2002 - 2003 Online Education Report
www.bsu.edu/iandt/official/report2002-2003.htm

Jim Flowers, Director of Online Education, jcflowers1@bsu.edu, 765-285-2879, AT 130A
Department of Industry & Technology, College of Applied Sciences & Technology
Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA 47306

June 6th, 2003

Current Status | Initiatives | Recommendations
Appendices: MA in TE | MA in CTE | Development Schedule | Survey of Majors | Faculty Survey

Preface

This is the second annual report of the online education initiatives from the Department of Industry and Technology at Ball State University. The 2001-2002 report may be seen at: www.bsu.edu/iandt/official/report2001-2002.htm. Recommendations contained within this report are those the Director. For more information, visit the online programs' Website at www.bsu.edu/iandt. As of this date, eight courses have begun online delivery, and seven courses are scheduled to be delivered online. In general, student satisfaction, enrollments, and instructors' comments seem to indicate that online education is working, though there are still lessons to be learned.

I. Current Status

The Department of Industry and Technology (I&T) of Ball State University now officially offers two graduate degrees over the Internet: the Master of Arts in Technology Education, and the Master of Arts in Career and Technical Education. Except for a pilot course going online in the Fall of 2000, these programs officially became available online in the Summer and Fall of 2002, respectively. The purpose of this report is it provide a description and an internal review after the first year of online implementation.

Degree Programs

The Master of Arts in Technology Education (TE) is intended to meet the needs of technology teachers and others interested in general education in technology. Technology Education is the field that evolved from Industrial Arts, and this master's caters to the needs of teachers in this field who typically teach grades six through twelve. However, community college faculty, elementary teachers, and others can find this program fitting.

The Department also offers a Master of Arts in Industrial Vocational / Technical Education, with the name of the latter changing to the Master of Arts in Career and Technical Education (CATE) as of August 25th, 2003 (in keeping with national trends.) This degree is intended to meet the needs of vocational, or career and technical educators, who typically work at high school level vocational programs with specializations in industry and technology. However, community college faculty, industrial trainers, and others wishing an advanced degree can find this master's very appropriate to their needs.

As indicated in the Schedule of Course Development, selected courses in each degree program were made available online in the 2002-2003 academic year, replacing face-to-face (F2F) sections, as the F2F program is phased out. During the 2003-2004 academic year, the remaining courses required for these degrees will be placed online.

Admissions Requirements

Unlike similar programs at some other institutions, the admission requirements do not specify the undergraduate degree areas for applicants, nor do they list a teaching license as an admissions requirement. Thus, these programs are better suited in attracting students who may have had completed a baccalaureate degree in a different field.

As with other masters from Ball State, applicants must have an earned baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution with an undergraduate grade point average of 2.75 (on a 4.0 scale), or with an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 in the latter half of their undergraduate work. Those who do not meet these GPA requirements may be able to enter as probationary students and must achieve a 3.0 minimum average in 9 semester hours of graduate work approved by the Department Chair and the Dean of the Graduate School, and must score in the top two-thirds on each section of the general Graduate Record Examination. There are no additional departmental or program admission requirements.

Program Requirements

Each degree program can be completed 100% online without a single trip to the campus or a satellite site. Each master's program requires 30 graduate hours, 9 of which may be transferred in from another institution subject to advisor approval, and only if these were graduate hours from an accredited institution wherein the student earned at least a B. Transfer hours are also subject to the Ball State requirement that all masters coursework be completed within a six-year timeframe. A thesis is optional in each program. Each program has a separate core of courses, a required research course, a required course in education outside the Department of Industry and Technology, and electives. Please see the Appendices listing the Program of Study for the MA in Technology Education and the Program of Study for the MA in Career and Technical Education.

