Improve Online Delivery and Boost Student Success: The Power of Strategic Partners, Project Management, and Change Leadership.

Concurrent Session 5
HBCU

Brief Abstract

Are you looking for strategies for renewing and updating online program delivery? We will share a strategy developed by an HBCU to improve online program delivery, promote learner success, and meet institutional and accreditation goals. Takeaways include: strategic planning, project management, and change leadership actions for strategy development and application.  

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Donna Roper-Roach, Oakwood University

Donna Roper-Roach hails from Brooklyn, New York and graduated from Ball State University in Muncie, IN, with a Bachelor of Science degree in English and Communication. She went on to earn a Masters degree in Business Administration from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, MI. Upon graduation, Donna continued her education by earning 40 hours in Information Technology from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. In 2010, she originally earned Project Management Professional certification from the Project Management Institute. In 2014, she returned to school and earned a Masters of Arts degree in Pastoral Studies from Oakwood University. Donna continued her education by earning a Doctor of Ministry degree from The Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, GA. Recently, she completed a Masters of Education degree with a concentration in English Language Arts from Alabama A&M University. Dr. Roper-Roach’s 30-year professional career was in the field of Information Technology with responsibility for sites throughout the United States and Europe. She began her career as a Programmer Analyst at Boeing, Redstone Arsenal, eventually climbing the corporate ladder to roles as IT Director, Chief Information Officer, IT Mergers & Acquisition Integration Strategist, and later Senior IT Advisor. Her positions allowed her to work, travel and live in several European countries, such as France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. She also lived and worked in the Bahamas for several years, where her late husband, Dr. Arthur Roach, hailed. In 2018, Dr. Roper-Roach embarked on a second career in academia, teaching Religion in Oakwood University’s School of Theology, English Language Arts for Huntsville City Schools, and English at Alabama A&M University. She currently serves as Director of Curriculum and Instruction in Oakwood University School of Graduate Studies. Dr. Roper-Roach is the proud mother of two adult children, Keith (Natalie) and Kelsey (Samuel). Her children have blessed her with five adorable grandchildren, ages eight to two-years-old – Gavin, Katherine, Imani, Elizabeth, and Neejii Keith.

Co-presenter: Joanne Struch, Red River College Polytechnic

Joanne has 20+ years of experience in education including as an instructor who has delivered interactive classes to 100’s of students domestically and internationally with a commitment to clear, consistent, and student-focused delivery and feedback practices.  She is currently a Chair in the School of Continuing Education at Red River College Polytechnic. Her portfolio includes Part-time business programs as well as microcredentials. As she has recently joined RRC Polytech, she is looking forward to further developing the portfolio. Previously, as a senior leader at a vocational college, Joanne was responsible for strategic program development in vocational and skills education where she developed program review and revision processes and created quality assurance frameworks for relevant, current, and efficient training design and delivery. Joanne is a Prosci© certified Change Management Practitioner who led teams through changes in leadership, and the transition to remote work and learning as well as the college-wide implementation of an LMS. As a Learning Strategy Consultant at D2L, Joanne supported institutions and organizations with formulating goals, success metrics, and roadmaps for teaching and learning initiatives. In her spare time, Joanne is the Secretary and Chair of the Governance Committee for the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE/SAPES), grapples with the school and sports schedules of pre-teen and teen children, and has a keen interest in needlework and fabric arts which has led her to recently learn how to weave on a floor loom.

Co-presenter: Cristi Ford, D2L Corporation

Additional Authors

Extended Abstract

In this presentation, we will share a strategy developed by a HBCU to improve online program delivery, promote learner success, and meet institutional and accreditation goals.  

Context: 

The institution at the center of this work has a long history and legacy of providing black students opportunities for excellence in their educational pursuits while honoring the importance of a Christian education. It first started offering graduate degrees in 2008 with the establishment of a School of Graduate Studies in 2021. Throughout this time, the mission has been to provide a diverse community of learners with high-quality education that takes place at a distance.   (mission) .  

In late 2022, facing an accreditation visit, one of the co-presenters, a leader at the institution, embarked on planning to renew and update delivery of online programs in the School of Graduate Studies. While accreditation precipitated the planning, the goal of the exercise was to promote student success in graduate programs where students are studying while working, parenting, and caregiving, so time for study must be purposeful, meaningful, and consistent. The project was to revise and renew the online learning platform as a foundation for providing an optimized and consistent learning experience for students in existing and new programs. Student satisfaction surveys, external audits, and internal observations indicated that while the content and materials in the programs were of great quality and relevancy, there were opportunities to rethink some elements of the online learning experience, such as learner interactions with instructors, assessment and evaluation procedures, and delivery standards and consistency.  

The institution worked with a strategy partner (the other co-presenters) to develop a plan that takes a phased approach to the renewal of online teaching and learning to: 

  • Address the university’s mission to provide high-quality education courses and programs that are consistent with the institution’s role and mission to a diverse community of learners through an environment where learning may take place at a distance 

  • Align with OLC scorecard and QM standards for quality online education in areas where there were identified gaps/needs. 

Because of the short timeline from planning to implementation, the team worked quickly to identify the needs and resources to meet the goals. The plan is currently in the implementation phase.  

Presentation Details: 

In this presentation, we will share how the plan was developed, the key elements of the plan, and how change leadership principles are integrated into the implementation of the plan. We will discuss key elements of strategic planning, including identifying and using frameworks, determining vision and scope, and engaging stakeholders. Preliminary results and feedback will be woven into the presentation, as the plan will be in the initial stages of implementation at the time of the conference. We will share how we used a project management approach to move from strategy to application.  

We will use online polling with Mentimeter throughout the presentation to engage participants in thinking about their own contexts and opportunities for developing a strategy for renewing practices and processes that support student engagement and experience.  Results will be shared with participants and discussed in real time. We will ask participants to share their own experiences, best practices, and resources through discussion and also on a ‘strategy development’ wall/flipchart where participants can add post-it notes with ideas, questions, and resources. The wall will be summarized and shared out to participants after the conference.  

Key participant takeaways will be:  

  • The importance and benefits of working with a partner to develop a strategy 

  • The demonstration of key activities for strategic planning 

  • How to use foundations of change management to support the plan, including receiving additional resources for institutions to utilize for change leadership 

  • How to use a project management approach to move from strategy through application and toward measurement. 

This presentation will be of interest to institutional leaders who are looking to meet accreditation goals, to evaluate and improve program delivery, and to center student success in program delivery and measurement. It will also be of interest to leaders who are looking for practical ways to develop and advance projects with a strategic, functional, and agile plan in a short timeframe.