Module 1: The Elements of Online Program Design and the Role Collaboration
Collaborating to Create the Online Student Life Cycle and Its Ecosystem
Stephanie Horsley
Successful, high-quality online programs are more than well-designed curriculum and courses with excellent instruction. For students, the online program life cycle begins with, “the moment a student expresses interest [in a program], through the admission process, through the courses themselves, all the way to graduation” (Bellantuono, 2020, p. 60). For program creators, it begins even before this. For students to experience a high-quality online program, that program must be developed in and supported by an “ecosystem” of processes, policies, resources, and people that begins with determining if the vision and resources are in place to successfully design and sustain the program.
In this unit, we present a model that outlines, from start to finish, the elements of online programs and how they relate to each other. By exploring the online student life cycle and online program ecosystem, we immediately see the many different areas of expertise from across an institution that contribute to a successful online program.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this Unit, you will be able to:
- Identify the elements of the online student life cycle and online program ecosystem
- Describe the importance and scope of collaboration necessary to create and sustain an online program ecosystem
- Identify the main units from across your institution that impact online program development and implementation
- Begin documenting key collaborators from those units and where collaborations need to be further developed
You will come away with:
- Online Student Life Cycle Illustration
- Online Program Ecosystem Illustration
- A tool to assess and document current and potential areas of program collaboration within and beyond your institution
Institution: Any post-secondary credentialing institution
Unit: An organized body within the institution, e.g., academic department, student association, governing body, academic or student support unit, standing committee
Online program design and implementation rely on a large variety of knowledge, skills, and expertise. Knowing how students move through a program (i.e., the online student life cycle) and how to design an effective and engaging online experience for those students (i.e., the online program ecosystem) enables those leading this work to better understand and plan for necessary resources and expertise, as well as for where collaboration with units outside of the department might better serve the program’s faculty, staff, and students. At each point in online program development, institutional processes may be put into place to guide and support students, faculty, and staff, while at the same time ensuring that the entire cycle and its processes are effective, sustainable, and equitable. Ultimately, understanding the online student life cycle and its ecosystem enables leaders to proactively plan, efficiently resource, and sustain an online program.
Starting with the Learner: The Online Student Life Cycle
The online student life cycle is one way to think about the many different points at which an online learner, although not physically situated within the walls of your institution, will interact with the people, services, and policies that make up their student experience. For this reason, the models for designing successful, high-quality programs in this book begin with the learner at their centre. It is not uncommon for online students to never visit the physical campus. This means that we need to design our online programs to work with students who may never see our physical facilities—visit a help desk, Library, or medical centre—or attend an in-person graduation ceremony. By examining the online student life cycle, we can start to understand how to design high-quality program experiences for our learners.
Figure 1.1 below is a visual representation of the online learner life cycle, which is followed by a video that describes each element in the cycle. You can also download and share the image and written descriptions (PDF). While we explain the elements of the online student life cycle individually, it is important to note that there will inevitably be overlap among the elements.
Situating the Online Learner in the Online Program Ecosystem
Now that we have a clearer understanding of how a student moves through the experience of their online program, we can turn our attention to the broader “ecosystem” that makes up the network of people, resources, infrastructure, and policies that create highly effective and sustainable online program experiences. Some elements of the ecosystem are positioned directly within the department, unit, or faculty developing the program, while others are more likely to exist as institution-level resources. In some cases, the elements may exist at both the program and the institutional level. Often where the elements in this ecosystem lie is a result of institutional history and choice, and they may or may not contribute to effective program design in their current configuration. As discussed in the next unit, there is no single “right way” that every institution should allocate who is responsible for each element. Each institution must decide based on its context where primary responsibility should lie to most efficiently and effectively support the online student life cycle, which is situated in the middle of the ecosystem. As you watch the video below that explains the elements illustrated in Figure 1.2, begin thinking about where each lies within your institution and your program’s relationship and access to them. You can also download and share Fig. 1.2 and its written description (PDF).
No Program Is An Island: The Importance of Cross-Unit and Institutional Collaboration
Now that we’ve explored both the online learner life cycle and the online program ecosystem in which it’s situated, we have a “big picture” of the many elements that work together to support effective, engaging, and sustainable online programs. You should also have begun to reflect on and document where your program’s strengths and areas of opportunity are in relation to these interconnected elements of online program design. You’ve likely begun to wonder about how you will possibly address all these elements to program design. The answer is collaboration! The varied expertise and resources required usually call for collaboration both within and across various units and stakeholder groups, and even institutions.
In the short video below, two leaders in developing online programs discuss the importance of collaboration when creating new online programs. The first is Denise Stockley, Co-Director of the Master’s of Health Professions Education Program, from Queen’s University. Her observations are followed by those of Cebert Adamson, Vice President of Students, International, and Alumni, from Mohawk College. As you watch the video, make a mental note of all of the different collaborators they have worked with.
Reflection 3: The program leaders in the video describe the importance of situating an online program within a wider ecosystem and the role collaboration plays in this, including some specific units and groups that played a key role in the success of their online programs. Where might your program benefit from collaboration? Keeping in mind your responses to Reflections 1 and 2, identify some priority areas where you feel collaboration is very important for your program going forward as well as where collaboration is already happening. At this point, don’t worry about naming potential collaborators, instead, focus on identifying relevant areas of the online student life cycle and ecosystem where collaboration is desirable. Use the Program Design and Implementation Workbook to document your ideas.
