Southeast online learning program to host open house Wednesday

A physical open house for a virtual program -- Online Learning at Southeast -- is set for this week on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.

The occasion marks the 10th anniversary of Southeast's online program and its growth. Dr. Allen Gathman, associate dean for Online Learning at Southeast, said the event, from noon to 3 p.m. Wednesday in Kent Library room 305, is mostly aimed at faculty and staff, but is open to the public.

"We do actually have human beings that work for Southeast Online," Gathman said.

Online learning works with departments to ensure courses are scheduled properly, offers faculty development and has an open lab for faculty assistance. "And we'll show people the backroom where all the student technicians are working," Gathman said.

For the open lab, staff and students help teachers with any technology problems they might have related to teaching. An instructional designer works with faculty to help design courses -- face-to-face and online -- but instructors mostly need help with the virtual aspect.

"Online is where faculty needs the most help in translating what they do in the classroom. It's a very different sort of teaching ..." Gathman said.

Southeast first offered online courses in 1999, and its first online degree program, a bachelor's degree of general studies, went live in the fall of 2003, Gathman said. "That's been a very popular program over the years," he said. For calendar year 2013, he said 188 students are enrolled in it.

There are 179 students in the RN to BSN -- registered nurse to bachelor of nursing -- a completion program for working nurses; 149 in the bachelor of science in business administration; and 81 in the master of business administration. Gathman said the online MBAs are attractive to students because the program's been ranked No. 1 by geteducated.com.

Southeast offers about 250 online sections of courses and, since 2006, has made available more than 472 different online courses, Gathman said in a university news release.

During the last two years, Southeast has offered about 400 online courses a year, he said. In fiscal year 2013, Southeast offered 768 online sections.

The university has eight online bachelor's degree programs, such as the newly created bachelor of arts in social science program, and eight online master's degree programs, plus certificate programs in fields such as English as a second language and autism education, Gathman said.

In 2009, 25,000 student credit hours were offered online. Five years later in academic year 2013, almost 45,000 credit hours are available online, Gathman said. "Things are growing rapidly. We've added more personnel and we're trying to add more resources," he said. "… It really doesn't show much sign of slowing down."

Chelsea Caile, coordinator of Southeast Online, handles a lot of the recruiting and advising for online students, Gathman said.

Recruitment is done through Google ads and in person through Shannon Bishop, assistant director of online marketing at Southeast's St. Louis office, who attends conferences and visits hospitals for the RN to BSN program and recruitment fairs at community colleges, Caile said. Bishop also goes to criminal justice conferences to help attract students to the university's bachelor's and master's programs in criminal justice.

In St. Louis, the university has bus ads, "which has been pretty great for brand awareness." The traditional admissions office also recruits for all programs, Caile said.

Most of the online students are from Missouri and surrounding states, but there is representation from across the nation and overseas locations.

In the past, Caile said, online students were thought to be older and in established careers. Now they're more diverse. She provided the following examples:

* Some students have opted to take all their courses online. "That population is definitely getting younger and a lot more diverse," Caile said. "We have quite an interesting mix of male, female, young, old, working, not working."

* Traditional college students are supplementing their coursework with online classes. Caile said that used to be discouraged, but it's been found that option better fits some students' schedules, allowing them to be more active in clubs and organizations.

"So online courses have kind of a value-added benefit for even those students in Cape," Caile said.

* Quality Matters Rubric Standards also are being used to ensure the quality of online courses. The peer review initiative started this summer. Classes also are reviewed by students.

* New applications, such as videos, also have made it easier for students and teachers to connect.

Open house

Online Learning at Southeast will host an open house from noon to 3 p.m. Wednesday in Kent Library Room 305. Light refreshments will be available, a technology-inspired art installation will be on display and a video montage made from clips of people across campus will be shown.

Caile said a communications display on the history of communication also will be on exhibit.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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