We’ve discussed before the profound impact of The Pandemic on our community college online programs. I’ve had numerous conversations with administrators, designers and faculty – all have shared the trauma of the rapid full shift to online, the lack of staff and training to facilitate this, and the overwhelming day-after-day workload this represented.
We are now “years” away from The Pandemic, but a variety of stress points are still present in our online programs. Specifically, the shift to fully online led to an increase in the number of faculty that wanted to teach online (it also increased the number of students as well). This fostered greater demand BUT our programs have not experienced increases in staffing, and especially have not been able to increase the number of instructional designers needed to address chronic issues with our online classes. Chronic issues???? Yes, for most of use, our online classes lack consistency, often are not compliance checked (ADA), are woefully lacking the benefits of professional design, and many of our faculty lack the training needed to create a learning experience that is engaging and embraces the unique needs of learning online. As a result, we have actually witnessed a decline in online student learning experience and completions.
Another chronic issue: the stress level within our online programs is significant – and increasing. This leads to staff burnout and turnover which adversely impacts efforts to stabilize and grow our online programs. I always felt like I was pressing the reset button with each new VPAA or President. But if the DL program itself experiences turnover, it can have lasting damaging repercussions since the DL administrator is the key advocate for this type of instruction on a campus. To add insult to injury, most campuses don’t really have a vision for their online program nor do they have an action plan for addressing the chronic issues I’ve identified.
It is important to acknowledge the challenges since online enrollments at community colleges will need to grow to meet increasing demands. Community colleges will be at the forefront of serving active adult learners working full-time jobs but needing recurring training, certificates and degrees. We need to address the quality issues of online learning now so we will be positioned for the future workforce demands – and the inevitable increased competition for students!!
Recommended Reading
Rethinking Education In A Changing World – The Power Of Online Learning Platforms, eCampus News
Skills-focused online learning platforms are powerful tools that meet the complexity of the current moment
Students Who Lack Academic Confidence More Likely To Use AI For School, Inside Higher Ed
New survey data also finds that students with robust peer support and strong internet search skills are less likely to rely on AI tools for academic help.
Recentering Discovery As The Core Of Learning Through AI, eCampus News
Learning, rather than teaching, must once again become the heartbeat of education
An AI Plateau?, Educause
Large language models (LLMs) may be nearing their limits, challenging assumptions about the transformative potential of artificial intelligence.
Report: AI Adoption Leads To Retraining, Not Replacing, Workers, Campus Technology
Despite fears that artificial intelligence will lead to major workforce reductions, a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York suggests that's not happening happening ... yet.
Hand-In-Hand With AI, CCDaily
This article is part of a “Focus on AI” series sponsored by the ITC AI Affinity Group and discusses ways to utilize AI in your courses. Additional articles from the series can be found by going to www.ccdaily.com
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