STREAMLINING DISTANCE EDUCATION

Streamlining Distance Education

Gene A. White Jr.

Arkansas Tech University

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Background

Distance education at SEARK College is currently under the leadership Distance

Education Coordinator and a Moodle Support Assistant. There are some steps which need to be

taken to secure the quality of the distance courses taught through SEARK College. First, a needs

assessment should be done to find out the needs of the potential and existing students, faculty,

administration, and the information technology (IT) department. Second, technology will need

to be assessed and updated as needed to ensure quick access to the Internet from campus and

eliminate downtime for the learning management system to maintenance and upkeep tasks.

Third, goals and objectives for the expansion of distance learning will need to be developed.

These goals should be based on the vision of the organization.

Purpose of Project

The overall purpose of this project is to improve the overall functionality and adoption of

distance learning on the SEARK College campus. The process between admission to Moodle

LMS needs to strengthening.

Problem Identified

The problem is that some students at SEARK have reported difficulty with accessing

courses, not getting enrolled in classes in time outside of the normal enrolment period, and with

coming on campus to take a proctored exam. As a college, SEARK should be asking these

questions; How can enrolment be increased and drops prevented by overcoming technical

difficulties? How can the enrol/unenrol process be integrated with the student information

system to become seamless? Is the proctored exam policy keeping students that would consider

completely online programs from enrolling at SEARK?

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Research Method and Procedures

Two hundred online students and 40 instructors including adjuncts were randomly

assessed on any challenges they have with navigation and utilization of the Moodle LMS.

Instructors were surveyed concerning their Strengths weaknesses and opportunities that surround

the Moodle LMS. Both online and on-campus instructors will be surveyed since they all use

Moodle. The goal is to obtain data from 200 random students and 40 instructors including

adjuncts.

Analysis and Findings

Ten percent of the online population randomly took the survey. Ninety-Three percent of the

participants found the Moodle LMS to be user friendly. Sixty-four percent of the users access the

LMS from the smartphone. Forty-four percent of those users spend most of their time in Moodle

from those Smart phones. A series of questions were then asked of the students. The questions

answered were in reference to aspects of the Distance Education program here at SEARK.

Students were asked to choose one of four ratings: not observed, insufficient, meets needs,

exceeds needs. These questions were used to determine where the students felt the program could

use improvement and or is doing well. After analysing the data found in the survey, it was

discovered that a little over 50% of the students sampled log in to their online courses more than

5 times per week. Over all when it comes to support from faculty and staff, the students find that

the program meets their needs. Students primarily view their courses from their phones but it was

also found that there is no official mobile used by the college for accessing the LMS.

Recommended Action Plan

To overcome some of the challenges that students are seeing in Distance Education at

SEARK, the organization could implement a few changes that will have positive impact on the
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program and the students. First, SEARK should research and look into the possibility of adding

an official mobile app to its technology access. Secondly, provide a form of professional

development for faculty and online instructors that is geared round Distance Education and

making courses more interactive for students. Lastly, it is recommended that SEARK look into

automating the enrolment process in which students are added or removed from courses.