Making Progress for a Stronger Ohio

The Ohio Learning Network, under the Strickland administration, provides leadership in the use of technology to improve learning in Ohio's higher educational community by aggregating, promoting, initiating and managing the next generation of online learning tools, techniques, student services, and professional development opportunities.

Annual Milestones

2007:

• Managed OhioLearns!, an online catalog of 340 degrees and certificates and over 5000 courses used by more than 350,000 Ohioans annually.
• Implemented a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. A CRM integrates different forms of electronic communications with an individual so responses can be used as data and applied to marketing and reporting. OLN integrated the CRM into E 4 ME, created a pilot common application for four Ohio community colleges, and linked several student services to improve academic advising.
• Collaborated with OhioLINK, OARnet and the Ohio Supercomputer Center to manage and host the annual statewide conference attended by 400 faculty, librarians, instructional designers, staff, students and others. The attendees explored the 2007 Convergence of Learning, Libraries and Technology with a focus on Connectivism: Content, Connections and Conversations.
• Supported 1490 Learning Communities of more than 3000 individuals from 49 institutions that provide authentic faculty and staff development for transforming practices on campus and improving learning environments.
• Created the QuickStart to College program with a $522,200 grant from the Lumina Foundation.  QuickStart is an integrative program that supports undereducated, underemployed adults to earn a postsecondary certificate or degree and removes institutional and state policy barriers to increase degree completion.
• Introduced more than 3000 adults to distance learning with E 4 ME, an orientation to online learning course with no fault, no fail guarantees. E 4 ME provides an overview of distance learning opportunities offered by Ohio higher educational institutions as well as helping students prepare for issues faced by online learners.
• Sponsored the Annual Learning Communities Expo attended by 300 Ohio higher education faculty and administrators.
• Aggregated services (Smarthinking) to provide a 35 percent discount in cost for online tutoring allowing institutions to offer 24 x 7 tutoring to students.
• Aggregated services (Eduventures) to provide e-learning research and consulting for USO institutions. OLN was able to provide timely market research to its members including customized reports at a savings of $22,850 annually per institution.
• Designed a best practices review for services provided to distance learning students ensuring that accompanying student services are of equally high quality.
• Redesigned the OLN Web site.

2008:

• Assisted two-thirds of the USO institutions assess their Web-based student services through use of the CENTSS Audit. OLN provided aggregate results and led the conversation as to how the USO can improve the delivery of eStudent Services through collaboration.
• E 4 ME, OLN's online orientation course for distance learning opportunities in Ohio, received two national awards:
1. American Distance Education Consortium Distance Education Award of Excellence
2. WCET Outstanding Work Award
• Started TEACHU, OLN's online webinars, which provided a forum for the discussion of topics related to improving learning with technology for the professional development of Ohio's higher educational faculty and administrators.
• Collaborated with OhioLINK , OARnet and the Ohio Supercomputer Center to manage and host the annual statewide conference attended by 400 faculty, librarians, instructional designers, staff, students and others. The attendees explored the 2008 Convergence of Learning, Libraries and Technology with a focus on themes related to Chancellor Fingergut's keynote address, “Shaping the Future of Ohio Higher Education.”
• Sponsored the Annual Learning Communities Expo attended by 300 for the professional development of Ohio's higher educational faculty and administrators.
• Transferred Blackboard hosting to the University of Cincinnati after OLN reduced license cost by 50 percent for seven Ohio institutions.
• Transferred Blackboard statewide licensing to OARnet after OLN aggregated an Ohio buy saving participating institutions 12.5 percent off the basic Blackboard rate.

