Progress 08/01/04 to 07/31/07
Outputs
The Community Development On-line Masters Degree in Community Development project made great strides. We are seeing growing numbers of students enrolled in courses, with 61 students enrolled in Fall 2007 courses and 35 enrolled in the program across the six universities. Two courses were put online Fall 2005, and two courses were offered in Spring 2006 and in Summer 2006. Students are either fully admitted into the degree program, taking courses to fulfill their Program of Study, or they are taking classes as non-degree students. Sixteen students were enrolled in courses in Fall 2005, fifteen in Spring 2006, and ten in Summer 2006. In Fall and Spring 2006, we saw a big increase in numbers with 25 students enrolled in Fall; in Spring, we had 40 students. We are currently focusing recruiting new faculty to be able to offer more courses to our growing numbers of students. Faculty members from six different institutions, Iowa State University, Kansas State University,
North Dakota State University, South Dakota State University, University of Missouri, and University of Nebraska, continue to work together with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development to create and enhance the curricular base of this program. The faculty teams communicated throughout the project to work on course content. We had faculty meeting calls as well as an annual faculty meeting in Omaha, NE in April 2007. At that meeting several decisions were made regarding curriculum and adding new courses; additionally, we met with the Great Plains IDEA Board of Directors to discuss our progress. In the past year, we coordinated a Student Advisory Council that guides the program from the student perspective, in terms of enhancing communication, curriculum and student advising. This five-member group meets once a month via teleconference. We have evaluated our efforts to date in two ways. An outside evaluator interviewed faculty about their experiences with the program, and
the NCRCRD conducted interviews with students, past and present, to learn about what we are doing well and opportunities for improvement. Suggestions made by students have already been implemented or will be in the next year. Two reports have been published out of these evaluative efforts and are available on the NCRCRD web site. Feedback received from potential and registered students indicates that this program is filling a void in community development curriculum. We will continue the effort to reach out to potential students in the next year through marketing efforts, nationally and internationally. We hope to continue to reach Native populations, as well as other diverse populations of students. Additional grant money is being sought after adding a new track on Working with Immigrant Communities. An annual faculty meeting is scheduled for June 2008 in Omaha, NE, where curriculum will be reviewed and new faculty members will be considered and voted upon. Courses will continue to
be offered throughout this year and new students will be admitted each semester. Faculty teams continue to meet periodically to review their courses, and a rich curriculum has developed out of their dedicated effort.
PRODUCTS: The degree program began in Fall 2005, and two or more courses have been offered every semester since that time. Curriculum was developed by faculty teams for all courses. The schedule of courses is available at: http://www.gpidea.org/prospective/community/cdProgram.html Faculty have presented at conferences, published articles and disseminated information on list servs and at conferences to market the program. A list serv of potential students continues to grow and is still managed by the NCRCRD. A list serv of faculty members that was developed by the NCRCRD has enhanced communication over the past year. Meetings via conference call with the advisory committee and outside evaluator for the program have occurred periodically throughout the year. Two evaluations were conducted in the past year. Ray Lewis, the outside evaluator conducted a review of the program with faculty and produced a report. Similarly, the NCRCRD conducted interviews with past and present students in
the program and produced a report as well. The NCRCRD presented on the program at the Iowa Distance Learning Association's IACON conference: Community Development On-line Master's Program, presented by Susan Fey at the Iowa Connections 2007 conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. April 2007. http://www.ncrcrd.iastate.edu/pubs/presentations/fey/iacon2007.pdf A monthly newsletter, CD News, was developed by the NCRCRD and has been distributed electronically each month since March, 2006. The newsletter highlights students and faculty, offers resources to students and faculty, and provides general information about the degree program and the field of community development: http://www.gpidea.org/prospective/community/cdProgram.html
OUTCOMES: Five institutions are using the policies and procedures that have been designed for smooth delivery of the degree program, and one institution is in the process of attaining approval for using them. Five institutions have gained approval for the program from the graduate curriculum committees. Five universities will be offering the Community Development program by Spring 07. Web sites and marketing tools have been developed to support student recruitment and retention. Institutional Web sites are developed and over 500 brochures have been distributed. Almost 20 different courses have been offered since Fall 2005, with an average of 15 students taking courses. Articles and presentations have been published and presented on the degree program. An evaluation report was written by an outside evaluator to finish out the grant funding period.
DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: The marketing brochure for the program was disseminated at several tribal colleges and conferences, nationally and locally. Information about the Community Development program is readily available on the Great Plains IDEA site. Information about the degree program has also been disseminated on a list serv of potential students that was developed throughout the year as student contacts were made. The NCRCRD manages this list, as well as a list for current faculty in the program.
FUTURE INITIATIVES: Future Initiatives include holding a faculty meeting in June of 2008. A teleconference meeting with institutional representatives is scheduled for September 14, 2007. Funding is being sought for the development of a new track of courses on Working with Immigrant Communities. New courses are available this curricular year, including Non-Profit Management, Community Leadership and Capacity Building, Grant writing, Coastal Policies and Politics, and Economic Programs and Strategies. Two presentations about the Community Development program will be made in November 2007 at national conferences: The Sloan Consortium's Asynchronous Learning Networks conference, and USDA's IFWE conference.
Impacts
The degree program has opened doors for working, adult, and Native students who could not find the curriculum they needed and wanted in other community development programs. The degree program is advancing the work of community practitioners, including those working in rural/tribal communities, Extension professionals Faculty members are working together across 6 universities on offering a degree program that will benefit the field of community development. This program is filling a void that has existed for community development practitioners.
Publications
- Fey, Susan, Mary Emery, and Cornelia Flora. 2007. How to Create an Effective Inter-institutional, Trans-disciplinary On-line Faculty. Distance Learning Journal, United States Distance Learning Association, 4(1): 29-34.
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Progress 10/01/04 to 09/30/05
Outputs
During this year, the Community Development On-line Masters Degree in Community Development project has made great strides. Two courses were put online as of Fall 2005, and two courses have been offered in Spring 2006 and in Summer 2006. Students are either fully admitted into the degree program, taking courses to fulfill their Program of Study, or they are taking classes as non-degree students. Sixteen students were enrolled in courses in Fall 2005, fifteen in Spring 2006, and ten in Summer 2006. As students are enrolling for Fall 2006, we are seeing a big rise in numbers and could have close to 25 students. We are currently focusing on recruitment and retention strategies in order to stabilize and increase student numbers. Faculty members from six different institutions, Iowa State University, Kansas State University, North Dakota State University, South Dakota State University, University of Missouri, and University of Nebraska, continue to work together with the
North Central Regional Center for Rural Development (NCRCRD) to create and enhance the curricular base of this program. The faculty teams communicated throughout the year to work on their course content, and we had several faculty meeting calls as well as an annual faculty meeting in Omaha, Nebraska in June 2006. At the meeting in June 2006, several decisions were made regarding curriculum, new faculty, developing an orientation course, and future development of the program. Matching faculty hours equaling 625 hours have been put toward these efforts. Additionally, we have had advisory board conference calls throughout the year. We have evaluated our efforts to date in two ways. An outside evaluator interviewed faculty about their experiences with the program, and the NCRCRD conducted interviews with students, past and present, to learn about what we are doing well and opportunities for improvement. Suggestions made by students have already been implemented or will be in the next
year. Two reports have been published out of these evaluative efforts and are available on the Web. Feedback received from potential and registered students indicates that this program is filling a void in community development curriculum. We will continue the effort to reach out to potential students in the next year through marketing efforts, nationally and internationally. We hope to continue to reach Native populations, as well as other diverse populations of students. Additional grant money is being sought after for marketing the program as well as for offering student financial support. An annual faculty meeting is scheduled for April 2007 in Omaha, Nebraska, where curriculum will be reviewed and new faculty members will be considered and voted upon. The Great Plains IDEA Board of Directors will also attend this meeting. Courses will continue to be offered throughout this year and new students will be admitted each semester. A new 1 credit Orientation course is under development
and will be offered in Fall 2006. Faculty teams continue to meet on a consistent basis to review their courses, and a rich curriculum has developed out of their dedicated effort.