Enrollment

Course Enrollment

Figure 1. Enrollment for each graduate course offered in Industry and Technology from Fall 2000 through Summer I 2003. (Source: ADMAC extraction 5/29/03, except for Fall 2000 BSU@work data)

Placing these masters degrees online has resulted in a dramatic increase in enrollment. To date, 12 online graduate classes have been offered since Fall 2000, and the average enrollment was 17.2; considering the maximum set by the Program Committee at 20 for a graduate class, this is impressive. (It should be noted that both the minimum and maximum were broken in some instances, and that on-campus online enrollments were combined for sections "taught with" off-campus online sections.) In comparison, during this time there were 16 face-to-face classes offered on-campus, with an average enrollment of 5.8 students, a low number in light of the minimum set at 6 for a graduate class.

These enrollment trends, illustrated below in Figure 1 and Table 1, confirm the wisdom of phasing out face-to-face graduate classes. The last face-to-face graduate class was taught in the Spring of 2003; only online graduate classes that are planned for future semesters.

In evaluating these trends, it is suggested that five separate trends be considered. First, the ITEDU 510 course may provide misleading results since this is a service course that is taken by students in both majors, but also by significant numbers of on- and off-campus online students who are not majors in the Department. Secondly, the ITEDU 564 Practicum in Technology Education for the Elementary Grades should be placed in a category by itself, since it is an elective. This leaves the core classes in the two degree programs. The enrollments in the TE online core classes were 19 and 30. The enrollment in the CATE online core classes were 7, 8, and 7. One course, ITEDU 691, exists in both cores, and its online enrollment was 15.

Thus, the MA in Technology Education Program has seen a large increase and now has healthy numbers that clearly support yearly offerings of courses. While the MA in Career and Technical Education Program has not increased as quickly in enrollment numbers, this degree program had zero graduate enrollment prior to going online. The early growth in CATE online enrollment is encouraging, and it is suggested that at the end of the 2003/2004 year, an assessment be made of program health based on enrollment, and the decision to continue offering the program online should be contingent upon that assessment.

Program Headcount

As shown in Figure 2, program headcounts (for both masters combined) show an increase at the Fall 2002 period, when the programs began to be delivered online; the upward trend is expected to continue, and it is hoped that it will reach 70 before leveling off in 2005.

Figure 2. Program Headcounts for the MA in Technology Education and the MA in Career and Technical Education (IV/TE) Combined, extracted from BSU@work for Fall and Spring semesters.

In the Fall of 2002, with the first online implementation of these programs, the MA in TE showed a program headcount of 27, changing to 23 in the Spring of 2003.Courses are scheduled to be taught online by the same full-time department faculty who have previously taught these courses face-to-face. Faculty are supported in the development of online instruction and in their online teaching skills.

Course enrollment varied, with required courses in the MA in TE and ITEDU 510 resulting in higher enrollments than courses in the MA in CTE or electives other than ITEDU 510. Due consistently high enrollments in ITEDU 510, Technology Use & Assessment (the pilot online course offered each Fall), a decision was made to offer ITEDU 510 in both the Fall and Spring Semesters. (The Spring 2003 enrollment was 26.)

Personnel Changes

In the 2002 - 2003 academic year, a new faculty member, Dr. Mary Annette Rose, was assigned to develop and teach the online course called ITEDU 699, Research in Industrial Education, previously slated for delivery by Dr. Jack Wescott in the Fall of 2003. Dr. Rose recently completed a doctorate in Instructional Systems Technology, with a dissertation titled, "Cognitive Dialogue, Interaction Patterns, and Perceptions of Graduate Students in an Online Conferencing Environment Under Collaborative and Cooperative Structures" (http://www.bsu.edu/web/arose/Vita/MAROSE.pdf). This study was performed using data from the Department's pilot online course in the Fall of 2000. With her special preparation in issues surrounding online education, the hiring of Dr. Rose and her assignment to teaching a core online graduate class has strengthened the online programs.

