Aligning values - An Industry Partner's Role in Supporting Institutional Priorities

Concurrent Session 1

Brief Abstract

In this session, presenters from a leading community college and a regional public research university will share their firsthand experience with an Online Program Experience (OPX) partner and the particular steps they have taken in shaping the elements of their collaboration to fit institutional needs and culture.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: S. Raj Chaudhury, University of South Alabama

Co-presenter: Shelley Kurland, County College of Morris

Shelley Kurland is the Dean of Virtual Campus at the County College of Morris in Randolph, New Jersey. She has been an educator since 1999 and involved in distance education since 2003. Shelley’s areas of expertise and interests are in distance education, active learning, faculty learning, and the use of digital technologies with pedagogical considerations. She uses the question, 'Is this the best for the student?' as the compass for her professional work. Shelley's scholarly activities involve active contributions through professional presentations in the areas of teaching and learning in all delivery methods. As part of her action research dissertation study, Rethinking Teaching in STEM Education in a Community College: Role of Instructional Consultation and Digital Technologies, Shelley discussed educators’ tendency to introduce or to implement technology without aligning it to a theoretical framework, which may lead to the 'using technology for the sake of using technology mindset'. She developed and introduced the Learning-Teaching-Technology Cycle. Each of the elements – learning, teaching, and technology – is critical, connected, and inform each other as an educator designs and implements an activity and/or lesson. Shelley holds a B.S. in Exercise Science and Sports Studies from Rutgers University, a Master of Arts in Teaching with a concentration in Teacher of the Handicapped and a Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Teacher Education/Teacher Development. Both postgraduate degrees are obtained from Montclair State University. She also serves as a member of the Instructional Technology Council (ITC) Advocacy Committee and a member of the New Jersey Community College Consortium’s Distance Education Affinity Group. She is part of OLC's IELOL Class of 2018. Shelley was also the recipient of NJEDge Distinguished Service Award for Educational Technology in 2018.

Co-presenter: Joe Thomas, Symbiosis Educational Consultants

Extended Abstract

With the continued growth and interest in the online learning space, an increasing number of higher education leaders are considering working with Online Program Experience (OPX) partners. In a crowded, ever-evolving and fast-paced online learning space, we need to focus on vision, goals, and relationships for our institutions to partner effectively with an OPX. Regardless of institutional mission, size, geographical locale and target student population, we share certain challenges as well as success strategies to achieve maximal value from a collaboration with a partner providing online support services.

  1. In each case presented here, we have discovered shared commitments to (a) access and affordability (b) quality (c) faculty development (d) scholarship and (e) assessment.
  2. In this collaborative session, presenters from a leading community college and a regional public research university will share their firsthand experience with an OPX partner and the particular steps they have taken in shaping the elements of their partnership to fit institutional needs and culture.
  3. We shall explore the roles of institutional support (centers for teaching and learning, academic affairs leadership, budget, staffing, faculty governance, and IT services) with the necessary parameters of a productive, cost-effective, efficient working relationship with an OPX.
  4. The principles discussed will be applicable to academics working in a variety of institutional contexts as well as companies looking to further engage with a variety of educational institutions.