This document summarizes a presentation about implementing virtual synchronous learning sessions using a college-wide lecture series approach. Some key points: - The college began requiring live lectures in 2011 and saw improved attendance, pass rates, and retention as a result. Attendance of at least 5 sessions correlated with higher final grades. - Faculty developed engaging live lectures delivered by teams. Lectures included polls, videos, interaction every 5 minutes. - Student feedback was positive, praising the interactive format and increased understanding. Higher attendance led to higher scores and understanding of material. - The college planned to continue expanding live lectures to more courses and increase student participation requirements to further improve student success metrics like retention and pass

1. Student Success & Engagement with
Virtual Synchronous Learning Sessions
Using a College-Wide Lecture Series
Approach
Greta Ferkel / VP, Academic Innovation
Heather Zink / Manager, Hybrid Classroom Delivery
Rasmussen College

2. Contact Information
Greta Ferkel
Vice President, Academic Innovation
Greta.Ferkel@rasmussen.edu (email)
www.linkedin.com/in/gretaferkel
https://twitter.com/glfngals
http://www.facebook.com/glfngal
(407) 618 5311 (office)
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3. Contact Information
Heather Zink
Hybrid Classroom Manager
heather.zink@rasmussen.edu (email)
twitter.com/zinkpath (twitter)
www.linkedin.com/in/heatherzink (LinkedIn)
952-230-5068 (office)
download slides: http://heatherzink.wordpress.com
10/9/2012

