Online Course Availability at Wayne State University

Jacob McGivern, Computer Science Major

Sarah M. Tiba, Computer Science Major
Daisy Pagador, Psychology Major
Amira Elmoussa, Biology Major
Zeinab Alsaady, Pre-Nursing Major
Alaa Makki, Engineering Major
Riduan Rafique, Business-Information Systems Management

Wayne State University

ENG 3050 Technical Communication I

Professor Corey Hamilton

December 10, 2017

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Table of Contents

Table of Figures .3
Executive Summary... 3
Introduction.... 5
Results of Research.... 6
Student Preferences... 6
Student Transportation and Convenience.. 8
Online Learning Performance 9
Student Opinions of Online Courses11
Professor Opinions of Online Courses. 12
How Universities Are Approaching Online Learning. 13
National Need of Online Higher Education. 15
Discussion. 15
References. 17
Appendices.... 19
Appendix A.. 19
Appendix B.. 21
Appendix C.. 22
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Table of Figures
Figure 1. Students preference of taking an online course over a traditional course.......6
Figure 2. Would WSU students take all of their classes online?....................................................7
Figure 3.Have you as a student ever taken an online course at WSU?...........................................7
Figure 4. Have Students encountered failure to register for an online class due to being full?.....8
Figure 5. How do WSU students get to campus?...............................................8
Figure 6. Do WSU students believe their method of transportation is reliable?.........9
Figure 7. Distance students at WSU live from campus..........9
Figure 8. Do WSU Professors believe students perform in an online class vs traditional?...........10
Figure 9. Students satisfaction rating of the online courses they have
taken.11
Figure 10. Would you (student) like to see more selections for online courses for major required
courses? .12
Figure 11. Do WSU professors prefer to teach online course?......................................................12
Figure 12. Would WSU Professors consider teaching an online
course........13
Figure 13. Do Professors believe that students want more online courses?..................................13
Figure 14. Importance of availability of new technology to prospective students............16

Executive Summary
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According to a survey conducted toward several Wayne State University Engineering faculty in
Appendix C, online courses offered at the university are heavily outnumbered by traditional in-
person formatted courses. Preliminary research was conducted to show that students generally
agree with this statement and desire a change in the amount of online sections available each
semester. This research report will provide the administrators of Wayne State University with the
current opinions of Wayne State University students regarding the availability of online courses.
This report will show evidence that an increase in online courses are warranted for several
reasons.

With the popularity of online courses growing, there is a need for a wider selection of courses
and sections that can be offered, due the tendency of courses filling up quickly. The date any
individual student can register for courses is a very important day. If a student delays their
registration even by a matter of a few hours, their chances of entering into the online courses
they chose for that semester may be slim due to sections being full. Other factors that can delay a
student in enrollment to an online course include, late fees preventing registration, classification
of a student (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior) etc. They would have to take a traditional
styled course instead which may be inopportune for the student.

Research was conducted in survey fashion to the students of Wayne State University.
Approximately 160 students responded to the survey featuring 15 questions. A majority of the
students responses supports the desire of an increase of online course sections for existing
courses with online sections as well as courses without any online sections currently. Wayne
State University faculty were also questioned regarding the current state of online course
presence. Their opinion predominately showed their desire to not increase the amount of online
courses due to the risk of losing a personal connection with their students and believing students
perform worse with online courses. Professors also had an issue with the initial cost and
technology gap to cross to transform their traditional styled classes into an online form. They
believed this was too much work and not feasible to be done.

