STILL GROWING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT SPRINGFIELD

STILL GROWING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT SPRINGFIELD

We think it is appropriate to make note here that the University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS) was featured in the first cover story of Educational Pathways, published in January 2002. At that time we wrote about how UIS Online launched in the fall of 1998 with two undergraduate online courses (MIS and Computer Science) and, in three years, grew to offering 65 online courses and three complete degree programs with 918 enrollments. The growth hasn’t abated as UIS Online continues to grow by about 30 percent annually. UIS Online had more than 2,600 enrollments at the start of fall 2005 and was offering more than 200 online courses inside six undergraduate degree programs, four graduate degree programs, and two certificate programs.

Supporting Online Pedagogy and Technology Adoption

UIS Online falls under the Overhead-Funded Service Unit business model. UIS Online was started by the Office of Technology-Enhanced Learning (OTEL) through start-up funding from the University of Illinois (U of I) Online, which is the university-wide, three-campus initiative (Chicago, Urban-Champaign and Springfield) administered by the Office of Vice President for Academic Affairs. OTEL’s main functions revolve around supporting faculty members in a range of activities related to online pedagogy and theory and online scholarship, as well as investigating and informing UIS academic units about the appropriate educational technologies that best facilitate effective online teaching and learning environments, and providing support for the implementation and ongoing development of such technologies.

Expansion Grants

As noted at http://online.uis.edu/info (see “Department Process” link), the Sloan-C grant basically funds faculty stipends to convert campus-based courses to online (with the assistance of OTEL); a one-half time program coordinator, promotion and advertising, and the hiring of new faculty members to help assume the additional load of offering an online degree program. The one-time faculty stipend is $6,000 off-load for each course conversion, and the half-time program coordinator is paid about $20,000 annually.

Educational and Economic Viability

Potential on-campus programs are solicited through a Request-for- Proposal (RFP) process whereby departments are encouraged to “consider the impact of joining this initiative.” RFP guidelines include that attention be paid to three primary areas: educational viability, economic viability and expenses.

Under educational viability, it is noted, in part, that the program under consideration should have definite learning outcomes with assessment mechanisms that show prior success; a detailed multi-year schedule, including a development and deployment schedule; a description of the students it typically attracts; admission criteria; how it may impact accreditation; and evidence of plans to provide student support service.
Under economic viability, it is requested that the program under consideration provide projections about total enrollments, tuition and fees; assumptions about retention; and evidence of student demand. Based on the aforementioned, a total revenue projection is requested.

Under expenses, programs under consideration for grant funds must provide a budget plan that includes projections for any additional faculty that may be needed, along with faculty- and curriculum-development costs; support-staff requirements; and any additional operational costs, such as equipment and marketing expenses.

Who Does What?

In the final analysis, the program that gets the go-ahead nod and support dollars is the “one based on the best demonstrated need and business plan,” says OTEL Director Ray Schroeder. Overall, the academic units are responsible for hiring faculty, learning effectiveness, student services (also provided at the institutional level), and evaluation and assessment processes. Technology support is handled primarily by the UIS Campus Technology Services department. There are also plenty of online tutorials and services available for students at the UIS Online website, and for faculty at the OTEL website.

The part-time program coordinators, who are hired by their respective academic units, play an important role in the overall operation of each online degree program at UIS. The program coordinator is the front-gate admissions advisor who points prospective online students to the appropriate student services they may need. “It just naturally flows that way because the program coordinator is the first person students talk to,” says OTEL Associate Director Shari McCurdy. “They hold their hands and help sign them up for these programs.”

Why UIS Online Works

There are a good number of factors that make UIS Online the success that it is today. Certainly the infusion of Sloan-C funds has been a great boost. Also, over and above the start-up funds UIS Online received from U of I Online, important marketing support and smaller discretionary support funds have also been provided. As noted on its website, U of I Online “does not admit and register students, nor does it deliver online courses.” However, it does publish an online catalog that promotes online programs offered by the three University of Illinois campuses. This online catalogue helps bring national and international visibility, and new students, to UIS Online programs. A Google search, for instance, of the term “online degrees” typically brings up a link to U of I Online on the first page of results. The majority of students taking UIS online classes are not from the UIS campus, although more than 50 percent do reside in the state of Illinois, with the remaining online students residing in 30 others states and seven countries on five continents. Regarding the discretionary funding, U of I Online has also supported various OTEL research projects for making online teaching and learning more effective at UIS, including, for example, a recent $10,000 grant to investigate electronic portfolio technology for its teacher education programs.

E-Tuition

The fact that the cost of tuition at UIS is competitive also plays well into UIS Online’s success. The university system has implemented a special “E-tuition” rate that applies only to online courses. Basically, all non-residents of Illinois who have applied and been admitted as a degree-seeking student in a UIS online program, and take only online courses, are charged in-state tuition rates, which, for 2005, was between $131 and $160 per credit hour for undergraduate courses, and between $163 and $174 per credit hour for graduate courses.

Technology Fee

In addition to the increasing amount of tuition dollars being generated due to UIS Online’s 30 percent annual growth patterns, a special technology fee attached to all UIS Online courses is another revenue-generating success factor. Currently at $25 per credit hour, 30 percent ($7.50) of these fees go directly to OTEL in order to help defray the cost of software licensing fees generated by such companies as course management system provider Blackboard (soon to be merged with WebCT), online plagiarism software TurnItIn, web conferencing software Eluminate, e-portfolio system provider TaskStream, and more. When one does the math, OTEL stands to earn well over $150,000 from this fee alone in the 2005-06 academic year.

People Making a Difference

Of course, no online program would succeed without the right people and dedication. OTEL Director Schroeder is a veteran faculty member who has been teaching in the Illinois system since 1971. He also currently teaches online introductory and communication courses. OTEL Associate Director McCurdy has been teaching online for five years; OTEL Assistant Director Pat McCue also has extensive experience teaching online. So, in essence, the educators providing the support and assisting the various departments with the creation of online courses and programs see things from a teacher’s perspective. “We talk about educational theory,” says Schroeder. “We are in touch with the language of our faculty members. We teach the pedagogy hand in hand with the technology.”