PRODUCTS: The degree program began in Fall 2005, and two courses have been offered every semester since that time. Curriculum was developed by faculty teams for all courses. The curriculum matrix for the degree program is available at: http://www.ncrcrd.iastate.edu/projects/distdegree/Curriculummatrix.pd f The North Central Regional Center for Rural Development redesigned an informational Web site that includes the marketing brochure for the program, application requirements, degree requirements, the schedule of courses and numerous other resources. This Web site can be found at: http://www.ncrcrd.iastate.edu/distancedegree/index .htm Faculty have presented at conferences, published articles and disseminated information on list servs and at conferences to market the program. A list serv of potential students continues to grow and is still managed by the NCRCRD. A list serv of faculty members that was developed by the NCRCRD has enhanced communication over the past year. Meetings via
conference call with the advisory committee and outside evaluator for the program have occurred periodically throughout the year. Two evaluations were conducted in the past year. Ray Lewis, the outside evaluator conducted a review of the program with faculty and produced a report. Similarly, the NCRCRD conducted interviews with past and present students in the program and produced a report as well: http://www.ncrcrd.iastate.edu/projects/distdegree/ReportonStudentInte rviews.pdf A workshop on Integrating Cultural Sensitivity Across the Curriculum was held at the annual faculty meeting in June. This was led by faculty member, John Phillips. A monthly newsletter, CD News, was developed by the NCRCRD and has been distributed electronically each month since March, 2006. The newsletter highlights students and faculty, offers resources to students and faculty, and provides general information about the degree program and the field of community development:
http://www.ncrcrd.iastate.edu/distancedegree/index.htm#about
OUTCOMES: Five institutions are using the policies and procedures that have been designed for smooth delivery of the degree program, and one institution is in the process of attaining approval for using them. These universities are awaiting approval by their curriculum committees for the program; in the interim two of the universities are offering courses under different programs. All universities should be offering the Community Development program by Spring 07. Web sites and marketing tools have been developed to support student recruitment and retention. Three Web sites are developed and 500 brochures have been distributed. Six courses have been offered since Fall 2005, with an average of 15 students taking courses. Articles and presentations have been published and presented on the degree program. A one-year evaluation report was written by an outside evaluator. An interim evaluation report on students in the program was written as well.
DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: The marketing brochure for the program was disseminated at Fort Berthold Community College, United Tribes Technical College, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, Little Priest Tribal College, Electronically to the Community Development Society, the comm org list, the Rural Development Partners lists, American Indian Higher Education Consortium list, and SARE list. The brochure was distributed at conferences, nationally and locally. It is also available on informational Web site at all times for students and faculty. Information about the degree program has also been disseminated on a list serv of potential students that was developed throughout the year as student contacts were made. The NCRCRD manages this list. The degree program poster, Helping Communities Succeed: the Development of an On-line Masters Degree in Community Development, was presented at the Community Development Society Conference in June 2006 and at the annual NACDEP conference in
February 2006.
FUTURE INITIATIVES: Future Initiatives include holding a faculty meeting in April of 2006. A teleconference meeting with institutional representatives is scheduled for late August, and new courses to offer are being discussed. A 1 credit orientation course is currently under development and will be offered in Fall of 2006. Three more 3 credit courses will also be offered in Fall 2006, Ecological Economics, Community Development One, and Indian Country Agriculture and Natural Resource Management.
Impacts
The degree program has opened doors for working, adult, and Native students who could not find the curriculum they needed and wanted in other community development programs. The degree program is advancing the work of community practitioners, including those working in rural/tribal communities, Extension professionals Faculty members are working together across 6 universities on offering a degree program that will benefit the field of community development. This program is filling a void that has existed for community development practitioners.
Publications
- Fey, Susan, 2006. Report on Student Interviews for the Community Development On-line Masters Program. www.ncrcrd.iastate.edu/projects/distdegree/ReportonStudentInterviews. pdf
- Fey, Susan, 2006. Community Development On-line Master's Program. Presentation. Sloan Consortium and Historically Black Colleges and Universities Asynchronous Learning Networks Workshop, Huntsville, Alabama.
- Lewis, Ray, 2006. Community Development Survey Report: Summary of Findings. www.ncrcrd.iastate.edu/projects/distdegree/CommDevSurvey-report-c.pdf
- Maes, Sue and John Phillips, April 3, 2006. Collaborative Response to Emerging Demand: 1862, 1890, 1994 Land Grant Alliance. Paper presented at The Future Focused Organization: 2016-Ready or Not? 11th Annual Meeting of the Higher Learning Commission, Chicago, IL.
- Sternweis, Laura, Fall 2005, Community Development is Online, Extension Connection: Iowa State University, www.extension.iastate.edu/news/2005/oct/120602.htm
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