ONLINE LEARNING AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE UNIVERSITY SENATE TASK FORCE ON ONLINE INITIATIVES June 9, 2014 Sharyn O’Halloran Chair, University Senate George Blumenthal Professor of Political Economy Cleo Abrams ‘15 Senator, Columbia College Matthew Chou ‘14 Member, Executive Committee of the University Senate Senator, Columbia College Benjamin Spener ‘14 University Senate, Chief of Staff, Columbia College Richard Sun ‘13 Member, Executive Committee of the University Senate Senator, Columbia College Columbia University Senate University Senate Online Learning TABLE OF CONTENTS Exhibits ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................. 6 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 8 1.1 Online learning at Columbia University ................................................................................................. 8 1.2 Objectives ............................................................................................................................................. 10 1.3 Timeline and deliverables ..................................................................................................................... 11 2. Current Practices ............................................................................................................................ 12 2.1 General Overview ................................................................................................................................. 13 2.2 Growing online learning market ........................................................................................................... 14 2.3 Pedagogical approaches to online learning ........................................................................................... 18 2.3.1 Distance or Pure Online Learning ................................................................................................ 19 2.3.2 Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) ...................................................................................... 22 2.3.3 Hybrid Courses .............................................................................................................................. 25 2.4 Increased productivity and cost reduction............................................................................................. 26 2.5 Institutional focus on the challenges of online learning ........................................................................ 27 3. Opportunity areas .......................................................................................................................... 29 3.1 Strategic institutional alignment ........................................................................................................... 29 3.2 Global Centers and online learning ....................................................................................................... 31 3.3 Interest in online learning ..................................................................................................................... 32 3.3.1 Student and alumni demand for online learning ........................................................................... 32 3.3.2 Faculty supply of online teaching .................................................................................................. 36 4 Benchmarks and definition of success ..................................................................................... 38 4.1 Peer school comparison ........................................................................................................................ 38 4.2 Best practices ........................................................................................................................................ 39 4.3 Definition of success ............................................................................................................................. 40 5. Key strategic initiatives and timeLine for implementation ........................................... 41 5.1 Realign online initiatives ...................................................................................................................... 42 5.1.1 Centralize a limited number of functions ....................................................................................... 42 5.1.2 Reorganize online initiatives ......................................................................................................... 43 5.2 Organize and evaluate ........................................................................................................................... 45 5.2.1 Develop metrics to evaluate online learning ................................................................................. 45 5.2.2 Develop an assessment structure ................................................................................................... 46 5.3 Develop economic and financial model of online learning .................................................................. 46 5.4 Focus on existing Columbia students and affiliates .............................................................................. 47 5.4.1 Tools for faculty and researchers .................................................................................................. 47 5.4.2 Access for students ......................................................................................................................... 48 5.4.3 Focus on content provision ............................................................................................................ 49 5.5 Recommendations and timeline for implementation ............................................................................ 49 2 University Senate Online Learning 5.5.1 Expand capacity to develop online course content ........................................................................ 49 5.5.2 Develop interim Coursera/edX pilot courses ................................................................................ 50 5.5.3 Encourage link between Global Centers, Alumni Affairs and distance/online learning programs ................................................................. 50 Appendices ............................................................................................................................................ 51 Appendix 1: Senate Online Learning Task Force ....................................................................................... 51 1.1 Task Force Roster ............................................................................................................................. 51 1.2 A Summar of Deliberations of the University Seante Task force on Online Learning, 2012-2014: 51 Appendix 2: Vignette onLine Master’s in Statistics ................................................................................... 54 Appendix 3: Case Study—Health Information Technology Blended Six-Month Certificate Course ........ 55 3.1 Development ..................................................................................................................................... 55 3.2 Logistics ............................................................................................................................................ 56 3.3 Student Engagement ......................................................................................................................... 58 3.4 Evaluation ......................................................................................................................................... 61 Appendix 4: Columbia video Network Distributed Production .................................................................. 63 4.1 Production everywhere: ................................................................................................................... 63 4.2 Simple studio production: ................................................................................................................. 63 4.3 Distributed Studios: .......................................................................................................................... 63 4.4 Distributed Production: .................................................................................................................... 64 4.5 Scalable Production: ........................................................................................................................ 64 4.6 Beyond Courseworks: ....................................................................................................................... 64 4.7 Flipping the Classroom: ................................................................................................................... 64 4.8 Columbia digital learning tools: ...................................................................................................... 65 4.9 Benchmark: ....................................................................................................................................... 65 Appendix 5: Summary of Section 2 Literature ........................................................................................... 66 Appendix 6: References for Section 2 ......................................................................................................