Dear Colleagues:
You are all aware of the challenges higher education faces today, along with our specific challenges here at the University of Memphis. Now let me share some of the solutions offered by our talented and creative faculty. First, though, a hearty thank you to Tracy Robinson, the director of online education, Dr. Dan Lattimore, and Dr. Dick Irwin. I can’t emphasize enough that our success in helping our students achieve their dreams is driven not just by implementing our curriculum, but in many cases by creative thinking, dogged persistence and a hopeful perspective. Here are two great examples:
- Pam, 52 year old retail executive, who returned to the University in the fall 2012 semester with 49 credit hours as a sophomore. She was last enrolled at the University 20 years ago and was motivated to return and finish her degree when she was named one of five individuals to replace the CEO of her company. She has now completed 5 online courses, received 30 credit hours of Experiential Learning Credit, and passed 3 CLEP exams. She started the fall 2013 semester with senior standing and 104 credit hours. Within one year, she moved from needing 71 credit hours to finish her degree to needing 16 hours to finish her degree. She plans to graduate in August or December of 2014.
- Kevin, 47 year old from Florida, also enrolled with us this fall. He happened to learn about our online programs after planning to attend a for-profit university. Through a few phone calls and email exchanges, he decided instead to attend the University even as an out-of-state student because of the opportunities through the competency-based initiative and Experiential Learning Program through University College.
Each day we’ll be presented with multiple opportunities to be creative, innovate and demonstrate our commitment and caring for our students. Let me encourage you to fully engage the opportunity, and share your thoughts and ideas as we build a university for the 21st century. Go Tigers!
Warm Regards,
David
Anecdotally I find many of my online students previously dropped out after having children. Taking classes online seems to be the only way they can complete their degree and take care of their families.
Additionally, a fair number of students are out of state. This can happen when family circumstances force a move that makes getting to campus impractical. Many of these students are in Arkansas or Mississippi, but I’ve had students as far away as Panama.
I believe some structural changes would make these programs more effective. Right now I believe we are charging out of state students 1.5 times in state tuition for online classes, plus the online fees that all students pay (100 per credit hour).
While the current arrangement certainly gives higher tuition margins, I think we have to question the perceived value to students. Right now our online teaching platform D2L is pretty clunky. It does not deliver a slick and responsive experience. So in effect we are asking students to pay more to learn online with technology that feels 10 years old. Certainly if we want to expand dual enrollment online we will need to meet the expectations of a younger population. So one proposal is to upgrade our systems to provide a higher value experience.
Another proposal that could be complementary is to reduce our online fees to incentivize out of state and online learning. Does it really cost us an extra 100/credit hour to teach online, or are we saving more than that by teaching online? Other than politics I see no reason to charge out of state online students any more than in state online students. If a flat fee would cut us too much, we could implement a tiered system where students with a certain number of hours have their online fees reduced/eliminated.
I would be happy to participate in any committee work related to improving our online experience. The IIS has a fairly deep bench when it comes to learning with technology.