Distance Education or Executive Degree Programs If the program offers degree programs using formats or methods other than students attending regular on site course sessions spread over a

standard term, these degree programs must a) be consistent with the mission of the program and within the program’s established areas of expertise; b) be guided by clearly articulated student learning outcomes that are rigorously evaluated; c) be subject to the same quality control processes that other degree programs in the university are; and d) provide planned and evaluated learning experiences that take into consideration and are responsive to the characteristics and needs of adult learners. If the program offers distance education or executive degree programs, it must provide needed support for these programs, including administrative, travel, communication and student services. The program must have an ongoing program to evaluate the academic effectiveness of the format, to assess learning methods and to systematically use this information to stimulate program improvements. The program must have processes in place through which it establishes that the student who registers in a distance education or correspondence education course or degree is the same student who participates in and completes the course or degree and receives the academic credit.

2.12.a: Identification of all degree programs that are offered in a format other than regular, on-site course sessions spread over a standard term, including those offered in full or in part through distance education in which the instructor and student are separated in time or place or both. The instructional matrix in Criterion 2.1.a may be referenced for this purpose.

An online MPH, generalist concentration, was approved by CEPH during the summer of 2015 and began enrolling students in AY 2015/2016.

2.12.b: Description of the distance education or executive degree programs, including an explanation of the model or methods used, the program’s rationale for offering these programs, the manner in which it provides necessary administrative and student support services, the manner in which it monitors the academic rigor of the programs and their equivalence (or comparability) to other degree programs offered by the program, and the manner in which it evaluates the educational outcomes, as well as the format and methods.

Online methods used. The PH program already uses an asynchronous online course delivery system utilizing the Blackboard Platform. Although course material is predominantly provided to the students asynchronously, via talking powerpoint lectures, there are a variety of audio and video components that are compatible with Blackboard and can be used by an instructor if conferencing or synchronous

methods are needed. DELO provides faculty support and professional instructional design staff for development of new and revision of older on-line material.

Rationale for offering. As a regional comprehensive university, one of WKU’s prime directives is to address the workforce needs of the region. The Master of Public Health (MPH) is a professional degree designed to meet the needs of a wide range of professionals, including the public health workforce. The Master of Public Health program is already in existence at Western Kentucky University (WKU). The

program has two concentrations: Health Education and Environmental Health. The on-line MPH was designed to meet the needs of working public health and other healthcare professionals. In a growing market of MPH programs that compete for students, adding an online option will make our program more competitive.

Manner in which administrative and student support services are provided. The university assesses a student technology fee to support continual investment in WKU’s information systems. Additionally, a portion of the distance learning revenues are appropriated for technological infrastructure. WKU has a team of professionals charged with ensuring WKU’s infrastructure is kept current and data is

secure. Emerging technologies are continually being evaluated and piloted for implementation. The importance of information technology is articulated in Western Kentucky University’s Strategic Plan. “In the broad context of academic quality, it is imperative that the fast-changing dimension of Information Technology continue to be a priority for the University. It is critical to achievement of a bold vision for a university.”

The Office of Distance Learning has a number of resources for creating or translating an existing face-to- face course to the online environment. Faculty is supported with funding for course development, instructional design consulting, and assistance in the actual production of courses and course materials. The staff lends their technical and pedagogical expertise to the faculty’s content expertise. The result is a university course that reaches a wider and more diverse audience than the on campus learner and communicates the faculty’s research and instruction to the larger community. WKU uses the Quality Matters© rubric to facilitate the transition from a traditional course to an online course. The QM rubric becomes the guideline to incorporate the necessary components of successful instruction at the module/lesson level in fully online and blended courses.

Faculty training spaces are located in MMTH as well as in the Office of Distance Learning. Students, faculty, and staff heavily utilize an IT helpdesk that offers phone and virtual support seven days a week

including evening hours. Live workshops and online video tutorials are the key components of the

Academic Technology training program for WKU faculty, staff, and students. Video tutorials are short, Flash-based animations showing how to carry out technology tasks. All the Academic Technology trainers are developers of video tutorials. WKU currently has 364 active videos in 26 categories. A special area of focus in 2012 was the new Creating ADA-Compliant Course Sites online workshop, which will be required for instructors teaching online courses for the first time. The workshop contains six new video tutorials, supplementary resources, and an assessment. This is the first time a public university in Kentucky has developed required training to make sure that online courses are fully accessible to students with disabilities.

Distance Education is a mainstream option for student learning at WKU encompassing 19% of the institution’s total enrollment. As such, offices across campus have developed methods for

communicating with and meeting the needs of distance learners. The Office of Online Program Services works with students to ensure they have the academic resources to be successful in pursuit of their online and/or distance learning degree. The unit has created a Student Resource Center to provide a one-stop portal for access to student services: http://www.wku.edu/online/src/. This resource is embedded on the learning management system into every online course. Services range from

academic tutoring to career services and writing center support, all free of charge and easily accessible. They also partner with other student support organizations at WKU, including the Academic Advising and Retention Center (AARC), Library Services, and Career Services to conduct monthly webinars and

online social networking events, all in an effort to provide students with the social support and networking to maximize retention toward their degree completion.

