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Ask a question from your peers to help you in your professional work. Seek different points of view on a topic that interests you. Start a thought-provoking conversation about a hot, current topic. Encourage your peers to join you in the discussion, and feel free to facilitate the discussion. As a community of educators, all members of the Career Ed Lounge are empowered to act as a discussion facilitator to help us all learn from each other.

Determining Training Needs

What are the training needs for online delivery of courses and programs at your institution? Discuss how those needs were defined and who is responsible for implementing them.

Online Programs = International students

How can we prepare our staff to deal with multicultural students, with different currency, and difference in time and skills?

Electronic Networking Use

What are some best practices you have used (or would use) to maximize the electronic networking tools available on the Web in locating high quality online faculty?

Hiring Online Faculty

What are some advantages and disadvantages of an institution creating 'preferred credentials' and seeking to hire online faculty with credentials above the required standards?

Instructor Orientation

This module provides an example of a four-phase approach for online instructor orientation. Describe your orientation experience and how it compared/contrasted with the model presented. Do you have any ways you would improve the four-phase approach?

Setting Correct Expectations

What are some of the most important components of setting correct expectations for online faculty as they begin teaching for a postsecondary-level institution?

Forward Focused Evaluations

Discuss why focusing on predictive indicators of positive outcomes is much more likely to provide insights for improvement of online instruction than using lagging indicators that focus on negative results. (Predictive indicators - data demonstrated though regression analysis indicating activities to be accomplished (by individual students) to contribute to higher student performance. Lagging indicators - data demonstrated through correlations to possibly have contributed to documented lower student performance.)

Adapting to Student Needs

How might a specific number of required actions per week (e.g., number of posts in a discussion forum, expected number of hours in the LMS, required number of emails to students, required number of phone calls, etc.) possibly not be an appropriate measure from one course to another, or even from one week to another week within the same course in order to determine instructional quality?

Faculty Management Details

Identify which of the two following clichés best describes your approach to details concerning online faculty management and explain your preference: "Don't sweat the small stuff" or "The difference between mediocre and magnificent is in the details."

Importance of Instructor Credentials

Identify your preferred order of importance of the four categories of instructor credentials for assigning classes and provide rationale for your prioritization. a. Teaching experience b. Level of education c. On-the-job experience d. Industry licenses and/or certifications

The Information Gathering Process

So far, we have compiled information on projected employment from national (BLS) and state sources. We have also gathered information on average and median starting salaries for graduates of the program. We know our competition throughout the state and in our immediate vicinity. We researched the programmatic accreditation and professional licensure requirements. We attempted to survey (by phone and email) various local facilities related to our program (possible employers and clinical sites), but did not get a sufficient response to be conclusive. Consequently, we are now working on creating a "Study Group" comprised of representatives from the community and the particular profession to help us determine if there will be adequate employment opportunities now and in the future and enough available clinical sites.

The Advisory Board

Employers for relevant career areas. For instance we have multiple Programs that train office workers at multiple levels. We have some specialty programs that train Bookkeepers, Medical Office and IT skills that require separate Advisory Committees. They have all employed our graduates and feel like they have a stake in our Programs. In addition I like to have at least one member of the Alumni for that career field in each Advisory Committee. Our Operations Manager and an instructor act as host facilitator and recorder for their meetings. We also make provisions for Online Conference attendees to allow as many of the Committee to attend as possible.

Before we start new programs...

It is wise to ensure the programs you are currently offering are running as efficiently as possible. Name a few reasons why you would want to ensure this.

Potential Employers

It is essential to know that there will be jobs for potential graduates of any newly created programs. Should potential employers be part of an advisory board?

The Advisory Board

An Advisory Board or committee is very important for program decision-making. Who will you have on your board and what is their affiliation with your institution?

The Information Gathering Process

Module 1 starts the process of gathering information to make effective program decisions. What information do you already have? How will you gather the additional information?

Establishing the Advisory Board for an Online School

If your program is to be offered online, the advisory board should be state-wide rather than local or regional since students will come from all over the state and perhaps even nationally. This requires a broader outlook for industry or professional needs and jobs outlook.

Using Available Data

What surveys does your institution have in place? How can you use the current data? What new surveys and other research techniques do you have to put in place to gather data to make informed decisions about program development?

Graduate Placement Data

Our Career Services Department is a great resource for providing information on employers that currently hire our graduates and those who don't. On occasion, this department has been instrumental in providing key contacts for phone interviews or surveys. And, since we have developed a relationship with those employers who hire our graduates, we get good participation/involvement.

Reaching out to new sites

What are some good forms of communication to use to reach out to sites that have not offered externships previously?