Online courses at Citrus College have lower success rates when compared to in-person classes. But as the program grows, online success is inching closer to the campus average.
Citrus College introduced online education in 1996. The number of enrollees increased by 2,072 students from 2016 to 2018. With 15 percent of total courses at Citrus College available as online classes.
Data provided by the office of institutional research shows an 8 to 12 percent difference in favor of in-person courses.
Dr. Dana Hester, dean of the online program, is aware of the lower success rates. Hester said these numbers are a few points ahead of the state average.
“And that’s initially why we started thinking about the online training in particular as a place to start,” Hester said. “We’re definitely mindful of both from the faculty perspective and students perspective as to how can we make that success number grow.”
Instructors are now required to take an online course known as the “introduction to online teaching and learning” as part of the vetting process for professors looking to teach an online course.
Dr. Beverly Van Citters is the online education faculty coordinator, she is tasked with training professors looking to teach online classes.
”It’s also not for everyone – not only as students – it’s not for everyone to teach either, and I mean I was trained as a face to face person, and it’s not for everybody,” Van Citters said. “That’s why it’s required that faculty take an online class so they know what it’s like to become a student again in a totally different environment.”
Dr. Van Citters has an online orientation at the beginning of the semester. Students watch a variety of videos introducing them to the specific challenges that come with online classes.
Citrus college has also invested in programs like SoftChalk. The software helps instructors prepare online lesson plans. SoftChalk works in tandem with Canvas, the virtual classroom where students receive assignments from instructors.
Online success rates have been on the rise. Passing grades have increased by 6 percent in the past four years. It is unknown if this is due to the changes being made within the online education program.
Supervisor for classified and online education/library services Lari Kirby said the growth of the program fluctuates year to year. She said the program almost reached 25 percent of total classes offered at Citrus, but was reduced back to 10 to 12 percent of total classes.
“It was determined how many students you needed to pay for an instructor salary,” Kirby said of the cut back of the online program. “But it was more because there needed to be a little more focus on training of the faculty, and retention rates, completion for the students, how successful they were.”