Stepping down from an online teaching assignment, Dr. Jack Wescott is the Department's Chair and Graduate Advisor. Because the Director of Online Education is not a funded position during the summer months, Dr. Wescott serves that role during the summer, in addition to his other duties. Mr. Abraham George served as a Graduate Assistant to the Director of Online Education in this academic year. However, the hours allotted to this service were half of the previous year: 10 hours per week. More staffing is needed year round. The Director's current job description can be seen at the following location, the responsibilities therein are in excess of the one-course release time received in the Fall and Spring Semesters: www.bsu.edu/web/iandt/official/directordescription.htm

Dr. Scott Warner has been reassigned to teach one instead of two online courses. Dr. James Kirkwood has now been assigned to develop and implement the ITEDU 690 course on the History and Philosophy of Technology Education.

Other changes at Ball State University have occurred:

• The School of Continuing Education and Public Service has changed its name to The School of Extended Education (SEE).

• Ms. Kathryn McCartney's tasks in SEE have now been assumed by Mr. John Burton.

• Dr. Nancy Kingsbury has taken over as the Dean of the College of Applied Sciences and Technology.

Course Sections and Loads for Online Instructors

The Chair and Director decided to apply the same loading structure used in on-campus courses to online courses. Because there is still a number of on-campus students (typically taking advantage of on-campus graduate assistantships), a need was felt to maintain the on-campus sections of online classes. Most online offerings therefore include both an on-campus section (typically Section 001) and an off-campus section (typically Section 800C) taught together to accommodate both on- and off- campus students, the structure is as follows:

If the combined enrollment in the on-campus and off-campus sections taught together is at least the minimum (6 in a graduate class), the course is permitted to run and the instructor receives one course load. If the individual enrollments in each the on- and off-campus sections meets the minimum enrollment (6), the instructor receives load for two courses, which would typically result in pay for an overload of one course. Each section has a maximum of 20 students set by the Department's Graduate Program Committee, although student enrollments over the maximum have occurred.

However, there are some inequities with this structure. Consider Instructor A who teaches 6 on- and 6 off-campus students, for a combined class of 12 graduate students, and a load of two courses. Compare that to Instructor B who teaches 20 on-campus students combined with 5 off-campus students, for a total of 25 students and a load of only one course.

Inequities exist for students in the two sections of an online course. Those in Section 800C receive support from the School of Extended Education (SEE), and pay considerably less, for example, than their colleagues in Section 001, as illustrated in the following table.

II. Initiatives in the 2002/2003 Academic Year

Course Development

Faculty continued to work on the development, implementation, and revision of online courses, as outlined in the Course Development Schedule. As per the agreement with the School of Extended Education, Teleplex, and the College of Applied Sciences and Technology, faculty were provided with two "developmental" semesters prior to initial online implementation. During each developmental semester, a faculty member could elect to receive a $1500 stipend from Teleplex monies, or they could elect one stipend and one "assigned time," which would reduce the course load by one course in one of those semesters; the latter is only possible by an additional $500 per assigned time from CAST funds. In some instances, the second developmental semester occurred during the semester of initial online implementation. This was found to be advantageous, especially in courses where the design of the course reflects issues that would not be uncovered until initial implementation. The development time was used very effectively by some faculty members.

Faculty Use of Support

During course development, faculty developers were provided with assistance from the Director, in addition to services from the Office of Teaching and Learning Advancement and other units at Ball State University. Resources on online education were shared with faculty. In some instances, faculty were paid to take an online course. Monthly meetings were held in the Fall and Spring to allow faculty to share their ideas, questions, plans, and materials. During meetings and at other times, a number of faculty freely shared comments, questions, and suggestions in an attempt to help another faculty member. In these instances, it be came evident that a meaningful dialog among instructors related to online education was of great value.

A "Blackboard XT Community" was created for online collaboration among the Department's faculty scheduled to teach online (referred to as "online profs.") This was put to good use by four faculty, but was not significantly used by the other five faculty. This resource proved to be of little benefit in promoting a sense of online community due to low faculty participation. However, this XT Community continues to exist as a repository for forms, agendas, and other documents, though not all faculty have taken the steps necessary to be able to access this community.

