| |
 Why
Outsource?
In its December 2005 review of the
the efforts of HBCUs to implement distance learning programs (Distance
Learning -- Build or Buy), the Digital Learning Lab
(DLL) concluded that most HBCUs expected their faculties
to build too many components themselves.
Developing high quality
online courses is an exceedingly time-consuming exercise. Furthermore,
in-house development assumes that faculty who were hired
for their subject matter expertise will also develop sufficient
expertise in instructional technology to be able to produce state-of-the-art
online materials. This makes about as much sense
as expecting faculty members to write their own textbooks. Some can,
but most can't; that's why universities outsource the lion's share
of their texts to publishing houses.
In managing HUCE's distance
learning programs, the DLL intends to follow its own recommendations:
it will outsource course development to vendors of
non-credit online course materials and will spend the largest share
of HUCE's limited funds on Internet-based marketing campaigns designed
to attract students to the courses developed by HUCE's vendor/partners. |
| |
Allocation
of Responsibilities between HUCE and its Partners
Functions |
HUCE |
Partners |
|
Comments |
| -Course development |
|
X |
|
Partners will deploy teams of subject
matter experts and instructional technologists to produce state-of-the-art
online courses.
|
| -Course selection |
X |
|
|
HUCE will select courses from partners' catalogs
and groups them into programs |
| -Marketing & follow-up |
X |
|
|
HUCE will market its
programs via Web ads and other media; HUCE will follow up
inquiries from prospective students (via forms on its Website)
with email, printed materials, telephone calls, etc |
| -Applications & payments |
x |
|
|
HUCE will receive applications and collect payments on its
Website for most programs |
| -Registration |
X |
|
|
A student's registration will
not completed until HUCE's Registrar enters the enrollment
data into the University's Banner database
|
| -Teaching, Q&A, assignments |
|
X |
|
Partners will provide syllabi,
texts, other course materials, and instruction to students
via their Websites
|
| -Grades (where applicable) |
|
X |
|
Partners will assign grades (where applicable) |
| -Certificates |
X |
|
|
HUCE will issue official certificates of course/program
completion to students |
| -Records |
X |
|
|
HUCE will maintain consolidated
student records and transcripts for courses, grades, and certificates |
| -Assessment |
X |
|
|
HUCE will assess feedback from students while
courses are in session; end-of-course student evaluations;
follow-up surveys to determine the subsequent impact of programs
on students' careers; and analyses of the profitability of
each program. |
|
HUCE's
Competitive Advantages
- National/international renown --
"Howard University" is a highly recognized brand name
throughout the U.S. and is well-known throughout Africa, the
Caribbean, and in large segments of Europe and South America.
-
Multiple partnerships yield more choices
for students -- At this time,
HUCE is one of the first (possibly THE first) university-based
online operation to offer distance learning courses via partnerships
with multiple partners. Multiple partners will enable us
to offer courses in a wider range of subject areas and to
present our students with alternative formats in each area.
Wherever possible, HUCE will offer courses in self-study AND instructor-led AND blended formats
for each subject. HUCE's ultimate goal is to become the "Walmart"
of online certificate training!!! ... :-)
|
Reliable,
Reputable Partners
- HUCE's partners will be
experienced vendors of online courses that have excellent reputations
... no start-ups.
- HUCE's partners will offer
opportunities that require minimal up-front investments by
HUCE.
- HUCE will derive a substantial portion of the
course tuition as revenue.
- If courses are led by instructors, partners
will provide resumes that describe the education, training,
and experience that make the instructors qualified to lead
the courses.
-
Partnerships will be reviewed every year.
|
Current
Partners
|
Potential
Future Partners
|
Target
Markets
- Summer 2008 -- Howard University
alumni and staff (initial core market)
- Fall 2008 -- Alumni and staff
of other HBCUs
- Spring 2009 -- Alumni and
staff of other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs)
- Summer 2009 -- Minority alumni
of majority institutions
- Fall 2009 -- Majority alumni
of majority institutions
Note #1: "Alumni" include
students who completed at least two years before leaving
college.
Note #2: Marketing efforts will
be designed to produce subsequent enrollments in
the specified semesters.
|
Marketing
Media
-
Staff at
HBCUs and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) will be recruited
with the help of the Human
Resouce departments at those colleges and universities.
