Meeting the Challengeof a Changing Institutional

Environment

Gail Matthews-DeNatale, Ph.D.

Interim Director, Academic Technology

2009 Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning

Challenges Affecting All of Higher Education

Stressors:

• Shrinking Endowments

(particularly problematic if used for operating costs)

• Debt (e.g., pre-September 2008 financing for

construction)

• Increasing Student Cost-Consciousness

Response:

• Call to Be More Data-Driven in

Resource Allocation Decision-Making

• Positions?

• Programming?

• Faculty Support?

• Strategic Support for Effectiveness/Quality?

• Purchasing Priorities (e.g. software)?

What’s EssentialTo Ongoing Success?

What’s Your Take?

• Many Questions Deliberately Open-Ended

• Folksonomy:

(Externalize internal knowledge structures)

• Some Questions Overlapped – Intentionally

• More than one perspective = stereo view

• Recurring Mandate to Select the Top Three

• Force respondents to make choices

About The Survey

You have been told that, moving forward, there

will be only three staff positions at your institution

in support of blended and online learning. You

have been asked to define these positions,

including job titles.

What three job titles best describe the staffing

essential to successful institution-wide support of

blended and online learning?

Q1 Results: Staffing for

Institution-Wide Support

Job Titles

Director of Curriculum Innovation

Instructional Designer

Educational Technology Specialist

Media Specialist

Online-Blended Integration Specialist

eLearning Multimedia Manager

Web Media Specialist

LMS Administrator

Learning Technology Consultant Blended Learning Facilitator

Courseware Web Designer

Coordinator of Academic Technology

Technical Disruptive Innovation Specialist

Director of Academic Computing

Director of E-learning

Learning Technology Center Director

Director of Online Education

Blended Learning Coordinator

Learning Technology SupportMultimedia DesignerCourse Designer

Director of Distance Learning

Instructional Technologist

Job Titles:

One at a Time, Please

Some people cheated!

• Senior Instructional Designer or

Director, Learning Technology Support

• Manager of learning

technologies/academic support”

• Blended/OL Faculty Support Generalist

with Web and Information design

Specialty

Leadership: What Is Our

Primary Focus?

Director of [the]

• Learning Technology

Center

• Academic Computing

• Academic Technology

• E-learning

• Academic Technology

• Online Teaching and

Learning

• Learning Center

• Curriculum Innovation

• Distance Learning

• Blended and Online

Learning

• Learning Technology

Support

• Online Education

Question of Emphasis: Technology vs. Pedagogy, Service

vs. Support … Does Scope Include Improvement and Innovation?

• Instructional designer at one institution may

equal an instructional technologist at another

• Title variations may make benchmarking

difficult, complicating staffing justifications

• What are our expectations for these positions?

• What kinds of qualifications/experience, skills, and

abilities do we expect for people working in these roles?

Job Titles:

What’s in a Name?

See also “Rethinking Academic Technology Leadership in an Era of Change,”

Educause Quarterly 2008, http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM0814.pdf

Staffing: First Priority

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Marketing StudentSupport

Faculty AdademicLeadership

InstructionalDesign

InstructionalTechology

AT/DL/eLDirector

CMS/LMSAdmin

Staffing: Second Priority

0

5

10

15

20

25

Marketing StudentSupport

Faculty AdademicLeadership

InstructionalDesign

InstructionalTechology

AT/DL/eLDirector

CMS/LMSAdmin

Staffing: Third Priority

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Marketing StudentSupport

Faculty AdademicLeadership

InstructionalDesign

InstructionalTechology

AT/DL/eLDirector

CMS/LMSAdmin

Staffing: Priorities Compared

0

5

10

15

20

25

Marketing StudentSupport

Faculty AcademicLeadership

InstructionalDesign

InstructionalTechnology

AT/DL/eLDirector

CMS/LMSAdmin

P1

P2

P3

Staffing: Total Tally

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Marketing StudentSupport

Faculty AcademicLeadership

InstructionalDesign

InstructionalTechnology

AT/DL/eLDirector

CMS/LMSAdmin

The person who approves your institution's

budget has told you that you can only do three

things this year in support of blended and online

learning at your institution. What are your top

three programmatic priorities?

Q2 Results:

Programmatic Priorities

Answers to this question were incredibly diffuse

Q2 Results:

Programmatic Priorities

Improve existing

BL/OL degree

program offerings?

Develop new BL/OL

degree programs?

Support current faculty?

Recruit new faculty?

Support existing infrastructure

(e.g., LMS/CMS)?

Invest in new infrastructure

(e.g., hardware and software)?

Professional

development for

faculty?

Professional

development for

support staff?

Reduce

redundant

infrastructure

Course buy-outs?

Financial incentives?

You are in charge of faculty support for blended

and online learning at your institution. What

three forms of support are essential to faculty

success in blended and online teaching?

Q3 Results:

Faculty Support

Support: First Priority

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

FacultyIncentives

InstructionalDesign

Consultation

InstructionalTechnology

Support

InstructionalDesign

Workshops

Faculty"Training"

GeneralTechnology

Support

LMS/CMSSupport

Help Desk

Support: Second Priority

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

FacultyIncentives

InstructionalDesign

Consultation

InstructionalTechnology

Support

InstructionalDesign

Workshops

Faculty"Training"

GeneralTechnology

Support

LMS/CMSSupport

Help Desk

Support: Third Priority

Different response pattern, with some new

ideas. Perhaps brainstorming?

“Changes in student support strategies”

“Fully populated online resource for instructional

documents and links to tutorials and other

training support mechanisms”

“Realistic loading (numbers in the

sections/courses)”

Support: Third Priority

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

FacultyIncentives

InstructionalDesign

Consultation

InstructionalTechnology

Support

InstructionalDesign

Workshops

Faculty"Training"

GeneralTechnology

Support

LMS/CMSSupport

Help Desk

Support: Priorities Compared

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

FacultyIncentives

InstructionalDesign

Consultation

InstructionalTechnology

Support

InstructionalDesign

Workshops

Faculty"Training"

GeneralTechnology

Support

LMS/CMSSupport

Help Desk

P1

P2

P3

Support: Total Tally

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

FacultyIncentives

InstructionalDesign

Consultation

InstructionalTechnology

Support

InstructionalDesign

Workshops

Faculty"Training"

GeneralTechnology

Support

LMS/CMSSupport

Help Desk

Despite fewer resources, you want to ensure that

your institution offers blended and online courses

that are both innovative and pedagogically

effective. What are the TOP THREE most

important strategies for ensuring innovation and

quality? (Please pick only three)

Q4 Results: Strategies to

Ensure Innovation & Quality

Support: Total Tally

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

You are in charge of software purchasing for

your institution. What the TOP THREE most

important technologies for successful blended

and online learning?

Q5 Results: Software

Support: Total Tally

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

LearningManagement

System

LiveClassroom

CollaborativeAuthoring

ePortfoliosand PLEs

SocialNetworking

LectureCapture

WebAuthoring

Image Editing Video Editing

Thank You

Gail Matthews-DeNatale

gmdenatale@simmons.edu

2009 Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning