Student Readiness for Online Courses
What went wrong?
What is Readiness?
Our Duties
Why?
Did not understand the needs of an online class.
Did not have the right skills and resources.
Did not receive training in the tools. 
Did not budget time wisely.
Intervention came too late.
Not Ready to take an Online Class...
Lack of disclosure
Lack of transparency
Lack of communication
Lack of advising


Computer Hardware
Bandwidth
Computer Software
Software Skills
Understanding Obligations
Pre-Req Knowledge
Access to Proctors
Online IMS Skills
Readiness Depends on the Course 
What are the expectations... of the Unit, 
Department, and Instructor?
Are these clearly stated?
Department standards?
Unit or Department should establish standard guidelines/criteria which can be communicated to students in programs
Guidelines should be followed by all when designing courses / assigning instructors

Basics:
Memory
Processing speed
Audio & Video Card capabilities
Peripherals:
Webcam
Scanner
Video-camera
Tablet

Needs of a CAD / CAM course different than a public-speaking course

Does the course require streaming from the Internet media (requiring broadband / high-speed)?
Weekly or only periodically?
Did the instructor create the media him/herself?
Create copies to deliver via CD, DVD, or USB flash drive?
Downloadable to a USB drive when BB available?
Can media be purchased from publisher?
Are the videos, audio, other material available as a “student course-pack” which students could buy?
Is online collaboration required, and through what applications? (web-conference vs. IM)

Campus should have some standards
Video as MPG or Flash Video
Audio as MP3
Read-Only documents (syllabus, handouts, etc.) as PDF
Assignments as RTF, PDF, or other common formats where possible

Media Plugins 
Flash, QuickTime, RealPlayer, Adobe PDF, etc.
Publisher content required plug-ins / media codecs
Document Authoring
OpenOffice, GoogleDoc, etc. instead of MS purchase
Other Specialized Software
Graphics/Photo Editing
Audio Recording / Editing
Video Recording / Editing
Specific course software

Comfort with Specific Software

Owning does not equal understanding
Basic Operating System skills
Basic Internet Browser skills
Basic Keyboarding / Wordprocessing skills
Course specific software?


Keyboarding & Wordprocessing

Types at least 15 words per minute 
Keeps both hands on home-row
Types numbers by touch via keyboard or number-pad
Correct Formatting
Enters content into paragraphs using word-wrap
Ability to format margins, tables, and lists
Formats text using appropriate menus/controls for fonts, colors, paragraph styles, and lists
File management and folder organization
Saves documents to specified formats with appropriate filenames


Keyboarding Testing
http://www.typingtest.com/ 
allows users to take the test as many times 
as desired and then print out the results (WPM and accuracy)

Wordprocessing Skills
Formatting exercise
https://sctc.ims.mnscu.edu/shared/StudentTutorials/OrientConsidering.html 
Provide sample of “finished results”
Use document comparison to grade results

Technology Self-Assessment
http://dl.austincc.edu/students/TechCheck.html 
Computer Operations
Word Processing Skills
Internet / Browsing
Email


Understanding Obligations
Online is not independent study
Timelines and deadlines
Communicating standards
When and how to contact instructor to get help
Netiquette and collaboration standards to work with peers
Preparation expectations
Prepping for instructor conferences and presentations
Preparing for group projects / equitable praticipation
Commitment to groups and completing class projects 
Quick Self Assessment
https://sctc.ims.mnscu.edu/shared/FacultyTutorials/StudentSelfAssess.htm 


Pre-requisite Course Knowledge

Accuplacer is not enough

Is the student ready to handle this level of… 
math, science, reading, logic, writing?
course load (40 hours / credit; 3cr = 120 hrs work)?

Has student recently taken all the course pre-requisites 
and scored reasonably well?


Are proctored tests / activities required?

Are proctored activities required to
be at specific sites?
be on specific dates at specific times?
be with specific people (only approved / certified proctors)?
be arranged by the student?
be paid for by the student?

Practice Course open to all through common login credentials

Certification course built upon D2L Release Conditions available 365 x 24
students must upload to dropbox before discussion is opened; 
students must post to discussion before quiz is open; 
quiz tracks “completion” of the certification

Ideal: online course registration restrictionsstudents 
must complete the online certification course 
in order to register for any online course

Communicate expectationsto students thoroughly and transparently

Provide self-diagnostic tools for students to assess their abilities and levels of preparation

Correctly structure programswith program sheets to show the recommended progressions of online courses within programs

Provide customized training for gap-training in technical and other skills; quick ramp-ups for students; does not go on their “permanent record”

Advise students away from online as appropriate
James Falkofske
Director of Online Learning
St. Cloud Technical College, Minnesota
Mai is an English Language Learner (ELL) student who is very skilled at computer technology, science, and math.  She's enrolled in a course about critical thinking and discovers that most of the points in the course are earned through online discussion postings.  She thought that the course would be formatted like her other online classes – with most of the points being earned on a few tests taken throughout the semester.  She feels that she is spending far too much time in this class – because she has difficulty translating her thoughts into English and then typing them into the computer.
During the second week of the semester, Kathy visits the writing lab to get some help in learning how to use Desire2Learn.  
She is enrolled in two online classes and has not yet visited the online course sites. 
We find out that Kathy does not own a computer and has very limited skills (needing help even to navigate with a mouse).  
Kathy is trying to understand the tips the writing lab staff is offering, but she is getting increasingly confused and frustrated.
She drops the class and can’t get a refund, and she decides to drop out of college altogether.

William has always been a top student.  He only has a couple classes to go in order to finish his degree.  Although he is very bright, he tends to over-schedule his life, working a full-time job in addition to carrying an overload of credits.  This semester, William is struggling.  He’s enrolled in two online courses which have a lot of reading and writing required, and William is used to hearing and watching his professors – and then relying on his very acute memory to perform well on the tests.  Trying to keep up with his schoolwork is leaving him short of sleep, and his supervisor has already reprimanded him a couple times for tardiness from over-sleeping.  What’s wrong?  Isn’t online supposed to be a breeze compared to normal classes?