Participants answered questions on background information about themselves as well as their institution. Additionally, academic leaders completed selected sections of OLC's Scorecard for the Administration of Online Programs to evaluate their perceptions of online program quality at their institutions.

During the presentation, the results of the following research questions will be addressed:

  • RQ1. How do higher education academic leaders perceive the quality of online programs at their institution based on their reported score on the Online Learning Consortium Scorecard for the Administration of Online Programs?

  • RQ2. What are the background demographics of current higher education academic leaders who administer online programs?

  • RQ3. What is the correlation between a higher education academic leaders’ reported score on the Online Learning Consortium Scorecard for the Administration of Online Programs and demographic variables?

  • RQ4. Is there a significant difference between an institution’s use of course development standards, requirement of instructional designers to collaborate with faculty, and the use of an established process for the development/redesign of new and existing online courses and a higher education academic leaders’ reported score on the Online Learning Consortium Scorecard for the Administration of Online Programs?

Level of Participation:

During the presentation participants can expect opportunities to share their unique perspectives and challenges in delivering high quality online programs. Participants will be polled several times throughout the presentation to ask their opinion, compare the participant group demographics to those collected in the study, and see which best practices are currently being used by institutions. Participants will also be asked if they can predict the results of some of the research questions. Prizes will be awarded to attendees who guess correctly. For example, which demographic variables correlate to online program quality? Finally, participants will be asked to share strategies and resources related to implementing change in online program administration to help other participants who may be struggling with gaining approval for integrating best practices.

Session Goals:

Participants can expect to gain an in-depth analysis of how academic leaders are perceiving the quality of their online programs through the application of the OLC Scorecard for the Administration of Online Programs. This study specifically focused on three sections of this scorecard: institutional/administrative support, course development: institution or program level, and course development: course level. Participants will learn what quality indicators performed well and which quality indicators have the opportunity for improvement within online higher education programs. Participants can expect to be able to benchmark their institution against other programs.

Participants can also expect to receive a snapshot of who current academic leaders are as well as the institutions at which they serve. Furthermore, relationships between an institution’s quality score on the OLC scorecard versus demographic variables will be explored. Recommendations will be provided to institutions that are looking to hire online program administrators. Finally, participants will learn how the use of course standards, the establishment of course development/redesign process, and the use of instructional designers impact online program quality.

 Participants can expect to be provided with the full research study along with a condensed handout that highlights key results to take with them to have further in-depth discussion at their home institution.