4. GOALS OF THE SESSION
• Develop an understanding of blended learning
opportunities for online students
• Discuss strategies for implementing system-wide
initiatives in academics
• Discuss key components to engaging students in
live learning sessions
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5. I. Background & History on
Hybrid Course Delivery
Agenda II. Live Lecture Series
III. Driving the Culture Change
IV. Student Feedback
V. Key Engagement Strategies
VI. Q&A
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6. History of Live Lecture
Voluntary 2011 2012
adoption Required Live
2008 encouraged – Lecture to be
Require 2013 Pilot Virtual
Launched student Require Flex 50 using
random acts offered
virtual participation mandatory Live Lecture
of progress weekly by
webinar tool for full credit attendance at delivery
among faculty – no
– Wimba in discussion live lectures. model.
motivated student
faculty forums.
requirement
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7. Hybrid Delivery at Rasmussen
I. Virtual Live Lectures
II. Flex 50 – Campus-based & Virtual
III. Flat Instructor
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8. Live Lecture Project
• High failure, high enrollment, low retention courses – how do
we change this?
– School Deans, Academic Management, and others involved in course
selection
• Q1/Q2 students – what makes them different?
– What needs do they have?
• Live lecture series – deliver the same lecture multiple times
throughout the week
• T-E-A-M of highly qualified faculty to create engaging sessions
focused on weekly objectives
• Award course credit for attendance – 5-10% of overall score
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9. How do they do it? TEAM SPIRIT!!!
Course lead with a great team of support!
• Training Training Training !!
• Decide on how lectures/workshops will be
delivered
• Split up the work for creating them
GOAL = To create an engaging learning
experience for the students
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10. Faculty Models for Live Lectures
• Course Lead – coordinates logistics of scheduling,
participation and communication with course faculty
• Live Lecturer – delivers 6 lectures per week and
creates/reviews lectures
• Lecture Faculty – teaches a course and delivers 2
lectures per week, base contract pay + $300
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11. Objectives of the Live Lectures
Provide students with an opportunity to
interact with instructors and other students
Reinforce and clarify concepts from each
week’s topics
Increase pass rates and retention rates
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12. Average Session Attendance
SUN MON TUES WED THURS FRI SAT
9am 8am 9am 9am 7am
Morning
---4--- ---3--- ---9--- --10--- ---21---
11am 11am 11am 11am 11am
---8--- ---9--- ---11--- --19--- ---37---
2pm 12pm 2pm 1pm
Afternoon
---6--- ---17--- ---12--- --12---
4pm 3pm
---7--- --16---
7pm 7pm 6pm 7pm 5pm
Evening
---22--- ---10--- ---10--- ---22--- ---11---
9pm 8pm 9pm 7pm 9pm
---8--- ---18--- ---18--- ---21--- --40--
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13. Statistic Goals
Attendance: 50%
Retention: 80%
Pass Rates: 80%
Course Average: 80%
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14. Summer 2012 Attendance Stats – M120
Of 536 students finishing the course…
• 88% attended at least 1 session (↑2%)
• 70% attended over half of the sessions (same)
• 85% pass rate (↓2%)
Sessions Course
• 84% average score (same) attended Average
• 83% retention (↑1%) 0 60.1
1-4 59.9
---536/645--- 5-8 86.5
all 94.1
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15. Grades increase with attendance
M120 Final Grades
100.0
90.0
Final Grades
80.0
70.0
60.0
50.0
40.0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 all
Sessions attended
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16. …notice anything about students attending at
least 5 sessions a quarter…
Final Scores B080 B099 B136 D132 G124 G233 J100 M120
0 sessions 43.7 39.9 47.6 53.9 50.4 62.2 33.7 60.1
1-4 sessions 43.9 47.5 50.4 69.8 46.5 45.3 32.3 59.9
5-8 sessions 74.7 73.3 80.8 86.0 76.9 76.7 82.4 86.5
All 9 sessions 82.0 84.7 92.7 94.9 88.8 85.6 91.6 94.1
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17. “Rate Your Instructor” Survey Results
D132
B080 Computer
Reading & B099 B136 Applications & G124 G233 J100 M120
Writing Foundations Introduction Business English College Introduction to Medical
Strategies of Math to Business Concepts Composition Algebra Criminal Justice Terminology Grand Total
5 83.2% 83.3% 68.8% 78.1% 73.8% 88.4% 92.7% 72.1% 76.7%
4 12.4% 9.5% 23.4% 17.3% 17.6% 9.3% 5.5% 18.2% 16.6%
3 3.5% 6.0% 6.8% 3.1% 5.6% 1.2% 1.8% 7.1% 4.9%
2 0.9% 0.0% 0.5% 0.9% 1.7% 0.0% 0.0% 2.3% 1.1%
1 0.0% 1.2% 0.5% 0.6% 1.3% 1.2% 0.0% 0.3% 0.6%
Scores 4 and
95.6% 92.9% 92.2% 95.5% 91.4% 97.7% 98.2% 90.3% 93.3%
above
# of survey
responses/ 113/315 84/126 192/495 352/940 233/490 86/441 55/161 308/625 1423/3593
Enrollments
All students attending a live lecture in Week 4 of Summer term completed a SurveyMonkey questionnaire rating
their lecture instructor after the lecture was complete. Faculty were rated on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being
ineffective and 5 being engaging and knowledgeable.
Notes of Interest
• All courses demonstrated an above average rating with >90% responses rating the instructor at 4 or 5.
• B136 shows the lowest 5 rating and highest 4 rating – this may be due to the frustrations students felt as a
result of missed lectures. One lecturer continually struggled to meet her students in a timely manner.
• M120 had several new lecturers this term, presenting a possible explanation for the lower ratings.
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18. Final Grades vs. Session Attendance
100.0
90.0
80.0
