Distance Education Committee
April 7, 2004 Minutes Present: Jeff Hale, Bill McCaughan, Debbie Coelho, Kim Calvery, Deb Healey, Joan Gross, Maureen Kelly Guests: Lisa Templeton, Jessica Dupont (Director and Assistant Director, Ecampus Marketing) Notes: Sarah Williams Welcome and introductions: Jeff introduced Kim Calvery from Research Accounting, to Debbie Coelho and Maureen Kelly at Cascades. Review of Minutes: The Minutes of the March meeting were approved Presentation: E-Campus Marketing – Lisa Templeton and Jessica DuPont presented the Ecampus Marketing Plan. They distributed print publications of the Ecampus programs and degrees. Lisa began by discussing the differences between broad marketing and targeted marketing campaigns. Broad marketing of Ecampus and its programs was aimed at the Portland area. The advertising campaign consisted of billboards, transit ads, and print in a variety of publications, newspapers and magazines. Messages and concepts had been tested through focus groups in Portland before any advertising was placed. The Ecampus Student Services Center is tracking results of the marketing plan and has seen a 75-80% increase in inquiries this past year, primarily as a result of increased web traffic to the Ecampus website. Currently, about 75-80% of the inquiries tracked by the Student Services Center are coming in via the web, up from 50% two years ago. Jessica noted that there had been 1.8 Million hits to the Ecampus website during the month of March. This is impressive, when you consider that OSU has 2 Million hits a month. Jeff noted, however, that “hits” are not directly related to conversion of inquiries into new students. The Ecampus hits are primarily generated by search engines. Ecampus has redesigned its site to increase visibility on the web. One feature of this is the inclusion of the word “online” and other key words in specific areas of the site, such as in headers, page titles, and page URL’s. Jessica encouraged committee members to contact her if they had additional questions on Ecampus web marketing. Ecampus has done a variety of targeted marketing for their programs to a variety of audiences. They have marketed their undergraduate degree completion programs, and online graduate programs, to individuals seeking degrees and courses for professional development. The K-12 Online program is geared to high school students, and Ecampus has developed over 30 partnerships with school districts. Through a partnership with OSU Alumni Association, OSU Quickskills Online is being marketed to the Alumni Association members with a slight discount, as a member benefit. Summer Session, now a part of Ecampus, offers a unique opportunity to cross market courses for residents, and non-residents and has resulted in good synergy. Ecampus has split enrollment and student support operations and developed a Communications Center. The Student Services Center will continue to serve current students, while the Communication Center will be focused on conversion of student inquiries into enrollments. Funding for the development of the Communication Center is being provided by a TRF grant to provide online services to students 24/7. Ecampus hired three students from Computer Sciences to build a FAQ database. They are partnering with the OSU HelpDesk in this development. June is the timeline for completion of the TRF project. The next step will be working with Admissions to move the prospect database to Banner. Ecampus Marketing’s next step will be expanding orientation information for students of distance learning. They are working on an online tour at this time. E-Campus Dean’s Report. Budget Update and Model: Bill clarified a section of the Ecampus revenue sharing model regarding the 80/20 tuition distribution component of the model. Bill noted that Ecampus has initiated Ecampus Scholarships this year. He will be seeking external funding to go into that program for distance students. Jeff Hale suggested that the Committee have a broader discussion between Cascades Campus and Ecampus regarding scholarship issues and their relationship to the development of the Capital Campaign. MOU's and RFP's: Ecampus has signed MOU’s with every college except Vet Med and Pharmacy. In collaboration with the Colleges, Ecampus has identified potential programs for development. Ecampus will solicit RFP’s from the priority programs that have been identified in the college MOUs, based on readiness and marketability. Curriculum Council Issues: Liberal Arts has put a moratorium on Category I proposals for the immediate future. The College of Education’s TESOL program is now on hold for a year because of an issue involving library resources. Joan Gross requested that Bill visit the Curriculum Council to clarify apparent confusion about funding provided to the library for support of distance education programs. OUS: The regional OUS campuses may be disadvantaged by the proposed downsizing of the OUS Chancellor’s office. Collaborative relationships with regional universities will be important. Assessment of Distance Courses: The University is finalizing its presentation on instructional assessment for the accreditation follow-up, but in Mark Wilson’s absence, this discussion was tabled. Priority issues for the ‘04 Committee agenda Networking: Jeff would like to finalize liaison assignments for other Faculty Senate committees. He will attend the Computing Resources Committee. Maureen Kelly will attend the Library Committee; Joan Gross is already on the Curriculum Council; Mark Wilson will liaison with Promotion & Tenure; Deborah Healey will attend Faculty Recognition and Awards and encourage new awards. Policy Discussion: Jeff requested that the Committee think about the following questions about distance education and P&T. What do we need to know? What do we need to do as a committee? It was suggested that Roy Arnold could participate in this discussion and serve as a resource. Best Practices: Jeff would like to confirm the Committee role in this area and suggested looking at the Faculty Resources site at Ecampus. We need to inventory distance education faculty needs. The university will soon open a center for teaching and learning which could serve as the nexus for faculty resources. One suggestion would be faculty seminars to encourage faculty to teach via distance. These could be constructed around a class/cohort model to provide mutual support. Ecampus could do this in conjunction with the new Center for Teaching and Learning. Virtual Tribal College: Bill has provided a PowerPoint presentation and a draft resolution of support for the tribal representatives to use and has prepared a mockup of a website for the college. Individual members of the government-to- government education leaders group are making presentations to their tribal councils, who will then appoint members of a task force that will start putting the formal proposal together to go to Congress. Joan Gross mentioned her interest in preserving cultural native languages, but the first focus will be to employ the tribes’ own people to control their own resources for the future. Training teachers in language and culture will help keep students connected to the tribe and in school. Future meeting schedule: At the committee’s request, Sarah has scheduled the next meeting for Wednesday, May 12, at 10:30 a.m., in Valley 4960, Drinkward Meeting Room.
| Agendas | Bylaws | Committees/Councils | Faculty Forum Papers | Handbook | Meetings/Locations | Membership | Minutes |