2010 Retreat Session Descriptions

Continuing Education Retention Analytics
Jacob Ensign JMH Consulting
Most continuing education departments have a firm grasp of our industry's fundamental metrics: revenue, net revenue, enrollments, evaluation scores, and a few others. However, measurement beyond this is generally beyond the capability of continuing education staff. Few departments translate good for-profit business practices into a working continuing education model, and even fewer find such translations effective.This presentation will introduce three additional metrics: Course Bounce Rate, Course Landing Rate, and Course Exit Rate. You do not need to be a statistician to obtain these metrics or use them to improve your bottom line. They will also help you baseline, set goals, and indicate ways to improve your repeat rate and bottom line directly.

Creating a Culture of Data-Driven Decisions
Jacob Ensign has supported JMH Consulting
In 2005, The Harvard Business Review published an article suggesting that successful organizations in today's competitive landscape will be those making data-driven decisions part of the organizational strategy. A data-driven approach to decision-making can't replace the wisdom and intuition of an experienced adult education professional, but data will help confirm direction, narrow focus, and quantify expectations. This session introduces a three-principle approach for creating a culture of data-driven decisions. Each principle will be illustrated with real-world projects from a leading university. Don't miss this opportunity to improve your decision-making processes by asking good data-oriented questions and generating sound, data-supported answers.

Engaging Students with Online Role Play
Linda Koechli, PhD, Lead Instructional Designer, The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, Ryerson University

Bryan Gough, Developer of Learning Materials, G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, Ryerson University

Naza Djafarova, Manager, Information Technology and Innovation, The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, Ryerson University

Activities that incorporate the role play method are widely used in the classroom to engage students and provide an environment for experiential and authentic learning experiences. In the online environment, however, instructors have struggled to adapt their role-playing exercises, citing the predominately text-based, asynchronous format of most learning management systems as a barrier.

While some educational institutions are experimenting with virtual worlds such as Second Life, these sophisticated role-playing environments lack an educational framework to ensure students are engaged in the learning experience. The Chang School has developed an online role-playing application that enables students to create and edit role-playing scenarios via avatars, producing a narrative work that peers can view and respond to through threaded comments.

This presentation will outline key design features of the application and discuss how they contribute to building students' social intelligence and communication skills. The presentation is aimed at educators who are seeking innovative ways of implementing role-playing activities online and concludes with three different practical models.

DE Roundtable
The Centre for Extended Learning (CEL) at the University of Waterloo has addressed the challenge of providing more timely assignment and task feedback to students in an environmentally and financially responsible manner. Using an action research paradigm [1], CEL has collected qualitative and quantitative data from participants (both students and markers) based on their use of instructionally supported technological marking tools like, Microsoft Word's Track Changes, Macro shortcuts, digital inking using tablet PCs, and online quizzes with automatic feedback. Our participants' experiences continue to inform the decisions we make as we move forward.
Through an interactive session experience how CEL is using an action research paradigm to
provide valuable and timely guidance to students as they progress through their coursework. Initial findings of this project will be presented, with an invite for similar educational experiences to be shared. [1] Action research can be described as a transformative orientation to knowledge creation (Bradbury Huang, 2010, p. 93).

Bradbury-Huang, H. (2010). What is good action research? Action Research 8, 93-109.

Profiles of Online Learners
We frequently make assumptions about our learners, and use labels such as the net generation, millennials, and digital natives. Analysis of our learners and their true learning habits and preferences happens less frequently. The Centre for Extended Learning at the University of Waterloo has been surveying students for the last three years, and this session will share some of the interesting findings within these data, and discuss some of the implications that this research has had on our course design, support, and strategic directions as an online learning unit.
Presenter: Aldo Caputo is the Associate Director, Online Learning, within the Centre for Extended Learning, University of Waterloo. Previously, he was Manager of Learning Technologies and Courseware Innovation at the University of Guelph. Aldo has a MA from Northwestern University, an Diploma in Education from McGill, and a BA from University of Western Ontario