Partners in Online Program Collaborations
As you’ve seen, we encourage online program leaders to think of their program as part of the broader ecosystem that thrives with careful attention to collaboration and relationship-building both within and across their institution. Module 2 and Module 3 in this book contain detailed descriptions of the types of roles that frequently collaborate on program design and course design as well as when in the design and implementation process it is most helpful to connect with them. In this module, it’s most helpful to think in terms of specific units or groups at your institution and beyond that can play a significant role as you progress through the online program design and implementation process. In doing so, you’ll get a “big picture” of the potential areas of collaboration and how they relate to specific elements of the online student life cycle and ecosystem.
Think of collaborations with these units or groups as a two-way street. In some cases, units may benefit just as much from working with you as you with them. For example, you might share information about your non-traditional learner demographics with a central Student Experience or Student Success unit, which helps them develop new ways of interacting with students that then become a preferred approach across the institution–e.g., virtual career counselling sessions or evening appointments. You might collaborate with Technology Services to introduce a new eLearning tool that is adopted by several other Faculties. Or you might develop a micro-credential within your program after collecting feedback from a potential employer group and then work alongside the Office of the Registrar to pilot a virtual micro-credential program that results in additional resources for them to scale the piloted micro-credentials tracking tool for use across the institution. Engaging these units and groups before and as you develop your programs–rather than after–can save everyone valuable time by sharing information, ideas, and resources that allow planning to be done more efficiently. You may even prevent unnecessary, costly, or time-consuming changes or “do-overs” due to a lack of communication or knowledge around institution policy, procedures, infrastructure, resources, or possible need for the program. And don’t forget that you can look outside of your institution for partners who may be eager for the opportunity to co-design programs or share knowledge and resources!
The interactive object below lists common units and groups across colleges and universities that are often part of building and sustaining the online program ecosystem. They are potential collaborators in creating and maintaining high-quality online programs. While the name of the unit or groups and the roles within them might be slightly different at your institution or in your community (or the roles may reside in another unit or organization), the key takeaway here is to begin thinking about who you can connect with as part of creating and sustaining your online program. The information is listed in alphabetical order as there is no prescribed order in which you can or should collaborate with them—that decision is tied closely to where you are in the program development process and what departmental resources you may already have at hand.
Now that you’ve thought more about possible collaborators for developing and implementing your online program, you can take some time to research possible collaborators at your institution.
Workbook Activity: Documenting Online Program Collaboration Partners
Use the Program Design and Implementation Workbook to document the equivalent roles at your institution. Depending on where you are in the online program development process, you may find that you don’t need to document all areas at this time, but we encourage you to keep the form updated as a reminder of opportunities for collaboration and to keep a record of who your primary collaborators are as you develop and implement your program.
If you choose to also complete the other modules in this workbook, you may find some overlap in activities that ask you to document collaborators. In this case, this chart might help you keep a master list of all collaborators on your program and their primary roles. Choose a method of identifying and keeping track of collaborators that works best for your program.
Table 1.1 provides a few examples of form entries.
Table 1.1. Example of Documenting Online Program Collaboration Partners
|
Collaborators: Centre for Teaching and Learning |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Current (C), Future (F), or No Collaboration (NC) |
Name |
Role |
Contact information |
How will you collaborate? |
|
C |
Jane Smith |
Educational Developer |
jsmith@yourinstitution.ca |
CTL is assisting with SOAR visioning retreat and creating program learning outcomes. |
|
FC |
TBD |
Instructional Designer |
N/A |
Member of online course design team |
|
Collaborators: Office of the Registrar |
||||
|
Current (C), Future (F), or No Collaboration (NC) |
Name |
Role |
Contact information |
How will you collaborate? |
|
C |
Elliott Brown |
Assistant Registrar |
ebrown@yourinstitution.ca |
Pilot project to create continuous intake for new program enrolment |
|
Collaborators: Library |
||||
|
Current (C), Future (F), or No Collaboration (NC) |
Name |
Role |
Contact information |
How will you collaborate? |
|
FC |
Dale Cowly |
Collections Librarian |
dcowly@yourinstitution.ca |
Research open collections to decrease textbook costs/raise accessibility |
Unit Reflection and Resources
Key “takeaways” from this unit are:
- Online students experience programs as a life cycle that begins when they start researching possible programs and ends when they become alumni and can share their knowledge and experiences with program designers for continuous improvement
- Focusing on the online student life cycle when developing and managing programs can help keep programs student-centred and of high quality
- Efficient, effective, and sustainable online programs exist when they are supported by an online program ecosystem that employs expertise and resources from across the institution
- Collaboration and relationship building within and across the institution—and possibly with other institutions and external groups—is a key to creating and managing quality online programs
- It is never too soon to reach out to possible collaborators to begin conversations around the program vision, creating, and implementation
In the next unit, you’ll explore ways to assess how to read your department and institution are to create and sustain an online program as well as how and models for how that work might be structured.