Faculty tended to develop course materials without the aid of others. Although assistance is available from Teleplex, University Computing Services, University Libraries, and the Office of Teaching and Learning Advancement, this assistance was seldom used by some faculty. The Director provided assistance to faculty, with mixed results. With some faculty, discussions occurred multiple times per week in an atmosphere of positive support. In other instances, faculty did not seek assistance from the Director.

Course Review Instruments and Procedures

The review of online courses includes the following:

• Informal peer review at the end of the first developmental semester

• Informal peer review at the end of the second developmental semester

• Student evaluation of course and instructor during initial implementation (for promotion, tenure, and merit consideration)

• [Optional course improvement survey]

• Formal peer review in the semester following initial implementation

• Formal review by the Director in the semester following initial implementation

The program faculty collaborated to develop an instrument and set of procedures to aid in the formal review of courses during the semester following their initial online implementation. In addition, the Director has developed and used a somewhat more detailed form. These are available at the following locations.

The Peer Evaluation Instrument and Procedure for implemented online course review was developed through program faculty collaboration, and can be seen as Word and Acrobat documents at:

www.bsu.edu/iandt/official/courseevaluation.doc
www.bsu.edu/iandt/official/courseevaluation.pdf 

Suggestions for presenters during this review can be seen at:

www.bsu.edu/iandt/official/coursereviewsug.htm

The course assessment instrument used by the Director can be seen here:

www.bsu.edu/iandt/official/directorsassessment.xls

These instruments and procedures were developed during the Fall of 2002, and first used in formal reviews of ITEDU 568 and ITEDU 691 in the Spring of 2003. Results were furnished to the instructors (as course revisers) and are maintained by the Director.

Survey of Majors

Near the end of the Spring 2003 semester, all graduate students majoring in the Department's programs were sent a request to take an anonymous online survey to provide feedback on the online program. The results from the survey of majors are contained in an appendix in this document, and recommendations based on those results will be presented.

Survey of Faculty

Near the end of the Spring 2003 semester, a survey was distributed to the seven faculty assigned to teach online in the department, excluding the Chair and the Director of Online Education. Results for the faculty survey can be seen as an appendix, and were used to inform the recommendations to be presented.

Marketing

Efforts in 2001/2002 to market individual courses were believed to be a poorer use of limited resources than marketing the entire programs. Thus, the individual trifold brochures and posters created for courses in that year were not used in the 2002/2003 year.

Website Testing & Revision

One of the most critical marketing tools is the program Website at www.bsu.edu/iandt which is different from the departmental Website at www.bsu.edu/cast/itech/ . Thanks to the expertise of Abraham George, the Graduate Assistant assigned to online education, the iandt website has been greatly improved. Initial conversations with Nancy Prater, BSU Web Specialist, led to cosmetic, content, navigational improvements.

In April, 2003, Nancy Prater conducted a formal usability assessment test of the www.bsu.edu/iandt Website. Her report can be seen here:

www.bsu.edu//iandt/official/IandT_Summary.doc

While some of her recommendations have been implemented, others require implementation from different units within the University, and still others will require more time than is currently available from the existing Departmental Online Education staff.

Ball State University is transitioning to the Vignette Content Suite software for official Webpage development. This represents an enormous shift and will require the individual unitization and input of many "articles" and illustrations, and will result in a more limited ability to format content. However, because the University is transitioning to this system, the Director is pursuing its use. He has attended training and received a password for the creation of a draft site.

The move to the Vignette system allows for a change in the URL, or the Website name. The choice of "www.bsu.edu/iandt" was not ideal, in retrospect, due to the misunderstandings common when one hears "I and T," confusing it with "I&T" "INT" "I and T" and other variants. Because the target population is so familiar with the term, Tech Ed, the Vignette administrator was asked to create a new site that replaces iandt with teched. After it is online, visitors to the old site will be redirected to the new site.

Web-Based Email Response System

Thanks to the expertise of Graduate Assistant Abraham George, a new Web-based system was used for Website visitors to request information. Their requests generate an Email sent to onlinetech@bsu.edu (which is a new, blanket Email account used by online education staff), and adds the information they submit to a secure database. Responses to this are facilitated when the Director visits www.bsu.edu/andt/admin/viewmessage.asp then pastes and customizes a response, sending it to the recipient as well as copying it to the database. This has greatly reduced the Email organizational requirements. Since implementation in this academic year, over 300 requests for information have been received through this system.

