DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY'S BALANCING ACT

DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY'S BALANCING ACT

Duquesne University’s distance education operation is housed inside its School of Leadership and Professional Advancement (SLPA), offering two undergraduate degrees, one graduate certificate and five graduate degrees. Combined, these programs enroll about 700 students, which represents a significant increase in overall enrollments annually since SLPA launched its first fully online degree in 1999 (a master’s in Leadership and Liberal Studies) with 10 students.

SLPA falls under the Self-Funded College Unit business model. Its distinct online programs take advantage of the unique skills and knowledge of Duquesne faculty, along with its ability to form partnerships with outside professional organizations. We say “distinct” because SLPA offers an Accelerated Online Bachelor’s Degree with concentrations in organizational leadership, computer technology, professional communication, criminal justice or forensic science. It has another undergraduate degree in humane leadership that was put together in collaboration with the Humane Society of the United States and targets individuals working in animal care and control/shelter facilities. Its one graduate certificate program is in organizational leadership with a concentration in animal advocacy, covering issues specific to the animal care industry. Its specialized graduate degree programs are in sports leadership, leadership and business ethics, leadership and information technology, community leadership, and leadership and liberal studies.

How were these unique online programs started? According to SLPA Dean Ben Hodes, through “a very serious balancing act between the political environment in the university, the mission of the university, our strengths, our capacity, and what market needs exist. When it comes to new program development, some universities stumble and have to make a lot of sacrifices, and it compromises their effectiveness in the market. We are fortunate. We run much more like a business.” Hodes further explains that SLPA has never had to go through an extensive curriculum committee review process in order to get a program launched, but he adds that more attention is being paid to program learning outcomes, which is in line with accreditation trends.

Keeping Track of and Aiding Academic Quality

To help guarantee a high quality online teaching and learning experience, SLPA uses a faculty evaluation instrument called the Teaching Effectiveness Questionnaire (TEQ). Instructors at Duquesne University are required to have their students provide feedback on their teaching through the TEQ. It is administered near the end of the semester by a staff member, not the course instructor. The responses are anonymous, and they are not available to the instructor until well after the course grades have been submitted. In addition, Noel Levitz conducts student satisfaction surveys for SLPA. “We try to get as much feedback as we can directly from the customer. And more important, we try to act on the issues that arise,” says Hodes.

Team leaders within disciplines are responsible for working with faculty to make sure that the quality is where it needs to be academically, and an assistant dean of academic programs gets involved with any quality issues on a day-to-day basis. Team leaders also advise students about credit transfer and other issues - “the typical department chair responsibilities,” says Boris Vilic,SLPA’s director of technology, who also serves as team leader for technology courses. They are also responsible for course staffing, which includes identifying prospective faculty members. “Once I identify them, I have to get them approved by the assistant dean and the dean,” he adds.

Additionally, SLPA recently started a new online faculty support service, called “eCoach,” where Rita Marie Conrad and Judith V. Boettcher - national experts in the area of instructional design and online teaching - are available to answer any questions a faculty member might have regarding online instruction in SLPA.

Faculty must also live up to a contract that outlines online teaching standards “to really accommodate for the unique needs of our students,” says Vilic. For example, online faculty must respond to students within 48 hours, post at least four substantive messages each week, and grade students’ work in a timely and effective fashion. “We have been doing this for a long time and have data on what works and does not work online,” Vilic adds.
About 50 percent of the faculty who teach in the SLPA programs come from the other schools on campus, and some are team leaders. These full-time Duquesne faculty teach classes on an overload basis unless otherwise assigned by their department chairs. The rest of the faculty are adjuncts who are professionals in their chosen fields. Faculty are also given a “small stipend” to develop new online courses.

Fiscal Feasibility

Vilic adds that every new program is evaluated for fiscal feasibility after three years, and to be financially feasible means that there is some profit from the program - it cannot be generating losses.

In Conclusion, For Now . . .

Finally, we go back to Geith’s statement that “you need to understand all these contextual variables” in order to get a firmer grasp of how online courses and programs are created, delivered, maintained and supported over time. The three snapshots we have provided reveal how decision-making processes, return-on-investment and revenue-sharing financial models, student and faculty support practices, academic quality management, educational technology issues, marketing research strategies, and, of course, sources and amounts of funding, all play key roles in any distance education program’s ultimate success and potential for growth. In future issues we’ll offer more snapshots and provide some solid business planning models you can actually use.