Descriptive brochures that highlight
the potential value of HUCE's online programs as highly accessible
in-service training initiatives will be mailed to the directors
of these departments. Additional contacts will be made at conferences and
workshops wherein the DLL will make
presentations to attending representatives from these institutions.
These initial contacts will be followed by letters,
emails, conference calls, etc.,
etc., etc. Substantial tuition discounts (15
to 20 percent) will be offered to their staffs.
- Alumni will
be reached via Web
search advertisements that feature
links to HUCE's online courses in prominent positions on the
pages returned when users search for related key words, e.g.,
"online", "HBCUs", "MSIs", "Black",
"African American", "paralegal", "management", "technology",
"entrepreneur", etc. Yahoo! will be HUCE's initial search partner.
|
Extending the Target Markets with Web 2.0
Technologies
The DLL estimates that the Web 1.0
courseware used by HUCE's current partners in their fully online
courses will only reach 20 to 30 percent of the market
for continuing education because most people can't handle the relative
isolation of these courses. As Aristotle observed almost
2500 years ago, man is a social animal. Most students prefer to learn
in an environment wherein they can interact with their instructors
and with their fellow students.
-
Blended
courses that
combined Web 1.x online sessions with face-to-face classes might
reach 80 to 100 percent of the continuing education students
within a targeted geographical area because blended courses would
provide students with opportunities for face-to-face interactions
with instructors and other students.
On the other hand, HUCE or its partners would have to purchase
or rent classroom facilities in each of the targeted areas,
and the maximum student-to-instructor ratios in the face-to-face
sessions would be much smaller, i.e., less profitable than
the maximum ratios for courses that were fully online.
-
However, if
HUCE's partners adopted Web
2.0 technologies that facilitated intense student-to-student
(and student-to-instructor) interactions via the Web, its students
would not be isolated from one another as with Web
1.x based courses. The Web 2.0 courses might
reach 60 to 80 percent of the continuing education market. These
fully online courses could have higher, i.e., more profitable
student-to-instructor ratios than blended courses, and they would
not require the purchase or rental of classroom facilities.
--Note:
The NY
Times Knowledge Network claims the use of Web
2.0 technologies in its courseware. Also seee the article
in the online edition of Inside Higher Education on Wednesday
9 April 08
--Note: Blackboard announced links
to Facebook 5/14/08
--Note: Google announced Friend
Connect that will provide social networking functions via Google's servers in the "cloud" to any Website on 5/13/08
|
Courses,
Programs, Web Page Formats, Committees, and Assessments
- The partners' courses selected by HUCE
will be grouped into programs so
as to increase the likelihood that students will take more
than one course and to make the students eligible for Federal
financial aid (which requires enrollment in programs that meet
100 plus hours). Whenever possible, courses on a given
subject should be offered in both self-paced and instructor-led
formats.
- Partners will host the courses selected by HUCE
on Web pages that resemble HUCE's own course pages. Although
the courses are taught by its partners, they are HUCE's courses
and must be branded as such. For example,
in the Spring 2008 semester, partners' course
pages should like this page :
http://stargate2.dll.org/CATALOG_Spring2008/Programs/Paralegal_Courses.asp
- The DLL will seek advice from a
Distance Learning Committee (DLC) --
an advisory body composed of other members of HUCE's staff
and members of other units within the Howard University community
who have considerable experience in developing and managing
distance learning courses. Partners
will also be asked to participate on the DLC, but as non-voting
members in order to minimize conflicts of interests.
The DLC will conduct its business online, just like the courses,
via email, wikis, blogs, IM, threaded discussion boards, etc.,
etc.,etc; there will be no face-to-face meetings.
- The most important function of this commmittee
will be to advise the DLL with regards to the continuous assessment of
HUCE's online courses with regards to student satisfaction,
learning effectiveness, and profitability. The
goal is to determine what worked, what didn't work, why, and
why not? Answers to these continuous assessment questions
will generate continuous improvements in HUCE's programs.
|
Dissemination --
HUCE will share its online experiences with other HBCUs and with
other Minority Serving Institutions:
- Online reports on public Web pages
- Webcasts and podcasts of online conferences
and workshops.
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