Email Marketing

Email lists were obtained for four groups in each state and some provinces:

• State Directors of Technology Education

• State Technology Education Association Officers

• State Directors of Career & Technical Education

• State Career & Technical Education Association Officers

Email was sent to these 200 or so individuals, asking them to help get the word out to teachers in their charge that an online master's is available from Ball State University. This resulted in a number of program inquiries and applications for admissions.

Email was also sent to BSU graduate students in some instances, especially where a course section had not been printed in the schedule of courses (with approval from Kay McNit).

Brochures

Download the TE Brochure

Download the CTE Brochure

In addition to the trifold brochures for the MA in TE, a new brochure was designed for the MA in CTE. Both have been made available as online PDF files directly from the iandt homepage.

The current brochures were designed by the Director, and lack the professionalism and class of more costly alternatives. The Chair and Director met with the Program Coordinator, and with Heather Shupp and Nancy Prater, who provided feedback on options for new brochures. It is hoped that new brochures will be produced during the Summer of 2003.

In addition to brochures, other print materials are used. Lists of courses for the Summer and Fall semesters have been distributed with brochures, and are available online:

• www.bsu.edu/iandt/2003SummerClasses.pdf

• www.bsu.edu/iandt/2003FallClasses.pdf

Promotional Items

The Director redesigned and manufactured laser-cut acrylic gears containing program contact information. In the past, these have been found to be of interest to those involved with technical subject matter. These gears were distributed during on-campus visits, in mailed materials, and at conferences.

The gear pictured to the right in now used to market both online masters degrees, and contains a shorter URL and a program Email address, unlike earlier designs.

Banner Advertisement and Links

A banner advertisement was placed at the ITEA Website on their "Where to Get a Degree" page:
www.iteawww.org/J4.html. This links users directly to the Main Technology Education Page: www.bsu.edu/web/iandt/te.htm. The banner is an animated graphic consisting of two frames:

In addition, links were submitted to other Webpages. For example, on 11/18/02, ACTE placed a link to Ball State University on the "School Links" website at http://www.acteonline.org/resource_center/school.cfm  in response to a request, and the TE Director in WV placed a link to BSU's online master's in wvteched.k12.wv.us/calendar/index.php .

Journal Advertisements

In the Spring of 2003, the School of Extended Education placed black-and-white advertisements for the online programs in the following magazines:

• Tech Directions Magazine, offered to teachers by free subscription by Prakken Publications

• The Technology Teacher, the premiere journal of the International Technology Education Association

• Techniques, a publication of the Association of Career and Technical Education

Articles

Articles have served to advertise the online offerings. In the last academic year, one appeared in print and another was accepted for publication.

• Flowers, J., & Cotton, S. (In Press). Master of Arts in Career and Technical Education now 100% online. (Accepted for publication in Tech Directions.)

• Scheetz, D., & Flowers, J. (2002). Ball State University begins offering an online master's degree in Technology Education. The J of the Technology Educators of Indiana, 15, 17.

• Flowers, J., & Scheetz, D. (2002). A Master of Arts in Tech Ed: Finally online. Tech Directions, 62(3), 35-36.

• Flowers, J., & Kirkwood, J. (2002). Now on the Web: Elementary technology education for teachers. Technology and Children, 6(3), 9-10.

Presentations

Presentations at conferences and elsewhere have marketed the online programs. Some of these presentations were on related topics, but there was mention of the programs for interested parties.

• Rose, M. A., and Flowers, J. (Accepted for presentation in August, 2003). "Assigning Learning Roles to Promote Critical Discussions During Problem-Based Learning," Scheduled Co-Presenter with Annette Rose, Distance Teaching and Learning 2003 Conference, Madison, WI.

