Collaborative Delivery of Online Programs of Study
A Progress Report
Collaborative Delivery of Online Programs of Study
Facilitated by the Michigan Community College Virtual Learning Collaborative
Prepared by:
Alpena Community College Macomb Community College
Bay de Noc Community College Mid Michigan Community College
Delta College Monroe County Community College
Glen Oaks Community College Montcalm Community College
Grand Rapids Community College Muskegon Community College
Henry Ford Community College North Central Michigan College
Jackson Community College Northwestern Michigan College
Kalamazoo Valley Community College Oakland Community College
Kellogg Community College St. Clair County Community College
Kirtland Community College Wayne County Community College
Lake Michigan College West Shore Community College
Presented to:
The Higher Learning Commission
of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
March 28, 2003
Contact:
Mr. Michael Wahl, Executive Director
Michigan Community College Virtual Learning Collaborative
222 N. Chestnut Street
Lansing, Michigan 48933-1000
Phone: (517) 372-4350
Fax: (517) 372-0905
e-mail:
Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Report Background 4
History of the Collaborative 6
MCCVLC Mission 8
A Vision for 2007 8
MCCVLC Guiding Principles 9
Objectives of the Collaborative 10
Indicators of Success 16
Accomplishing Collaborative Objectives: 18
Financing & Budgetary Plan 23
Collaborative Roles and Responsibilities 26
Appendix 27
Appendix A 28
Appendix B 35
Appendix C 45
Introduction
A Report to the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association
This report has been prepared by representatives of the twenty-two Michigan community colleges participating in a collaborative project to obtain and maintain the approval of the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools for each participating college to offer programs of study at the associate degree level that would be made available to students through the MCCVLC via distance education technologies.
The college representatives are:
AlpenaBay de Noc
Delta
Glen Oaks
Grand Rapids
Henry Ford
Jackson
Kalamazoo Valley
Kellogg
Kirtland
Lake Michigan / Curt Davis
Christian Holmes
Pat Graves
Debra Taylor
Patti Trepkowski
Ed Chielens
William Strohaver
Gail Fredericks
Ed Haring
Richard Silverman
Chuck Phillip / Macomb
Mid Michigan
Monroe
Montcalm
Muskegon
North Central
Northwestern
Oakland
St. Clair
Wayne County
West Shore / Roger Bober
Gwladys Austin
Gail Odneal
William Tammone
Robert Ferrentino
Tim Dykstra
Jan Oliver
Richard Thompson
Anita Gliniecki
Joann Pieronek
Patti Davidson
On June 27, 2002, when the Higher Learning Commission approved the request of these 22 colleges to offer degree programs via distance education technologies, the Commission included a requirement that two progress reports be filed:
Progress Report One: A report is to be filed by April 01, 2003, with the Commission detailing the implementation of a strategic plan for the Michigan Community College Virtual Learning Collaborative.
Progress report Two: A report is to be filed by April 01, 2005, on the assessment of the Collaborative effectiveness and the assessment of student learning.
This report has been prepared in response to the requirement for Progress Report One – Implementation of a Strategic Plan.
This report was edited by Michael Wahl, Executive Director of the MCCVLC.
Report Background
Michigan Community College Virtual Learning Collaborative
The Michigan Community College Virtual Learning Collaborative (MCCVLC) is a project of the Michigan Community College Association (MCCA), an association of all 28 publicly funded community colleges in Michigan. The MCCVLC student web site may be found at the following url:
http://www.mccvlc.org/
A web site with information and resource materials appropriate for Michigan community college administrators, faculty and staff may be found at:
http://www.mccvlc.org/staff/
The MCCVLC allows students from anywhere in the state to enroll in any one of the online courses offered by Michigan community colleges (“provider colleges”) from a single online catalog, while maintaining (or establishing) a relationship with, and receiving support from, their local “home” college. Michigan community colleges have agreed on a tuition revenue sharing model that actually makes this an advantageous arrangement for both home and provider college.