Secondary research was also performed to understand these concerns. Several studies outlined in
the body of this paper have showed that students have actually executed better than traditional
classroom style courses. Further research was also done on how other universities took on the IT
and infrastructure needs that are required with additional online courses. These upgrades are
costly, but research also suggested that they are necessary for all institutions of higher education
to constitute.
Between the students and the professors at Wayne State University, there is a gap that should be
bridged. Looking at how other high education institutions added their infrastructure for online
courses may be beneficial to appease both the faculty and the students.
ONLINE COURSE AVAILABILITY AT WSU 5

Introduction

Wayne State University offers a minimal amount of online courses to their students. Wayne State
University declares their interest in the diversity of students needs saying, We value all people
and understand that their unique experiences, talents and perspectives make us a stronger
organization and better people.(Wayne State University) These unique experiences may consist
of a student living an hour or more from campus, being an at home single parent, or even a lack
of reliable transportation. These all may prevent students from prospective students taking any
courses during a semester due to time, convenience, or inability to travel. Wayne State
University has six campuses spanning across southeastern Michigan. The probable cause for
building these campuses is to accommodate the students who have to commute a large distance
from the main campus in midtown Detroit. Students who do have access to transportation may
spend hours in a day driving to and from classes during a day. Adding up these hours over a
semester, we can see how much time is truly wasted that could have been used toward the time
students desperately need to focus on coursework. The enrollment of online courses and school
have been increasing greatly over the past decade across the nation (Babson). There are many
students currently enrolled in online courses but most of these courses include theater, beginning
courses of sociology, psychology, and political science. Although most of these courses are
required, most general education courses, which nearly all students need to take to graduate, are
not offered online. Furthermore, if they are offered online, there tends to be a limited amount of
seats, along with only a few sections and it is filled and waitlisted within the first couple days of
registration. Our key sources of information include student input, information provided by
Wayne State University, and feedback provided by departmental administration. The goal and
purpose of the proposal is to compile both secondary and primary research, primarily asking
students currently enrolled in online courses as well as administrators, how and why we can
accommodate the diversity of these students in terms of allowing more online courses.

Our goal and purpose links to who we are reaching out to, or in other words who our targeted
audience is. Further explained in the plan of work, the seven students will create and distribute
surveys to current Wayne State students that are enrolled in current online sections. Our research
will revolve around the data received from this specific group of students as well as information
and data collected from administration offices on campus. We will have to understand the
perspective of these administrators on the availability of these courses. The span of our audience
will expand to contacting the dean and other officiates. The plan of work will further explain the
specific questions we will ask our audience.
ONLINE COURSE AVAILABILITY AT WSU 6

Results of Research

Student Preferences
One of Wayne State Universitys claimed values is the importance in their students perspective.
For this reason, the research conducted was focused upon what current Wayne State University
Students desire. The first question presented to students were if they were interested in taking an
online course over that same course in a face to face setting. As shown in Figure 1, 52.5% of
Wayne State University students would prefer an online course over the traditional styled
classroom setting.

Figure 1. Students preference of taking an online course over a traditional course

Knowing that Wayne State University students have an interest in online courses from the
previous question, we asked if they would consider having their entire program be online. This
would of course exclude all of the mandatory in-person interactions such as oral speeches and
courses that require utilization of laboratories within the university. As shown in Figure 2,160
students responded with similar results to the previous question. 48.8% of students would
consider their entire schedule of courses be completed online. Though never explicitly asked
within the limits of this research paper, possible explanations and theories will be presented
throughout this paper.
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Figure 2. Would WSU students take all of their classes online?

The main issue that brought about the construction of this research topic was the difficulty in
registering for an open section of an online section at Wayne State University. According to the
students who were surveyed, 75% are currently, or have previously, take an online course at
Wayne State University as shown in Figure 3. However, 72.3% of the surveyed have
encountered issues in registering for the online courses they desired because the section was full.

Figure 3. Have students ever taken an online course at WSU?

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Figure 4. Have Students encountered failure to register for an online class due to being full?

Student Transportation and Convenience

For the students who dont live on campus, one of the inconveniences they must deal with is
their daily commute to campus. This daily commute takes time away from possible time to work
on their classwork or homework. Wayne State University Students were asked several questions
regarding their commute. 160 Wayne State university students were asked what their means of
transportation were. As shown in Figure 5, 90% take their own vehicle to class. Only a very
small fraction of students surveyed either live on campus or are within walking distance.