• Rose, M. A., and Flowers, J. (2003). "Cognitive Role Assignment in an Online Problem-Based Technology Assessment Activity," ITEA Conference, Nashville, TN.

• Flowers, J. (2003). "Online Technology Education Masters: Year One Update," ITEA Conference, Nashville, TN.

• Flowers, J. (2003). "Teaching with Repurposeable HTML Learning Objects," Midwest Educational Technology Conference, St. Louis, MO. Jan. 28, 2003.

• Flowers, J. (2002). "Repurposeable HTML Learning Objects," Ivy Tech Technology Day, Bloomington, IN.

• Flowers, J. (2002). "Online Course Showcase: Technology, Use and Assessment," Distance Teaching and Learning 2002 Conference, Madison, WI.

Related Developments in 2002/2003

• Dr. Joe Armstrong has spearheaded a four-course online graduate certificate program in adult education that fits in well with the MA in CTE and the MA in TE for those who work with adult learners.

• Mr. Richard Ertle took an online course in preparation for teaching online.

• The Applied Technology Building and many other areas of campus became served by 802.11b wireless networking.

• Teacher education faculty in the Department were each furnished with a Macintosh iBook through the work of Teacher's College and University Computing Services. These have 802.11b wireless connectivity.

• Webspace on the BSU Real Media server was allocated by Teleplex for Department Faculty's direct use through Web File Manager, with accounts set up by the Director. Although there had been high reported interest in obtaining this access, faculty have not yet taken good advantage of this opportunity. Hardware, software, and training may remedy this.

• Through the generosity of Mr. Richard Ertle, a digital video camera was made available for faculty use in developing materials for online instruction.

• Jim Flowers was selected to write a chapter for an upcoming yearbook of the Council on Technology Teacher Education. The theme of the yearbook is "distance education," and Dr. Flower's chapter is on student and faculty perceptions.

• Faculty from the School of Nursing and the Department of Industry and Technology collaborated on the following yearbook chapter:  Hodson Carlton, K. E., Sitkberg, L. L., Flowers, J. & Scheibel, P. (2003). Overview of distance education in nursing: Where are we now and where are we going? In M. H. Oermann & K. T. Heinrich (Eds.), Annual Review of Nursing Education: Vol. 1 (pp. 165-189). New York: Springer.

• Jim Flowers received funding from the 2003 BSU Office of Academic Assessment and Institutional Research Summer Assessment Grant Program to provide information on "Distance Education Enrollment in Industry and Technology."

• A preproposal was approved for a grant application written by Dr. Sam Cotton on eTraining for non-degree teachers through the  Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education, US DOEd.

• Ball State University entered into licensing agreements with Microsoft and Adobe. Unfortunately, the licensing agreement related to Microsoft Office does not cover FrontPage, the Webpage creation tool used so much by online instructors and students.

• The College of Applied Sciences and Technology is spearheading Ball State University in the offering of online degree programs. In order to share information among CAST's online programs, a new group is convening twice each semester, with one representative from Nursing, Physical Education, Industry and Technology, and the Dean's Office. Meetings during this academic year have uncovered areas where solutions in one program could be applied to another. However, many discrepancies were also identified among the programs, including faculty remuneration and administrative support.

• Six faculty in the College of Applied Science and Technology, partnering with other units at Ball State, received a 2003 grant from the George and Frances Ball Fund for Academic Excellence to conduct a workshop during May and June, 2003. The workshop is called "Faculty Researching OnLine Education" or "Faculty ROLE," and it is an initiative aimed at encouraging online faculty in CAST to conduct needed research in online education, or to apply research results to their online instruction. The investigators on this project are Nagia Ali, Jim Flowers, Kay Hodson-Carlton, Annette Rose, Marilyn Ryan, and Valerie Wayda, and partnerships were obtained from the Office of Teaching and Learning Advancement, the School of Extended Education, University Libraries, University Teleplex, and the Office of Academic Research and Sponsored Programs. Department faculty scheduled to participate include Sam Cotton, James Kirkwood, Dick Ertle, and Tom Tyberg. The proposal and agenda can be seen here:

  • jcflowers1.iweb.bsu.edu /projects/21Cent2003/FacultyROLEproposal.htm

  • jcflowers1.iweb.bsu.edu /projects/21Cent2003/role_program.pdf
     

• Jim Flowers served as the Department's representative in the newly formed FOLIO group that is aimed at providing online orientation to new online and on-campus faculty in CAST.