The primary objective of the collaborative since its inception has been to enhance access to community college courses for Michigan residents. Barriers to education faced by Michigan residents include geography (only fifty percent of the state is within a community college district) as well as time (students increasingly report an inability to attend regularly-scheduled classes, even in the evening), and for many students, online courses offer a viable option for continuing their education. By collaborating, Michigan community colleges have been able to offer students a far greater selection of courses than would be possible for an individual college working in isolation. Further, by offering specialty, technical courses in an online format, colleges can serve the needs of their communities without having to duplicate course development efforts, which can be particularly costly in some of the rapidly changing technical occupational areas.
A secondary objective of the collaborative has been sharing limited resources necessary to develop and offer online courses. While there is an expectation that eventually the costs associated with online courses will be comparable to traditional courses, initial development of courses involves additional costs for infrastructure, professional development and course redesign with little or no additional revenue generated, since tuition and fees are the same or only slightly higher for these courses. Michigan community colleges recognize that quality online instruction limits the size of classes to numbers similar to, or less than, traditional sections – which also limits options for decreasing costs and increasing revenue. Thus, Michigan community colleges have identified collaboration as a key way to share resources while building capacity.
While the MCCVLC may appear to students and the casual observer to be similar to other virtual campus initiatives in other states, it is important to recognize organizationally, it is actually very different. Rather than being initiated by a state legislature or administrative entity such as a state board for higher education, this collaborative is a grass-roots initiative. It was conceived and organized by the public community colleges in Michigan and is operated by the association (MCCA) to which all 28 colleges voluntarily belong. Member colleges are entirely responsible for governance and management of the collaborative.
It is also significant that the Michigan community colleges have adopted a distributed model for development of curriculum and support services, in contrast to a more centralized approach. Certainly many of the challenges associated with online programming are similar regardless of whether the model is centralized or distributed; nonetheless, each does involve unique opportunities as well as challenges. The transformation of 28 colleges to include some measure of programming and services for online learners (the scope of programming and services are unique at each college) is very different from the challenge of developing centralized programs and services on behalf of a group of colleges.
Michigan community colleges recognize that the MCCVLC is a unique response to the opportunities afforded by modern information technologies to enhance access to community college programming. Organizationally and operationally, however, it is well suited to the autonomous environment and culture in which Michigan community colleges exist and operate. Perhaps more important, the collaborative has enabled hundreds of students to enroll in courses to which they would otherwise not have had access.
Development of the collaborative to date has been guided by a Strategic and Business Plan prepared by the MCCVLC Advisory Council and adopted by the MCCA Board of Directors in July of 1998. Since that time, the environment for online learning has changed significantly, as has the capacity for Michigan community colleges to develop and deliver online programs of study and the associated academic and student support services.
To enable Michigan community colleges to better respond to the continually changing opportunities and challenges of online programming, in the spring of 2002 the MCCVLC set about revising the strategic plan for the collaborative. Input into the planning process was provided by the MCCA Board of Directors, the MCCVLC Governing Committee, the MCCVLC Advisory Council, and the various state professional associations (groups that have been providing input and advice relative to operational aspects of the collaborative). An executive summary of this revised strategic plan was reviewed by the MCCVLC Governing Committee at the January, 2003 meeting of the MCCA Board of Directors. This report is based upon the summary plan approved by the MCCVLC Governing Committee in January of 2003. Final approval of the MCCVLC Strategic Plan will take place at the July 2003 MCCA Board meeting.
History of the Collaborative
Michigan’s community colleges have established a long and successful track record for collaboration in the area of learning technologies. In the late 1980’s the Michigan Community College Association (MCCA) received a grant to implement the installation of satellite downlinks for Michigan’s community colleges. A collaborative grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation in 1992 provided for the installation of an interactive television (ITV) classroom on every Michigan community college campus. The colleges began to use this technology to meet with each other for sharing of ideas and to share programming. The ITV classrooms also provided the opportunity to bring bachelor’s and master’s degree programming to community college campuses not located near universities.