Figure 5. How do WSU students get to campus?

In Figure 6, it was asked if they believed their method of transportation was reliable. 90.6%
believed their own transportation was indeed reliable. Online courses would eliminate any and
all worry for getting to classes on time. The last question asked to the students regarding
commute means is the distance they travel on their daily commute. In Figure 7, we see that over
ONLINE COURSE AVAILABILITY AT WSU 9

half of Wayne State University students travel over 10 miles each way and over 75% of students
travel over 5 miles. These long distances do affect how long students spend on commuting to the
university daily.

Figure 6. Do WSU students believe their method of transportation is reliable?

Figure 7. Distance students at WSU live from campus

Online Learning Performance

Professors of Wayne State University were asked on how students performed in an online
classroom setting versus a traditional on campus classroom. The results in Figure 8 show that all
respondents agreed that students do better in a traditional classroom over an online classroom.
Despite these professors concerns, further research shows how students may perform better than
a traditional classroom setting.
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Figure 8. Do WSU Professors believe students perform in an online class vs traditional?

According to Lewin from the New York Times, a study of more than a 1,000 engineering
students who were taught with online lessons showed a decrease in the percentage of students
who failed the course. The percentage of students who failed dropped from 31% to 7% between
2007 and 2011(Lewin, 2017). The online lessons were offered to accommodate the needs of the
students in efforts to make the material as accessible as possible. Although online courses
simplify and compromise the interaction between students and professors, courses online and on
campus are comprised of the same material and objectives. The traditional due date is also
effective in both cases. Being able to access and complete the material and assignments on ones
own terms shows to be effective. What also shows to be effective is incorporating short videos
and quizzes that give instant feedback. Consider this real-life scenario; a biology class meets on
Mondays and Wednesdays and the professor happened to distribute a quiz on Wednesday. The
class has a scheduled exam for the following Wednesday. After the students had submitted the
quizzes, the professor collects them and promises to have them graded by Monday. The students
had to wait five days before receiving their score. From this scenario one can understand the
disadvantage of having to anticipate feedback and even a score. Dr. Ghadiri a professor from
M.I.T questions why other professors go on writing and delivering their own lectures and quizzes
when there are better alternatives. Online quizzes are graded within seconds and students receive
instant feedback. This feedback can improve the performance of students by preparing them for
any exam (Ben-Naim, 2017).

Dr. Junn from M.I.T tried something new and different that led to the outstanding performance
of his students. He blended online material with live classroom sessions to help more students
succeed. The blended class was approved and offered at San Jose State in the fall. The results for
the blended class were shocking with 91 percent of class passing compared to 59 percent in the
traditional class. Dr. Junn was able to take the traditional online course format and make the
learning experience more interactive and improving performance (Ben-Naim, 2017).
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Student Opinions of Online Courses

126 Students at Wayne State University were asked in a questionnaire how their experience was
in their online course. The results in Figure 9 showed that nearly 60% of students would rate
their experience a 7/10 or better. Furthermore, only 13.5% rate their experience a 4/10 or under.

Figure 9. Students satisfaction rating of the online courses they have taken.

Knowing that students at Wayne State University predominately enjoy the courses they take
online, the questionnaire asked if students would like to see more online classes added for major
specific courses. As shown in Figure 10, similar results appeared to those in Figure 4 regarding if
students have ever occurred full sections preventing them from getting into the section they
desired. 78.8% of students would like to see more major specific online course sections and
72.3% of students had encountered a full section while registering.
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Figure 10. Would you (student) like to see more selections for online courses for major required
courses?

Professor Opinions of Online Courses

Figure 11 represents professors who were asked if they would prefer teaching an online course
instead of one on campus. A majority of the professors at 87% do not prefer teaching an online
course instead of one on campus. The specific answers to the open ended questions toward the
professors can be reviewed further in Appendix C. Overall, most of the respondents expressed
concern with the lack of interaction with their students.

