eLearning

Vision: UM System will be the premier eLearning provider in Missouri and contiguous states in respect to the quality of programs, courses offered and the number of learners served. Our initial focus will be on adult and traditional learners to meet the workforce needs of the state of Missouri and beyond while reaching a goal of at least 25,000 new learners by 2025.

Objectives:

• Serve new students including adult learners and traditional students through eLearning.
• Design online programs and stackable certificates to meet the workforce needs of the state.
• Increase net revenues from online programs to invest in research and teaching missions.

The UM System has partnered with EY-Parthenon on systemwide strategic planning for eLearning. EY-Parthenon will:

• evaluate existing online and distance learning programs to identify strengths and weaknesses and compare key metrics to national best practices;
• assess demand for online education within Missouri and the region;
• identify opportunities and assess viability for expanding distance and online learning;
• evaluate technology platforms; and
• develop an operating model, implementation and go-to-market plan.

Regular updates will be provided to the University community as available. Updates are intended to provide a holistic view of the work accomplished to date. The eLearning Overview in the resource section expands upon each of the updates below. This information is not necessarily in chronological order.

• Mizzou Online, Course and Design Technology (ET@MO) and UMSL Online: Effective Oct. 1, Mizzou Online, Course and Design Technology (ET@MO) and UMSL Online will move under the direction of Matthew Gunkel, UM System chief eLearning officer. This change will not affect the way in which programs and services will be delivered, but rather help us evaluate the best way to deliver one support platform and operation resources systemwide. Employees involved in this transition will remain at their home university and continue to serve our eLearning needs systemwide. Additionally, we will continue to evaluate opportunities with UMKC and Missouri S&T in the near future. These changes will not impact tuition revenue at the individual universities, as all tuition dollars will remain at the university offering the degree or program.
• MoExcels: The UM System Office of Academic Affairs responded to the Missouri Department of Higher Education’s MoExcels Request for Proposals opportunity to develop a model for addressing Missouri’s workforce needs through innovative online postsecondary education. This proposal set the conceptual framework for the UM System’s eLearning initiative.
• Engagement: The eLearning Executive Committee and Task Force began meeting on a regular basis in November 2018. These meetings has provided a forum for the consultants, EY Parthenon, to inform the group of its progress, assessment, and recommendations; and has provided key stakeholders from across our four universities an opportunity to provide input, ask questions, and guide the process as we consider key questions. A Faculty Technical Group was launched in January 2019 the charge to the group and membership are available in the Faculty Technical Team section.
  • The eLearning Task Force held its first meeting and Haven Ladd of EY Parthenon presented the company’s eLearning strategy to the Board of Curators. To review content:
    • Access the archived audio: Available at minute ~28:00 – 1:05:00 
    • Review the presentation slide deck
• Chief Online Learning Officer: In December 2018 the UM System began its search for a Chief Online Learning Officer. This position will be tasked with overseeing and strategically managing the transformational change required to successfully offer high-quality online degrees. The position description can be found in the eLearning Overview in the resource section. 
• Internal Assessment: EY Parthenon conducted a comprehensive internal assessment designed to better understand existing eLearning capacity and service level across the program value chain in the areas of course design, marketing, admissions and enrollment management, and pre- and post-matriculation student support. This process involved collection of primary and secondary data, faculty interviews and a faculty survey, and an assessment of alignment with national best practices.
• Market Analysis: A survey of prospective students was launched in November 2018 in an effort to quantify the demand for online degree programs within Missouri and surrounding states, to understand the drivers of demand, and to assess the UM System’s potential in the market.
• Website Launch: This website was launched in January 2019 to provide stakeholders with a one-stop-shop for information regarding the UM System’s eLearning efforts.

The Online Faculty Advisory Committee is a component of the UM eLearning initiative and implementation. The team includes faculty members with significant experience teaching in an online format as well as those with active research interests in the area. Together, these faculty members work toward determining innovative ways to achieve the scale desired in UM’s vision for our eLearning initiative. In the future, the eLearning Oversight Committee will continue to seek input from faculty who are influential and have credibility with their colleagues so they might help us engage other faculty and ensure our University maintains quality programs.

