TOP TEN DIGITAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College has earned the 2016 Online Learning Consortium’s Digital Learning Innovation Award (DLIAward), for advancing undergraduate student success through the adoption of digital courseware. The awards program, funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Postsecondary Success Program, is a prestigious honor.
Rowan-Cabarrus was one of only three institutions and five faculty-led teams selected from among 106 submissions in this first year of the Online Learning Consortium’s Digital Learning Innovation Award competition.
Jenny Billings, program chair and instructor of the College’s of Study Skills, Developmental Reading & English, and English departments, led the Rowan-Cabarrus faculty-led team. They were awarded $10,000 for their innovative and creative program, dedicated to accelerating the adoption of digital courseware for general education or gateway courses.
“I am very proud of Jenny Billings and her team for all their hard work on the online learning initiative,” said Dr. Michael Quillen, vice president of academic programs. “Rowan-Cabarrus Community College strives to provide its students an excellent education both in the classroom and online.”
This is not the first award the College has received for its leadership in online learning. For the second year in a row, Rowan-Cabarrus was named as one of the 2015-2016 Top Ten Digital Community Colleges by the Center for Digital Education for its use of digital technologies to improve services for students, faculty, staff and the community at large.
“We are honored and proud to not only have made the prestigious list of honorees, but to have improved our standing from tenth to sixth place,” said President Spalding.
The College faced tough competition as all community colleges in the United States are eligible for recognition. Rowan-Cabarrus was recognized for its work on mobile technology, smart classrooms and technology innovation.
“We are always seeking ways to improve teaching and student learning experiences. We strive to improve the student experience by making course materials as accessible, convenient, cost-effective, and appealing as possible.”
– Jenny Billings, chair of ACA (Study Skills), Developmental Reading and English (DRE), and Curriculum English (ENG) Faculty-Led Digital Learning Initiative Award (DLIA) Winner, presented by the Online Learning Consortium (OLC)
“We not only support enhanced websites, new online planning systems, mobile technology, campus wide wireless access, as well as many other tools, but we tie all of these items together to create a cohesive personalized and contextual experience for our students,” said Ken Ingle, chief information officer for the College. “This experience simplifies technology for our users allowing students to focus on their educational goals. We believe this is really what set us apart from others who entered.”
Additionally, the College rolled out a new feature on the students’ registration system that allows students to navigate their entire path to graduation online. This planning helps improve their ability to forecast which classes they need to take and how close they are to achieving their degree, diploma or certificate. And, students’ itemized tuition bills are now easily accessible through the same platform.
Online tutoring for students is available in many subjects 24 hours a day and seven days a week, as is the College’s IT help desk, through a partnership with Blackboard, the College’s learning management system. Other digital initiatives include online job preparation and searching resources, social media and electronic emergency notifications systems.
The College is also continuing its efforts in its ever-expanding courses offered online. In 2016, 52 percent of courses that the College offered were online or hybrid (mostly online with few on-campus classes), and 31 percent of all courses were completely online.