2009:

• Created Ohio eTutoring Collaborative to expand online tutoring services, reduce costs, and expand control over tutoring services to participating USO institutions. Six institutions participated in the pilot program in autumn 2008. Fifteen USO institutions participated in the inaugural opening in January 2010.
• Created Ohio Quality Matters Consortium with 39 Ohio higher educational institutions. Quality Matters addresses online learning improvement concerns. Ohio has the largest number of institutional members that use Quality Matters in the country. In a Quality Matters Rubric workshop, 319 faculty members from Ohio attended. With our consortia arrangements, the state saved more than $40,000 for those attending.
• Administered and funded the USO Textbook Affordability Grant program , for the Ohio Board of Regents, making $250,000 available to faculty teams who develop, build, and package collections of course materials offered free to students.
• Administered and funded the USO Faculty Innovator Awards , for the Ohio Board of Regents, given to faculty members on March 24, 2009, for work they did to introduce digital course materials in the classroom that enrich learning and make college textbooks more affordable for their students.
• Redesigned E 4 ME course to become a learner, self-paced course, rather than instructor-led, to increase cost efficiencies.
• Entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Minnesota State Colleges Universities (MnSCU) to improve and expand electronic student service tools, improve and expand the assessment of student service for more effective delivery and cost reduction and recognize the potential for expanding these efforts to multiple states across the country and possibly partner with them on these shared objectives.
• Formed the e-Student Services Constituency Group, comprised of directors and deans of student service units from USO two- and four-year institutions, to assist OLN in reviewing eStudent Services issues and to make recommendations to policy makers.
• Collaborated with OhioLINK , OARnet and the Ohio Supercomputer Center to manage and host the 10^thand final statewide conference attended by 400 faculty, librarians, instructional designers, staff, students and others.  The attendees explored the 2009 Convergence of Learning, Libraries and Technology with a focus on themes related to P-20 educational issues with a view toward 2010 and a new P-20 conference.
• Sponsored the Annual Learning Communities Expo attended by 300 for the professional development of Ohio's higher educational faculty and administrators.

Breakdown of Successes

Impacting Ohio Communities (cities, towns and rural areas):

• OhioLearns! catalog is Ohio's single source for distance learning opportunities by aggregating online content offered by Ohio's higher education community.
• E 4 MEis a free month-long course that lets students "test drive" an online course about distance learning opportunities in Ohio prior to enrolling in an online course for a cost.
• eTutoring Collaborative expands online tutoring services to participating USO institutions into areas where tutoring assistance in critical subject areas is unavailable.

Creating and Retaining Jobs, Preparing Workers and Accelerating the Economy:

• QuickStart to College program's target audience is first-generation college attendees, low-wage workers, and other underemployed/undereducated adults in high need areas of Ohio.
• OLN worked with other state agencies developing online, stackable certificates.

Helping Ohioans in Need:

• 2008-2009: Funded by the Lumina Foundation, 279 individuals registered for the QuickStart to College program. Fifty-eight percent completed the program, and 42 percent enrolled in college the following term.
• Free career and academic planning tools are provided on the OhioLearns! Web site.
• Inquiries about distance learning opportunities are personally answered by knowledgeable and professional staff.
• E 4 ME — P (Prison version) is available monthly to pre-release inmates at one facility through the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Finding Efficiencies and Cost Savings in State Government during the Recession:

• 2007-2009: Managed OhioLearns!, an online catalog, that aggregates Ohio's higher educational content of 340 degrees and certificates and over 5000 courses that are used by more than 350,000 Ohioans annually.
• 2007- 2009: Provided Sloan College Pass professional development workshops to Ohio's faculty at no cost for a total cost savings of $113,575 over three years. Through Sloan College Pass workshops, 385 educators from 50 institutions received professional development.
• 2006-2008: Provided Eduventures' distance learning marketing reports to all Ohio higher educational institutions for $22,850 per year: the amount it would cost each institution individually.
• 2005-2008: Created yearly Distance Learning Reports providing an overview of USO distance learning enrollments, best practices, and analysis of trends in Ohio with comparisons to national and international trends.
• 2007-2008: Provided free TeachU webinars for professional development to 1,040 educators.
• 2008: ePortfolio Day provided electronic portfolio education to 249 educators.
• OLN's Second Life Island allows Ohio educators to explore uses of Second Life for education at no cost, explore teaching resources in virtual worlds, learn from colleagues and reserve teaching space on the island. OLN's yearly membership fee of $1,700 permits Ohio institutions to participate. OLN pays a $21,000 yearly fee to the University of Cincinnati to manage the project.
• Provided statewide discounts up to 25 percent off the original cost of a variety of educational technology software.
• Provided six moderated online communities enabling educators to share best practices and explore critical issues (1,530 subscribers). There are multiple additional listservs which share pertinent information with subscribers.
• OLP (in partnership with eTech Ohio) hosts and provides access and technical support for the use of Sakai CLE and  E-Portfolio, customization and improvements, offers professional development to Sakai CLE and e-Portfolio.
• Technopoli provides Ohio educators a calendar of technology-related professional development opportunities locally and nationally. Events are listed in one location so faculty, staff and administrators do not have to look in multiple locations. Events include face-to-face and online events.
• OLN supports statewide learning communities that conduct research and trials utilizing various technologies. Utilizing their discoveries, learning communities present findings and suggestions to other educators during annual expositions.