Figure 11. Do WSU professors prefer to teach online course?

Though predominantly professors at Wayne State University would prefer teaching an online
course, 87.5% of professors would consider teaching an online course as shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12. Would WSU Professors consider teaching an online course

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Wayne State University professors were also asked if they believe students want to take more
online courses. 88.9% of respondents agree that student do in fact want more online courses.
Nearly 80% of students shared they did want more courses (Figure 10) and 90% of instructors
believed students wanted more classes. This gives question to why there are not enough online
sections as indicated by Figure 4.

Figure 13. Do Professors believe that students want more online courses?

According to study performed by Peter Shea at University of New York - Albany, one of the
greatest drivers toward alternatives to a traditional styled classroom experience toward a degree
is the flexible work schedule provided to students who do an online program. The greatest
demotivator for faculty teaching online courses is the inadequate compensation for the greater
workload than traditional courses. This data was obtained after surveying 386 faculty members
across 36 colleges in the United States (Schulman and Sims, 1999).

These same professors also were also asked why there are a lack of online sections considering
so many students have not been able to take an online course due to it being full at the time of
registration. The results of this survey is expressed in Appendix C. Most respondents believed
that there is a lack of university infrastructure to meet the demand. According to the responses,
there seems to be a technology gap between the students and the professors. There is also
concern of if an online course was created, that professors would be irrelevant. Further research
was completed to understand these infrastructure issues and technology needs.

How Universities Are Approaching Online Learning

With Wayne State University instructors having concern over the current infrastructure needed to
maintain an online learning resources, research was conducted over what this framework consists
of. Both professors and students are meeting together in online classrooms after experiencing
traditional classrooms. Both parties expect there to be similarities in the teaching style even
though it is a different environment. To meet these expectations, there must be infrastructure
ONLINE COURSE AVAILABILITY AT WSU
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support for the faculty. Faculty need dependable internet access and computer access. Those
choosing to stream their lectures require high bandwidth speeds and proper microphones and
video cameras to provide students the personal connection that they had in traditional
classrooms. Beyond the physical technology, professors also need advanced tools of video
editing software, programs to create online forms and assignments, personal websites, and
possibly multimedia laboratories for some courses. All of these software essentials need to be
taught to these instructors and have maintenance support when technology fails. Similarly, the
students would also need tutorials and support 24/7 (Schroeder, n.d.).

Universities, such as Bentley University, are trying to minimize the infrastructure needs by using
a flipped classroom setup. Wayne State University currently offers some courses in this format.
Flipped classrooms are when students do a majority of their learning outside of the classroom
and come to the classroom to do a laboratory and work with their professor and utilizing the
knowledge learned on their own. Students will normally watch lectures that professors have
made and then come to class where they can freely ask questions and apply that material. As
mentioned before in the Online Learning Performance section, these flipped classrooms, or
blended courses, have typically improved student marks (Ben-Naim, 2017). The online material
provided can either be of the professors material or utilized from an already reputable source
(Sataline, 2013).

Other universities such as Brandeis University, Emory University, Northwestern University,

Boston College, Notre Dame, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, and Washington
University in St. Louis are partnering with 2U Inc. to utilize their established infrastructure rather
than creating or expanding their own. These courses have very small class sizes of only 12
students per section. This gives opportunity for the instructors to have ample facetime with each
student (Sataline, 2013).

Global campus is a separate online institution with its own distinct brand. Global campus is
similar to 2U Inc. in the way that universities partner with them to control the online learning
infrastructure. Colorado State and University of Massachusetts has benefited from this model by
having a different entity rule the online learning segment. These universities do have to pay to
utilize this model, but having a centralized location of online learning separate from the main
campus provides an easier transition of administration and transfer of credits. Each campus who
utilizes these isolated online learning campuses, pay a portion of their operating budget based
upon the quantity of unique users of their program. These operating costs include branding,
marketing, and technical support for their courses (Lieberman, 2017).

