From 15 to 45 Employees: Restructuring a central teaching center to strategically grow online education opportunities
Ann Marie VanDerZanden, Iowa State University
Sara Marcketti, Iowa State University
Susan Arendt, Iowa State University
Jessica Stolee, Iowa State University
Tiffany Thuney, Iowa State University
The COVID-19 pandemic thrust online learning to the forefront at many higher education institutions. As a result, students have come to expect the flexibilities that online learning offers, and instructors have become more proficient and accepting of online teaching. Iowa State University leveraged this disruption to create a central unit to support all online learning activities across the institution. Previously some, but not all, colleges provided varying levels of faculty and student support for online courses and degree programs. There was no unified branding or marketing for online programs nor strategic approach to expand online offerings in response to workforce demands.
The reorganization was informed by a thorough review and analysis of distance education at ISU over a 24-month period. This included input from a working group of college deans, an institutional online learning taskforce, input from the institution's external governing body, and external consultants. The resulting reorganization plan that was developed provided a systematic process that ensured institutional policies and procedures were followed and led to a new organizational structure to support and grow online education at Iowa State. The reorganization built on the existing strength and outstanding reputation of the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching by increasing their capacity to support the continuum of teaching formats (face-to-face to online). It integrated enterprise level support for course design and quality with enterprise support for instructional technology (e.g. Canvas, learning tool integrations, etc.), and a new Iowa State Online unit focused on cohesive branding, marketing, and online support for current and prospective students.
This poster will describe the planning, development and implementation phases of the reorganization which went into effect January 3, 2023. Presenters will share strategies and lessons learned throughout the process including the value of partnering with Human Resources, external consultants, internal stakeholders, and senior leadership.
Program
The poster and discussion during the session will be organized based on the timeline used for the reorganization including the following:
1) The overall impetus for the change.
2) The planning process including engagement of internal and external stakeholders, and professional consultants with higher education and online learning experience.
3) How we engaged with university human resources at multiple stages of the project (early, mid-project, at implementation, and ongoing). Who we partnered with, and how their expertise was utilized, varied by the stage of the reorganization.
4) The ongoing focus on change management including: changes internal to the teaching center including new processes and policies being developed and implemented; the overall culture change as a result of increased staff and expectations; the impact on the institution and interactions with faculty, staff and students; and the continuing engagement with external stakeholders.