During the 1995-96 academic year a Trustee/President Taskforce on Statewide Services was established by MCCA to address issues relating to the ongoing concern on the part of community college leaders for the underserved students throughout the state. The Taskforce Report was presented, including a specific recommendation to initiate planning for the creation of a community college “network” that would utilize modern information technology to collaboratively deliver programming. In September 1996, Washtenaw Community college, as part of the conclusion of their participation in the CoNDUIT initiative, hosted a conference for the community college leadership to consider issues pertaining to virtual education initiatives. At this conference, the MCCA Presidents’ Technology-mediated Instruction Taskforce created a Staff Taskforce to study and make recommendations for developing a Michigan Virtual Community College.
The Staff Taskforce was comprised of one representative from each college, appointed by the President. They studied other statewide audits of technology and distance instruction and discussed the issues raised by creating a virtual community college.
At the December 1996 meeting of the MCCA Presidents Committee, a new mission statement was drafted, a set of core beliefs established, and the project was named the Michigan Community College Virtual Learning Collaborative (MCCVLC). It was agreed that developing a collaborative network open to participation of all 28 community colleges was the goal, rather than development a new community college which might be viewed as competition for the existing traditional community colleges. Further, it was recognized that learning and provision of services would be the focal points of the network.
The MCCVLC Task Force began work on drafting a model, structure and services for the collaborative network. In March 1997, the MCCA Presidents and Trustees met to consider formally investing in development of the MCCVLC. The initiative was approved unanimously and an assessment fee was levied to fund the early development stages of the MCCVLC. A comprehensive strategic and business plan was then developed and was approved by MCCA in July 1998.
At the same time, the new Michigan Virtual University was being formed, and became a critical strategic partner for the MCCVLC. This partnership continues today, as the organizations have parallel missions in terms of serving the learning needs of Michigan’s citizens through the use of technology.
The MCCVLC obtained major funding from three sources. First, the community colleges contributed a varying assessment, based on student count. Second, the new Michigan Virtual University provided funding for implementation of the collaborative. Third, the MCCA received a significant grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to support Michigan community colleges and the MCCVLC in “Transforming the Delivery of Workforce Development Opportunities”. This four-year grant (1999-2003) provided funding for development of online programs, professional development for faculty, development of collaborative agreements between the community colleges, and evaluation of the collaborative process.
The hard work and investment by Michigan community colleges and strategic partners have resulted in significant accomplishments:
· In the summer of 1999, 300 students enrolled in courses offered on the MCCVLC web site; enrollment projections for winter 2003 are 15,000 enrollments in MCCVLC listed courses and 18,000 enrollments for all Michigan community college online courses.
· Over 1,400 faculty have participated in training sponsored by the MCCVLC
· Twenty-five certificate and degree programs have been developed, and over 800 courses are online.
· Innovative collaborative agreements have been developed and approved by the colleges, including a Memorandum of Understanding that has become a national model for collaborative online educational enterprises.
· Michigan community college educators continue innovative research and development efforts that contribute to the national dialog relative to online learning. Presentations at national and regional conference are evidence of the widespread interest in Michigan community college research and development.
· The MCCVLC was instrumental in the creation of the National Alliance of Statewide Virtual Learning Colleges, which is associated with the Instructional Technologies Council and the American Association of Community Colleges.
Fundamental to the success of the collaborative has been the MCCVLC Memorandum of Understanding, originally approved by the MCCA Board of Directors in July of 1998 (see Appendix A). This document describes the relationships between and among Michigan community colleges serving students in the various roles of provider college, home college and degree granting college.
The MCCVLC has clearly demonstrated the power of this collaborative model and its capability to achieve ambitious goals. As the 2002-2003 academic year begins, it is time for MCCA to update the long-range plan for the MCCVLC, clarify the vision for the future of the collaborative, and develop strategies that will ensure it continued success in the future.
MCCVLC Mission
The MCCVLC leverages the latest technology and the collective strengths of the Michigan community colleges in order to facilitate greater accessibility to affordable high-quality learning opportunities and student support services.