The Florida State University actually expects their online programs to be 40% of the cost that
traditional classroom programs cost (Schulman and Sims, 1999). This is because of the cost of
traditional courses rising due to market pressure, increased athletic programs, and dormitories.
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National Need of Online Higher Education

It is no surprise that technology has been advancing annually at exponential rates. With
technology developing, students are having expectations that technologies will also be expanding
at their university of choice. From 2002 to 2014, students who have enrolled in at least one
distance learning course has increased from 1.6 million to 5.8 million students (Poulin and
Taylor Straut, 2016). Students are actively seeking universities who show strong technological
assets. Figure 14 represents the results of a survey brought to various academic administrators
outside across the United States. The survey asks if they believed new technologies within the
university will affect a students decision on choosing to attend that university. 73% of
respondents believed that technology is indeed pertinent in a students choice of which university
to attend (Glenn, 2008).

Figure 14. Importance of availability of new technology to prospective students.

Discussion

From this research, Wayne State University students are actively desiring an increase in online
course sections. Professors have expressed concerns over this in regards to the necessary
infrastructure requirements as well as the academic challenge in reaching out to their students.
However, several studies and several universities have tackled these issues head on and have
showed how they can be dealt with. Universities can either partner with online institutions who
have already built up an extensive framework of online capabilities and have shown adequate
academic prosperity. Higher education facilities should continue to be furthering the technology
they bring to their students as the prospective students look for schools who meet their needs.
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Within this research paper, there are many faults and areas to expand the research that has
started. It should be noted that the statistic of the trend of number of online sections versus
traditional classroom setting sections is not present. This statistic will show how Wayne State
University has been dealing on this topic. Another fault of the research is failure to ask the
students why they preferred online courses over traditional courses. Without asking this question,
the survey shows bias against the professors to whom the same question was asked. Another
question that was absent from the student survey was what their average GPA in online courses
is compared to their average GPA in traditional courses. This data could also support the
secondary research of students in online courses outperform the traditional classroom students.
The number of professors surveyed is also very low. Proper results cannot be extrapolated from
approximately nine faculty members. Furthermore, specifically online professors should have
been surveyed specifically regarding how they prepare and encounter their online courses.
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References
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Ben-Naim, D. (2017). Online learning can work if universities just rethink the design of their
courses. [online] The Conversation. Available at:
http://theconversation.com/online-learning-can-work-if-universities-just-rethink-the-
design-of-their-courses-50848 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2017].

Glenn, M. (2008). The future of higher education: How technology will shape learning. The
Economist, [online] p.19. Available at: https://www.nmc.org/pdf/Future-of-Higher-Ed-
(NMC).pdf [Accessed 5 Dec. 2017].

Lewin, T. (2017). Colleges Adapt Online Courses to Ease Burden. [online] Nytimes.com.
Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/education/colleges-adapt-online-
courses-to-ease-burden.html [Accessed 5 Dec. 2017].

Lieberman, M. (2017). Systemwide Approaches to Online Programs. [online]

Insidehighered.com. Available at: https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-
learning/article/2017/10/18/how-university-systems-structure-their-online-programs
[Accessed 5 Dec. 2017].

Lockwood, M. (2016). Wayne State enrollment grows for first time in 7 years. [online] Wayne
State University. Available at: https://wayne.edu/newsroom/release/2016/09/15/wayne-
state-enrollment-grows-for-first-time-in-seven-years-5944 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2017].

Poulin, R. and Taylor Straut, T. (2016). WCET Distance Education Enrollment Report 2016.
[online] WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies, p.1. Available at:
http://wcet.wiche.edu/sites/default/files/WCETDistanceEducationEnrollmentReport2016.
pdf [Accessed 5 Dec. 2017].

Radicioni, B. (2017). New Study: Over Six Million Students Now Enrolled in Distance
Education. [online] Babson College. Available at: http://www.babson.edu/news-
events/babson-news/Pages/2017-babson-survey-research-group-distance-education-
enrollment-report.aspx [Accessed 5 Dec. 2017].