• Jim Flowers worked on a grant from the Indiana Higher Education Telecommunications System to create an online learning module comprised of reusable html learning objects, with the purpose of teaching others how to create such modules. Dr. Flowers also served as a 2003 IHETS grant reviewer.

• The School of Extended Education issued a new policy for approval of online courses. This policy does not impact the 15 courses already approved in the Department's online degrees, but would apply to additional courses.

• A Blackboard site was created to aid in advising and communicating with majors in the graduate programs. However, many discrepancies were found among the lists of majors obtained from different databases in the University, creating difficulties.

III. Recommendations

Recommendations for the University

Office of Online Education

A new "Office of Online Education" should be established at Ball State University. It should be given the responsibility of providing coordination and unity across units. Currently, the School of Extended Education provides support for course development and revision, enrollment, marketing, and incentives for teaching online. The Office of Teaching and Learning Advancement provides assistance in teaching with technology, and support can be found at University Teleplex, University Computing Services, and University Libraries for other faculty needs. In particular, the responsibility of being the faculty member's portal for assistance with teaching has been assumed by OTLA, which now coordinates the assistance from other areas within the university.

Yet, this organizational structure still results in a number of problems, including the following:

• Few or no efforts to help distance students feel that they are a part of the BSU, college, and department communities (which is a standard in our NCA accreditation guidelines); every social and academic support structure for students provided by Student Affairs and others should be examined for ways to make this service available to distance students;

• An organizational structure that looks at the support for the online learner based on the classification of their course, rather than on whether they are asked to learn online; online learners in face-to-face classes and in on-campus online classes do not receive the same support from SEE, the helpdesk, and the libraries as do those who learn online in SEE courses;

• Policies that vary by department or school regarding local administrative support, assigned time, load, class size, and ownership;

• A schedule of classes that does not typically list online classes when offered through SEE;

• Communications problems and delays in communication among departments, the Graduate School, and SEE concerning students and prospective students;

• Multiple lists of students in a particular major, depending on which BSU database was accessed;

• Cumbersome and lengthy registration processes for online courses, even where those course are not taken toward earning a degree, thus reducing the attractiveness and market competitiveness of BSU's online courses;

• Scheduling of online courses that is based on the rigidity of typical on-campus courses more than on the needs and wishes of online students;

• Few formal resources to assist students in strategies and issues particular to learn online;

• Greater assistance needed for faculty in the pedagogy (androgogy) of teaching adults online;

• Training and support for online student advising;

• Special support for faculty research in online education;

• Facilities to share online materials among courses;

• Inadequate help desk support after business hours;

• Equivalent support for faculty at a distance; and

• Inequitable assessment of online education.

It is recommended, therefore, that a new unit be established to coordinate online teaching and learning (possibly called "BSU Online.") Under one scenario, this "office" could be located within University College. Alternatively, it might be under the School of Extended Education, or the Office of Teaching and Learning Advancement; however, if located in SEE or OTLA, then this unit would have its charge expanded to include areas that have previously fallen into the gaps among units. Future growth in online education may one day result in a separate school or college charged with this area. Regardless of its location, this office would require a significant year-round staff, budget, and space. In particular, the staff should include specialists in online education, and those in a position to expedite solutions to the problems listed above.

Ball State University has a rich history of serving those in East Central Indiana, others from across the state, and some from other states and countries. However, our online degree programs require us to shed some previous policies that have served us well. We must look beyond Indiana's borders. We must embark on bold initiatives in online education if we are to be competitive and successful.

Other Recommendations for Ball State University

The campus licensing agreement with Microsoft should be revised to include FrontPage with Microsoft Office. So many online instructors and students create Webpages. With the student portfolio movement, there is an increasing need for Webpage creation. (Microsoft's agreement with Indiana University had included FrontPage.)