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Members of the Online Faculty Advisory Committee include:

The main functions of the eLearning Strategy and Implementation Oversight Committee are to:

• Develop and make decisions regarding program migration and new program development processes
• Approve or reject proposals for new online programs and proposals for the migration of an existing program online (the committee will serve as one of the University-level approvers, along with the Board of Curators)
• Facilitate between campuses during the program collaboration period (if applicable)
• Designate and coordinate instruction allocation in the event of program collaboration across campuses
• Assist campuses in determining revenue share / revenue allocation agreements with the System for online programs
• Provide input on other eLearning operations issues as needed

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Members include:

• Matthew Gunkel, Chair
• Barb Bichelmeyer, Provost, UMKC
• Ben Canlas, Director of Enterprise Application Services, UM System
• Beth Chancellor, Interim Vice President for Information Technology, UM System
• Steve Graham, Senior Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, UM System
• Kevin Hogg, Director of Real Estate and Business Services, UM System
• Matthew Martens, Provost Faculty Fellow, MU
• Marie Mora, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, UMSL
• Carrie Nicholson, Research Consultant, UM System
• Cynthia Pemberton, Deputy Provost, UMKC
• Latha Ramchand, Provost, MU
• Amber Reinhart, Provost Faculty Fellow, UMSL
• Steve Roberts, Interim Provost, Missouri S&T
• Kristin Sobolik, Provost, UMSL

The main roles of the eLearning Academic Council are to:

• Develop and make recommendations to the CeLO regarding program quality and standards (any decisions made by the council are subject to approval by the CeLO)
• Make recommendations on programs to migrate to the systemwide effort (note: any decisions are subject to approval by the Oversight Committee)
• Define what an ongoing quality management/continuous improvement process looks like
• Prepare best practices for selection and training of faculty to ensure quality instruction
• Define retention and other metrics that will be used in assessing the success of UM Online
• Review key metrics and graduation reports and discuss goals for improvement
• Provide input on other eLearning academic issues as needed

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Members include:

Matthew Gunkel
Chief eLearning Officer

As Chief eLearning Officer, Gunkel will lead the systemwide effort to develop, design, build and operate an online and digital-learning program that will ensure a superior academic experience for students and lead us toward meeting ambitious enrollment goals. Gunkel will closely collaborate with university leadership and faculty at each of the four universities as they work to expand and align online programs and service initiatives and launch appealing eLearning programs.

In June 2019, Gunkel joined the UM System from Indiana University, where he most recently served as the Director of Teaching and Learning Technology and led eLearning strategy, services, operations and investments for the entire nine-campus system. During that time, he helped grow Indiana University’s reputation as a nationally recognized leader in online learning, with the university’s US News ranking for best online bachelor’s program climbing from 72 to 20 over the past four years. In his role, Gunkel streamlined tools to drive the cost of creating and delivering a new online course from $30,000 to less than $7,000 and spearheaded efforts that quadrupled the number of courses created annually from the program’s beginning in 2014. His work to negotiate contracts for solutions and services established ground-breaking partnerships with key players in educational technology, such as Examity, Canvas, Top Hat, Zoom and Google. Gunkel earned a master’s in information science from Indiana University and a bachelor’s in computer technology from Purdue University.

eLearning Partnership Primary goal: increase student enrollments in eLearning courses and programs, while enhancing student services, faculty development, the student experience, compliance services and with the ultimate goal of improving efficiencies and the quality of courses and programs.

The primary outcomes will be driven through:

• Student enrollment in online programs
  • Pre-matriculation support
  • Student success coaching
• Enhanced student services and experience
• Increased faculty development services, programming and support
• Improved quality in course design, compliance services, and improve efficiencies to support increasing scale and engaged learning
• The collective power of all four university brands
  • Elevate existing services provided by each university
• One support platform and operation resources systemwide
  • Streamline existing foundational technology services in support of scale and active learning
• All revenue and fee income directed back the universities o Provide base services for all online courses