Meeting notes - SUNY Learning Commons

 OPEN SUNY REGIONAL ENGAGEMENT SESSION Central Regional Meeting Notes September 11, 2013 SUNY Oswego (Metro Center) Unique Campus Experience
Oswego: What occurs on the campus isn’t confined to the classroom—informal learning
and community building define Oswego; have degree programs that other institutions
don’t; blending live and asynchronous learning to better reach their audiences. There are
unmet needs for students at CCs that want to continue on for a Bachelor’s degree. Need
data assistance to determine what opportunities are out there for their campus—new
students, what existing students want, etc. Looking to continue to expand their
international connections.
Jefferson: “Small town” feeling; 38% military (veteran, active, spouses); campus is a
cultural resource for the North Country. Can’t offer some courses online due to funding
restrictions, but would like to have some assistance here. Shared resources (help desk,
etc.) would benefit their students and others. Would like to have access to an adjunct pool
to help them find professors to hire in their remote location.
Upstate: One of four medical schools; one of two accredited healthcare centers; focus on
patients; large coverage area for who they serve; try to provide professional service to
underserved populations. Looking to train more RNs; move from synchronous learning to
more asynchronous to better meet student schedule needs. Communicate more with CCs
to expand online programs and enhance collaboration. Looking to increase transferability
for certain courses since some of the existing naming can limit transferability. Would like
to try and accelerate competency-based learning.
Onondaga: Robust athletic program; arts programs. Would like to move some of their
programs a step further and get them online, but they may need assistance where course
options are missing—partner campuses offering a course they may be missing on their
own campus. Faculty could benefit from using these new technologies (faculty
development, etc.)
Cayuga: Strong faculty-student relationships; 100% pass rate on licensure for nursing
program; criminal justice program; Sunday accelerated program for adult learners with
less-flexible schedules; branded as “your community’s college;” 6 programs 100% online
and other programs partially, plus more in development. Would like to have it so that
their students could take 75% of courses at their institution and 25% at other campuses.
ESF: Many undergraduates have research experience on campus; philosophy of handson, minds on. Continuing ed. and professional development are opportunities that ESF
would like to explore in an online environment. Hybrid courses could be beneficial—
bring in a faculty member from other institutions to add value to existing or new courses.
Cortland: Transformational campus that offers enrichment and opportunities for
undergraduate research; online tutoring until almost midnight; offers foreign language
programs online. Technology to enhance teaching is a great opportunity for faculty and
students; hybrid-learning opportunities could be helpful for many students, but especially
students from remote locations. Would be nice to have financial support from Open
SUNY to enhance their programs.
TC3: Long history of web-enhanced courses (nearly 20 years); large commuter
population; agreements with nearly 60 countries; working with open educational
resources. Would like to see Open SUNY help with marketing to help reach more
international students and adult/working-age students. Leveraging newer technologies in
a more centralized way would be helpful; more efficient systems for our existing students
to use would be nice (single login).
General Discussion:
One participant suggested concern that the branding language of Open SUNY seems to
suggest its own thing rather than part of a campus (e.g., Open SUNY vs. Open SUNY @
SUNY Oswego).
It was also discussed who we expect our students will be in Open SUNY. At this point,
we are looking at adult learners and traditional aged learners through different
mechanisms—existing students may have new blended opportunities through Open
SUNY and new adult learners may enjoy the flexibility of a more online-based
experience. Open SUNY is viewed, currently, as a blended approach to online-enabled
learning.
Opportunities and how can Open SUNY support?
Group 4
• Financial support; shared tech support; teaching capacity; server capacity; help with faculty training and development on online-­‐enabled learning; program development assistance; financial assistance for innovation; “shopping cart” approach; collaboratively agree on refinement of faculty promotion and tenure guidelines—they are generally outdated and may not capture online-­‐enabled learning. Group 3
• Shopping cart concept or “seat sharing”—eliminate redundancy across all 64 campuses; system designers available to help campuses; marketing assistance; a better understanding of Empire’s role; a better understanding of how Open SUNY will be funded; what happens to traditional completion models in Open SUNY? We don’t necessarily want to lose the “broad education” in exchange for a focus that is too tight on their specific field. Group 2
• Database of courses; database of vetted faculty that can be shared across SUNY; better market availability and scope of online courses—help students realize their options; streamlined concierge service; single login; help with increasing synchronous and asynchronous opportunities abroad; out-­‐of-­‐state authorization handled in a centralized manner. Group 1
• Cross-­‐registration; common database (like SLN); hybrid/blended learning and satellite labs for practicals for students that are located remotely; access to and sharing of resources; seamless transfer—courses with labs attached are not guaranteed, and that could be an issue for students. Group 5
• Capital/revenue assistance for development; impacts on technology and instructional design; need some data for marketing purposes; cross-­‐
registration; financial aid streamlining; career networking; student concierge services; would also like to see cost-­‐analysis; pilot partnerships for Open SUNY to start before going system-­‐wide may be a better approach than going system-­‐wide at launch. Group 6
• Common catalog; concierge/single point of contact for students; data collection system to gain insight into the learning outcomes to evaluate whether an instructor is the right one to teach X course online, or not; SUNY can facilitate conversation with unions on intellectual property and other areas; tuition reduction for in-­‐state online students? Get and Give
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Oswego – Get: Understanding on how to serve veteran/military populations (Jefferson); writing tutoring for grad students. Give: Provide faculty development process for other campuses; gen ed. courses to other institutions. Jefferson – Get: 24/7 tech support/assistance and tutoring. Give: Seat availability in some of their courses; experience in working with veteran/military populations. Upstate – Get: Something like the SLN help desk, but 24/7 for students and faculty; satellite labs for practicals; graduate student writing tutoring. Give: Faculty development and help with policies and procedures related to blended models. ESF – Give: A strong writing support center; specialized upper division coursework in STEM fields. Get: Need assistance in bringing things to scale. Cortland – Give: Peer-­‐to-­‐peer tutoring online model; languages in COIL. Get: Assistance with course design, redesign, etc.—could be peer-­‐based support. TC3 – Get: Marketing assistance; systems support (IT support); ways to help increase enrollment. Give: Open educational resources—textbooks and courses that are open and available. Cayuga: -­‐ Give: Online science courses w/ labs. Get: Student support services in a cost-­‐effective way. Onondaga – Get: Classes for some individual degrees that they don’t have (e.g., some science courses); 24/7 tech support. Give: Gen ed. courses to other institutions; could offer design of their faculty development program along with associated materials. Wrap up
The group as a whole said that this type of regional session was very helpful/informative
and helped create new connections between neighboring campuses. It was highlighted
that the vision and mission of Open SUNY are still being refined/developed and that
sessions like this are critical to that process.