Overall Successes that are Critical to your Agency's Mission and Constituents:

• Administer the second round of CENTSS audits to provide the Chancellor with data to guide decision-making to improve efficiencies and reduce costs related to tools and e-Student Services necessary to build a student portal.
• Expand delivery of eTutoring services to all interested USO institutions for autumn 2010.
• Select a CRM vendor and implement a stage one deployment of the tools with necessary shared services to participating USO institutions.
• Continue to support Ohio Quality Matters Consortium for Ohio faculty for the improvement of online learning.
• Remain the critical center for compiling data about distance learning in Ohio and offering analysis to state policy makers.
• Work with the Ohio Board of Regents, USO, and other Ohio K-20 technology organizations to create an integrated shared technology infrastructure.
• The University System of Ohio's Learning, Libraries and Technology annual conference was a collaborative effort with OLN, OhioLINK, OARnet and Ohio Supercomputer Center to provide a conference that addressed current and emerging needs relevant to a wide range of attendees including faculty, librarians, instructional designers, staff, students and others. Each year, the conference themes and speakers were aligned with current emerging needs. More than half of the participants consistently rate the conference as “the best conference I attend.”
• Work with our community to acquire input for upgrading OhioLearns! Catalog functions, by implementing new software to incorporate emerging portal technologies.

Building on Successes/Goals for Next Year:

• Expand eTutoring services to all interested USO institutions and lay ground work for Ohio's private and independent colleges and universities.
• Implement a CRM with shared service support to interested USO institutions. This effort will help institutions create an integrated communication service that provides them with user data that can be used for targeted marketing and critical reporting.
• Administer the second round of CENTSS audits to include all interested USO institutions.
• mprove assessment of and deployment of eStudent services with the cooperation of the eStudent Services Constituency Group . Focus will be on identifying how efficiencies can be achieved and costs reduced through deploying eStudent Services via a centralized or a shared model.  Where possible, OLN will assist in the deployment of these identified eStudent Services.
• Continue to support Ohio Quality Matters Consortium for Ohio faculty for the improvement of online learning.
• Implement collaborative opportunities presented in the MOU with Minnesota State Colleges & Universities for the creation and improvement of eStudent Services.
• Improve reporting of Ohio's higher educational distance learning landscape to better meet the expectations of the Chancellor and the Ohio Board of Regents.
• Work with the Ohio Board of Regents and the Ohio Department of Education to implement new teacher education standards and programs.
• Solicit from Ohio's education community suggestions for OLN to help provide professional development opportunities to Ohio's higher educational faculty, staff and administrators through the aggregation of programs and services to create greater opportunities and reduce costs.
• Maintain OLN staff's active involvement in the statewide P-20 Education & Technology annual conference.
• Maintain OLN staff's active involvement in a cross section of national and international professional organizations through attendance, presentation, and participation at leadership levels. 
• Work with our community to acquire input for upgrading OhioLearns! Catalog functions, by implementing new software to incorporate emerging portal technologies.