Additionally, ADA Compliance and services for our students with disabilities is a priority. Each online course lecture is transcribed for our hearing impaired students and online courses receive the same support with adherence to all accommodations made for students with disabilities.

Manner in which academic rigor is monitored in the program. Online MPH students are held to the same requirements, standards, and expectations as brick-and-mortar students. Course objectives, content, and assessments do not differ by course modality. As such, we expect academic rigor to be consistent. Because the online MPH was launched recently, a formal strategy for monitoring this consistency has not been developed or implemented.

Manner of evaluating educational outcomes of the online MPH. Again, because of the recent launch of the online MPH degree, a formal strategy is not currently in place. However, when analyzing data for the MPH program’s instructional objectives, it would be prudent to do online v. brick-and mortar student comparisons to ensure educational outcomes are being met.

Manner of evaluating online format and delivery methodologies of the online MPH. The WKU PH Program has access to an extensive and effective system of training in online educational strategies and methodologies vis a vis the Division of Extended Learning & Outreach (DELO) at WKU. DELO partners with faculty and departments to offer convenient and flexible learning opportunities to students and to faculty. In addition, the Center for Faculty Development (CFD) supports the teaching and scholarly work of faculty. Through close partnerships with several units at WKU, the CFD facilitates these professional development and mentoring services by offering single or multi-day workshops, professional learning communities, seminars, and one-on-one consultations in an effort to meet the professional

development needs of its constituents. These are supplemented by training sessions and seminars on online educational theory, technology and methods offered by the DELO and the University.

2.12.c: Description of the processes that the program uses to verify that the student who registers in a distance education or correspondence education course or degree is the same student who participates in and completes the course or degree and receives the academic credit.

Western Kentucky University holds firmly to the belief that student identity is most reliably verified, regardless of course delivery format. Due to the physical separation of distance education courses, WKU has put in place resources to assist instructors in this verification. This WKU policy is required by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools – Commission on Colleges policy statement “Distance and Correspondence Education,” adopted by the SACSCOC Board of Trustees in June 2010.

As stated in WKU Policy 1.3120, instructors will be able to demonstrate that the student who registers in a WKU distance education course or program is the same student who participates in and completes the course or program and receives the credit by verifying the identity of a student who participates in class or coursework by using, at the option of the instructor, methods such as (1) secure login and pass code (2) proctored examination, and (3) new or other technologies and practices that are effective in verifying student identification as they are developed. These resources will be supported by the WKU

All courses taught using Blackboard as the learning management system have secure logins and pass codes that are required of every student taking that course in order to access course materials, take online examinations, and engage with peers within the online classroom.

Instructors may elect to use proctored examinations in distance education courses. The Distance Learning Testing Center, a unit of the Distance Learning Office in the Division of Extended Learning and Outreach, assists instructors by scheduling student exams in on-campus testing centers; or working with students who wish to take their examinations at another location, by communicating with the proctor at that location, delivering the exam and receiving it when complete, or communicating necessary pass codes for proctored online examinations.

The Distance Learning Office continues to explore new and alternative technologies that will assist the instructor to verify student identity and will support those technologies as they become available for instructor use.

Upon admission, all WKU students receive an email with a link to the WKU Electronic Data Privacy and Acceptable Use Policies and are counseled on the importance of maintaining the security of their student information including passwords and log ins.

http://www.wku.edu/policies/docs/41.pdf http://www.wku.edu/policies/docs/80.pdf http://www.wku.edu/policies/docs/83.pdf

2.12.d: Assessment of the extent to which this criterion is met and an analysis of the program’s strengths, weaknesses and plans relating to this criterion.

This criterion is met with commentary. Strengths

WKU has committed considerable resources to support online programs offered at the university. These efforts have been critical in strengthening all programs on campus. It allows considerable flexibility for offering blended courses, traditional face-to-face courses where students obtain and store their course materials, and provides a growing number of on-line courses and certificates. This growth has provided a level and scope of technical support to encourage the PH program to implement its first graduate level professional degree. We can now focus on key quality assurance aspects such as rigor and emphasis of public health competencies as well as having courses reviewed through the “Quality Matters” process. Students as well as faculty are supported through the IT Helpdesk and DELO. Through IT and DELO there are processes in place to ensure students who are registered in the online courses are the students performing the work.

Weaknesses

The commentary for this criterion is that we are still in the infancy of the online MPH degree program and haven’t yet developed strategies to monitor and assess educational outcomes and rigor at the program level.

Strategic Plans

The Assessment Committee will be charged with identifying strategies to monitor and assess educational outcomes of online MPH students.

CRITERION 3: CREATION, APPLICATION AND ADVANCEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE