Quality Management Serving More Students Through Distance Education: Experience of two HSI
Higher education institutions in their quest to develop new ways to meet students’ needs have identified distance education as a strategy to increase completion rates, student satisfaction while adopting new ways to increase enrollment and revenues. Simultaneously, they devise strategies to reduce the cost of education, reduce time to degree, and increase graduation rates. Distance education, a mainstream modality of teaching and learning, continues to grow in acceptance, sophistication, and rigor; it has seen exponential progression in the last 15 years. This presentation, through the use of data, strategies, and futuring, will discuss lessons learned at two Hispanic Serving Institutions in Texas and Puerto Rico.
Technologies
PowerPoint, Internet, and multimedia
Explain project results
Institutions have seen an increase in the demand for flexible, accelerated, and online programs. Using data and sharing best practices, the presenters’ objective is to share information about the status of the current practice, including planning, strategies, growth, and forecasts of how distance education has been embraced and institutionalized at two Hispanic Serving Institutions in Texas and Puerto Rico. Both institutions strive to serve more students while addressing their needs as well as of businesses and industry.
Colleges’ and Universities’ primary focus is to serve students’ needs to attain a higher education credential. Institutions have seen an increase in the demand for flexible, accelerated, and online programs have been recorded. Initiatives like the Completion Agenda, 60×30 (Texas), Guided Pathways, Completion By Design, among others, have been adopted. Distance education, a mainstream modality of teaching and learning, continues to grow in acceptance, sophistication, and growth; it has seen exponential growth in the last 15 years with more than 6 million students taking at least one online course. From courses to fully online degrees at the undergraduate and graduate level, distance education has taken over the enrollments at many institutions. The presenters’ objective is to provide an update of the state of the practice of how distance education has been embraced and institutionalized at two Hispanic Serving Institutions in Texas and Puerto Rico to serve more students while satisfying their needs and the needs of business and industry. This presentation will provide attendees with information and practice-based data regarding courses and program design, quality assurance, faculty training, and student services to technology adoption. Also, presenters will discuss lessons learned, strategies, and futuring.
Why it should be considered best practice?
TCC Connect Campus is the online campus of Tarrant County College District, established in 2014; the District has delivered distance education for more than 40 years. As a Hispanic Serving Institution with a total of 10,000 students, the campus serves 23,000 students —26% = 6,000 of TCC Connect Campus students are from Hispanic descent. Through 22 programs of study delivered via eLearning and Accelerated Weekend College offered in five, seven, eight, and 16-week terms, thus allowing students to join the lane that permits them to complete an associate degree in less than two years. A full set of Students Services is provided from online advising to online tutoring to honors clubs and intercultural groups.
Inter American University of Puerto Rico (IUPR) is a non-profit institution established in 1912, and whose principal mission is to offer post-secondary and higher education in the arts and sciences employing teaching, research, and community service within an ecumenical Christian context. Currently, the academic offering consists of 63 programs delivered entirely through distance learning and of which four of them are offered entirely in English. This offering permit that more than fifty percent of the students have a presence in distance education.
From an HSI perspective, the presenters will discuss strategies to foster student engagement, persistence, along with lessons learned to address the needs of this population.
Highlights of your proposed presentation and lessons learned
From an HSI perspective, the presenters will discuss strategies to foster student engagement, persistence, along with lessons learned to address the needs of this population. Presenters will discuss futuring of distance education and its most popular variant, online learning.