The BSU Board of Trustees should consider setting the tuition for distance education courses at least 5 months in advance of the course offerings to allow for marketing that includes tuition information. Ideally, it would be set 12 months in advance, to allow for adequate advertising. (The tuition for the Summer Session that began on May 12th, 2003, was set on May 12th, 2003.)

Recommendations for the School of Extended Education and Teleplex

Future faculty development monies for online courses should be set at a single semester's payment of $2000 to cover an "assigned time," and increased as the cost of the assigned time increases over the years or in different departments. Faculty taking advantage of this should be required to furnish the School of Extended Education with an initial plan for their developmental work at the beginning of that semester, and a report detailing their accomplishments at the end of the semester.

The initial online implementation incentive from SEE should be increased from $1500 to $2000 to fully cover an "assigned time," and should increased as the cost of assigned time increase over the years or in different departments.

The $50/student bonus for every distance education student over the minimum should be eliminated.

Training should be offered to faculty in the use of web-delivered multimedia, in particular, streaming audio/video.

Recommendations for the Department of Industry & Technology and its Faculty

Faculty should continue to make efforts to design online instruction based more heavily on best practices from research.

Faculty should be encouraged to develop research projects in online education.

Assignment of a faculty member to teach an online course is based on a number of factors. Among those, enthusiasm for teaching online and sufficient competency with basic tools of online education should be weighed heavily.

It is essential that students and prospective students are not led to believe that these master's degrees carry teacher licensure if they do not, or that they should rely on the eventual approval of a proposed fast-track licensure program.

The survey of majors indicated a need for a stronger line of communication between online students and their graduate program advisor. It is hoped that the use of a Blackboard site to aid advising will improve this situation, but a more rigorous connection between the advisor and the online advisee is recommended, possibly over the telephone.

The survey of majors seemed to indicate poor or no use of the Ball State Library in online classes, even though the respondents were pursuing graduate study. Instructors should attempt to make better use of library resources for online students.

The survey of majors indicated a need for more summer courses, especially those that begin after public schools have ended. Flexible calendars were also mentioned. The Department should pilot such courses.

The students in the online degree programs seem to be a different clientele than previous on-campus students. Curriculum revision at both the program and course level should take into account the needs of these students. During this curriculum revision, there will be an opportunity to eliminate unnecessary overlaps, outdated content, and content in areas not critical to the course goal or the students' needs, possibly adding areas now in greater need.

Additional staffing should be provided to support online education and to alleviate the demands on the Director.

The department should take special efforts to involve online students in the social and extracurricular activities it provides to on-campus students. This may include the purchase of video conferencing hardware and software and training in its use.

In the past, graduate assistants and instructors have worked in the Applied Technology Building on campus. The Department should consider the employment of distance faculty and of distance graduate assistants.

Plans should be made for online course staffing and support in cases of faculty retirement or reassignment.

One professor is currently assigned to teach six courses within the MA in CTE Program. A greater diversity of faculty is needed in this program.

Conclusion

At the end of the first year of implementation, the MA in Technology Education has seen strong growth, and the MA in Career and Technical Education is growing, but at a slower rate. Faculty have been developing, implementing, and revising courses. The number of online faculty and their diversity of approaches is seen as a distinct asset.

The future looks bright for both online degree programs. Future developments should strengthen these offerings and make them even more responsive to students' needs. Recommendations have been made at the University level, the Department level, and for the School of Extended Education to improve the programs and the infrastructure through which they are delivered.

The success of the programs is largely due to the courage of online students, assistance from partners throughout the country, the hard work of online faculty, vision and guidance from the Department Chair, support from the School of Extended Education, the College of Applied Sciences and Technology, Teleplex, University Libraries, and the Office of Teaching and Learning Advancement. With such strong sources of willing support, the programs are expected to grow in enrollment and improve in quality.

Appendix C. Schedule for Online Course Development, Implementation, & Revision