Test Where You Live: Enhancing the Student Experience with Technology

Concurrent Session 5

Session Materials

Brief Abstract

This session will feature an in-depth case study from a large, public institution to discuss best practices and lessons learned in implementing institution-wide technology policies and adopting an online proctoring platform to achieve goals of enrollment growth, enrichment of the student experience and the establishment of modality continuity.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Pam Paustian, University of Alabama - Birmingham

Pam Paustian, PhD, is Executive Director of the Division of eLearning and Professional Studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She is an Associate Professor in the School of Health Professions and holds secondary appointments in the School of Education and in the UAB Graduate School. She has more than twenty years of experience in technology-enhanced education, online delivery, leadership, operations and information systems in higher education. Dr. Paustian has served in national leadership positions, served as an accreditation and certification reviewer for professional associations, served on journal and editorial review boards, and delivered presentations at national conferences. Dr. Paustian’s professional honors and awards include the prestigious UAB President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the UAB School of Health Professions Excellence in Teaching Award, the UAB Joseph F. Volker Outstanding Faculty Award, the UAB Faculty Senate Distinguished Service Award, and the Outstanding Young Professional award from the Alabama Association of Health Information Management. Her honoraria include the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Kappa Delta Pi, Alpha Eta, and Who’s Who in Health Science Academia.

Co-presenter: Samira Laouzai, University of Alabama - Birmingham

Co-presenter: Ashley Norris, ProctorU

Ashley Norris, PhD Ashley has spent the past 13 years in higher education as both a faculty member and administrator across major institutions such as University of Alabama, Samford university and most recently, University of Phoenix in which she served as the Dean of Programmatic Accreditation and Regulatory Affairs. She has led thought leadership on ethics and integrity in education and continues to spearhead those efforts for ProctorU’s key initiatives on academic integrity. She also leads academic partnerships and works with organizations and institutions on developing policies, best practices and procedures to support their innovation and accreditation needs.

Extended Abstract

Today, many colleges and universities offer the option of online courses or have online degree programs. New technologies have been introduced to the market to support online learning and assessment but they can be challenging to implement and gain broad adoption across campus. Meanwhile, schools are challenged to increase on-campus and online enrollment while also enriching the student experience and ensuring continuity across the online, hybrid and on-campus degree programs. This session will discuss unique ways that a large, public university has addressed the desire to grow, increase online program engagement and leverage technology to achieve these goals. Attendees will hear how this institution has built infrastructure, implemented policies, circulated faculty advisement and adoption processes, and documented best practices and lessons learned as they infused technology into more, or in some cases, all courses. In addition to those administrative achievements, you will learn how two key technology platforms have been pivotal in their success: the integration of an online LMS and the adoption of online proctoring.

Some of the key points and best practices we’ll address include:

  1. The creation of an online portal with effective resources to support faculty and students on all technologies and services.

  2. The development of institution-wide policies for faculty to create a dynamic syllabus in their LMS. We’ll explain how this enhances the student experience, encourages technology utilization in courses, and helps meet SACS accreditation needs.

  3. The adoption of online proctoring and the promotion of the idea that, "We can test you where you live." We’ll outline the benefits we’ve seen for students, faculty, and overall program integrity.

We’ll demonstrate success through data and analytics for each of the key points above. Metrics to be covered include technology adoption and utilization rates, proctoring statistics, satisfaction scores, and more.

We will allow for interaction and engagement throughout the presentation using polling as a point of recognizing the diversity of the audience. Thought provoking questions on best practices and enriching the student experience through technology and online proctoring will be discussed throughout the presentation.  

Participants will walk away with actionable steps to help identify and evaluate their institutional needs for technology utilization, infrastructure to support technology utilization, and strategies to support academic integrity in assessments.