KASKASKIA COLLEGE
AQIP Online Learning Committee
Student Services Subcommittee
Thursday, February 10, 2011
L 107 2:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Present were Steve Jerden-Chair, Irina Neuman-Co-Chair, Steve Cox, Jan Ripperda, Denise Derrick, Bruce Fischer, Joyce Pryor, Cynthia Webber, and Christin Dalavaras
Minutes
The Higher Learning Commission Application for Change was reviewed as well as the previous report with reviewer's comments. A Web page created by Steve Jerden was used to compare student services at a distance at John A. Logan, Lake Land College, and Kaskaskia College. John A Logan and Lake Land are accredited to offer degrees and certificates at a distance. Steve Cox asked that we explore how Lake Land and John A. Logan do online advising. Lake Land's student services is termed Counseling. Denise Derrick mentioned that KC does not have counselors, and just does academic advising. Cynthia Webber mentioned that KC's e-Advising contact page is monitored by Jill Boehne. Steve Cox mentioned that Illinois Valley College is using Skype for advising. As part of our Ask Other Institutions Initiative we will be exploring this option.
The new "Six Easy Steps for Enrolling at Kaskaskia College" was displayed for the group and gone over. http://www.kaskaskia.edu/ProspectiveStudents/apply.aspx Most of the members had not seen it before and reviewed it and noted some errors. The complexity of KC Web site was discussed and how it needed to be streamlined and made more intuitive. the "Testing & Assessment (COMPASS) section was "proofed" by the group. The contact phone number listed was noted to be not working. It should be changed from 545-3155 to 545-3160. It was suggested that the reference to testing for English testing be change to Reading and Writing testing. Other issues discussed were placement at a distance and policies on distance student access to placement tests and access to proctoring.
A digital Early Alert system on CampusNet was discussed. Denise and Cynthia mentioned that TRiO would be initiating a version of an early alert system as part of the requirements of the program.. My comment was that all of these early alert efforts (TRiO, Success Center, Athletes, Title III) were pushing us closer to the need for mid-term grade reporting. I made this comment because an instructor that had an athlete that was part of TRiO could have to report twice on some of his students. Denise also mentioned that Jeff Ebel is working on creating an online admission process as part of his Title III activities
Tutoring at a distance was discussed. Cynthia Webber suggested email tutoring. Steve Jerden mentioned that the Distance Learning office was exploring implementation of a chat room for online support, which could also be used for tutoring. The comparison Web page was reviewed for how the two other colleges handled tutoring.
Sedgwick Harris provided a list of activities that should be included for consideration in the online degree development process. They are Admission/Registration, Advising, Testing & Assessment, Financial Aid (Vet Services, Scholarships and Loans), Career Services, Tutoring, Bookstore, Cashier/Payment/, Degree Audit, Student Development & Retention, Alumni Affairs, Recruitment, and Marketing. Student identity verification was discussed. Further measures being explored include, but are not limited to; Information Technology Department is working on requiring students to change their password twice each year and requiring passwords that meet complex criteria. Software solutions are being explored that integrate with our LMS including Acxiom and Respondus Lockdown Browser.