70.0
B080
60.0
Final Grades
B099
B136
50.0
D132
40.0
• On average, students attending over half of the G124
30.0 lectures are ending the quarter with higher scores G233
as compared to those who do not attend sessions
J100
20.0 • Students not attending at least 5 sessions had a
much more varying success rate, on average with M120
10.0 scores below a passing range
0.0
0 1-4 5-8 all 9
Lectures attended throughout the quarter
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19. Embedded Librarian Partnership
• Professional Practice Activity – student
success is highly variable
• Library and Learning Center staff attended
sessions to discussed assignment specific
resources
68%  84%
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20. Driving Change
• Don’t accept “we can’t do it” or “no”
• Find champions who believe in the value
• Offer value and students will attend
• “GO VIRAL” & leverage those who “love it”
• Learn from data – don’t assume
success, prove it with the numbers
• Eliminate “naysayers” from the resource pool
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21. Student Comments
 “…it is nice to recap the information I read in the book and hear a bit of
examples on the subject. It helps it stick in my brain more. I do
sometimes having trouble getting into a session since I am home alone
with my children most of the time and it is hard to hear then. I do my
best and think I have found a good time span to do this. Overall I think it
is a good time for review and makes it seem kind of more like a real
classroom environment. I am unable to take residential classes due to my
childcare situation so being able to take more courses online was the main
reason I chose Rasmussen. The Live lectures are a great way to get the
experience of being in a class. Thanks.”
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22. Awesome Feedback!!
 “I've never had a class that made them a requirement, but I
do find them extremely useful. I feel like I retain the
information better too. I'm a hands on learner so the lecture
is the next best thing when it comes to needing to take online
classes.”
 “I enjoy these lectures, it makes reading and studying the
chapters fun, I wish they did these in every class. “
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23. More Good Stuff!!
 “I actually look forward to the live lectures. I enjoy them every week! We get a
lot of information from them that helps on the assignments and quizzes.”
 “I was a little unsure about the live lectures at first but now I really enjoy them. It
just gives me a chance to learn the material better than from just reading the
chapter. I wouldn't change anything. I look forward to it every week.”
 “Honestly I missed the first two weeks because I forgot about it then the second
week I didn't realize it was in Eastern Time since we were all from MN, or ND area
I assumed it was Central Time. But I do enjoy them and wouldn't change anything
but make us involved just a little bit more but not too much. It gives people a
chance to show off how much they know and some learn more by being more
involved.”
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24. 2012 Projects
Continuing Courses Fall additions
B136 Intro to Business Medical Coding
G233 College Algebra Intro to Early Childhood Education
English Composition
Intro to Criminal Justice 2013 projects
M120 Medical Terminology Additional Coding courses
D132 Computer Applications Intro to Undergraduate Research
B080 Reading & Writing Strategies Q1 courses
B099 Foundations of Math
AcceleratED Bachelor’s courses
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25. Key Engagement Strategies
You’ve got the students in the ‘room’, now what?
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26. Live Lecture components
• Each session includes (at minimum):
– Ice breaker question/activity
– 5 polls/quick quizzes
– 1 video/animation/interactive website
• Another voice other than the instructor
– Interaction with the students every 5 minutes
• eBoard use, student questions through chat
– Webcam use & picture uploaded
What if you called it a ‘workshop’?
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27. Workshop Structure
• Think of each 1 hour workshop as a ‘lab’
• Students come with textbook exercises/assignments
complete – communication prior to workshop is key!
– Specific questions/agenda discussed in workshop
– Answers and/or sample assignments are provided – it’s a work
session, the group will work through the problems
– Potential for small group work in Breakout Rooms
• Each workshop still includes :
– Ice breaker question, 5 course polls, 1
video/animation/interactive website, webcam
use & picture uploaded
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28. Types of Content
 Upload PowerPoint slides
 Show web pages and have students may complete activity.
 Use eBoard to draw, point, underline to highlight or create
content.
 Use Application Share to review an application or go review a
paper.
 Create Poll questions – interaction
promotes conversation!!
 Select a ‘note-taker’.

29. Collaborative Live Sessions
ONLINE COURSES ON-CAMPUS COURSES
• Welcome/Open House • Invite guest speakers who cannot
come on-campus or reside out of
• Review and reflect discussion state
forums
• Archive explanations of
• Discuss weekly lesson applications or procedures
• Create breakout rooms for • Students who miss a class can
group discussions and remotely participate
activities • Students can complete their
• Project presentations group projects by working
collaboratively in the virtual
• Share desktop to show course classroom
specific applications.

30. We are enhancing the learning
experience & building community for
our students!
…and BONUS – increasing success rates & retention!
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