Sataline, S. (2013). 3 Ways Colleges Are Adapting to Online Learning. [online] Available at:
https://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/articles/2013/09/18/3-ways-
colleges-are-adapting-to-online-learning [Accessed 5 Dec. 2017].

Schroeder, R. (n.d.). Institutional Support Infrastructure for Online Classes. [online]

Journals.iupui.edu. Available at:
https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/muj/article/viewFile/19880/19575 [Accessed 5 Dec.
2017].
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Schulman, A. and Sims, R. (1999). Learning in an Online Format versus an In-Class Format: An
Experimental Study. [online] Questia.com. Available at:
https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-55052058/learning-in-an-online-format-
versus-an-in-class-format [Accessed 5 Dec. 2017].

Wayne State University. (2017). Our mission. [online] Available at:

https://wayne.edu/about/mission [Accessed 5 Dec. 2017].

Appendices

Appendix A
Questionnaire presented to students at Wayne State University

Online Courses Survey

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Please answer the following questions in order to help us collect more information about Online
Courses at Wayne State University.

* Required

Have you ever taken an online course at Wayne State University? *

Yes
No
Are you currently enrolled in an online course? *
Yes
No
If yes to Question 1 or Question 2, Rate your experience 1-10 (10 being amazing and 1 being
awful).
Do you think that Wayne State offers a good selection of online courses? *
Yes
No
Would you like to see more online classes added to the course selections for general education
requirements? *
Yes
No
Would you like to see more online classes added for major specific courses? *
Yes
No
On a scale of 1-10, rate how satisfied you are with the current selections of online classes in your
department? (10 being amazing and 1 being awful).

Would you prefer to take an online class over a traditional face to face class? *
Yes
No
Have you ever wished to take a class online, but couldnt because it was full?
Yes
No
Do you think that online courses tend to fill up before other sections? *
Yes
No
Would you ever consider taking all your classes online if it were available? (Laboratories
excluded) *
Yes
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No
Would you say you have a reliable source of transportation to campus? *
Yes
No
What is your primary means for getting to campus? *
Car
Bike
Public Transportation
Walking
Other:
How far do you live from campus? *
I live on campus
1.0 - 4.9 miles
5.0 - 9.9 miles
10 - 14.9 miles
20 miles or more

Appendix B
Questionnaire presented to faculty at Wayne State University
Would you prefer teaching an online course instead of one on campus?
Yes
No
Why?
Your answer
Would you ever consider teaching an online course? *For Professors*
Yes
No
Why do you believe there are few online sections available for students?
Your answer
How many online sections are available vs. traditional? What are the stats for Winter 2017, Fall
2017, Summer 2017, and Fall 2016?
Your answer
Do you believe that students want more online courses?
Yes
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No
Do you believe that students tend to do better in online courses as opposed to courses on
campus?
Yes
No

Appendix C
Open ended Answers to Questions Presented to Faculty at Wayne State University
Would you prefer teaching an online course instead of one on campus?
Why?
The human connection and rapport between students and teachers is diminished in online
courses. Further, there will always be a learning curve with the technology for both
students and instructors which can hinder learning.
Prefer interaction with the students.
In class interactions are valuable
Limited interaction with students
I prefer face-to-face interaction.
I prefer to talk to students face-to-face so I can see which concepts they may have
difficulty with.

Why do you believe there are few online sections available for students?
WSU does not have a robust infrastructure to support online courses
Lack of interest; instructors unwilling or unable to deal with the technology involved;
unreliability of course sites like Blackboard; more individual responsibility placed on
students with less contact/instruction from teacher.
Demand.
little TA support for designing online programs
Lack of technical support, quality equipment, and resources
Not enough rooms setup with hardware to support online sections.
Limited infrastructure
Cost of getting them launched. Concern that if an online course is created, then faculty
may eventually become irrelevant.
The university is unwilling to invest resources to enable the delivery of high quality
online courses.
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