The college is far exceeding its long-standing goal of gradually increasing its offering of online courses, according to an update provided to the Board of Governors during its February 28th meeting.
The Board and administration had set a Strategic Direction to “increase the total number of online courses offered by seven over five years.”
Delivered, primarily, through the province-wide eCampus website, St. Clair was offering 51 online courses when the growth goal was first set in 2019-20.
The development of (and conversion to) on-line courses was spurred, in part, by the pandemic, which necessitated much of the school’s curriculum to be switched to “virtual” delivery.
Online offerings jumped to 75 courses in 2020-21 (a 47 percent increase from the 2019-20 base), to 86 in 2021-22, and to 120 in 2022-23 (135 percent more than in 2019-20).
The update presented to the Board stated:
Although the five-year target of seven percent from the 2019-2020 baseline year has been surpassed, it is the goal of the college to continue to develop additional online courses and build upon the college’s digital capacity, content and delivery.
The college continues to advance its strategic objective to incorporate innovative approaches to online delivery including strategies and methods, such as:
• Continued development of the online learning framework as part of round two of the eCampus Ontario Virtual Learning Strategy (VLS) funded project to drive continued growth and advancement in virtual learning at St. Clair College.
• Continued creation of digital resources within the Centre for Academic Excellence and Quality Assurance (CAE&QA) that are flexible and dynamic to support building strong, effective, and sustainable digital capacity.
• Continued development of high-quality digital content that adheres to Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Equity Diversity Decolonization and Inclusion (EDDI), and outcome-based educational principles.
• Professional Development and Training for faculty, with sprint workshops and a range of virtual learning and training modules focusing on specific online aspects, such as active and experiential learning, assessment, Open Education Resources (OER) and more.
• Expansion of online and hybrid resources beyond traditional academic areas to areas such as corporate training, continuing education, and applying program quality assurance processes to achieve positive impacts.
• CAE&QA continues to expand Blackboard support with a group of Blackboard faculty mentors and enhanced Blackboard training webinars/virtual support.
MORE STORIES FROM THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS MEETING
• The nine-month financial update: https://news.stclair-src.org/need-know-news/college-track-another-sizeable-surplus
• Cancelled and suspended programs: https://news.stclair-src.org/need-know-news/st-clair-packs-away-its-golf-clubs
• The college’s involvement with the community: https://news.stclair-src.org/need-know-news/we-emphasize-community-community-college
• Student Services and “Soft Skills”: https://news.stclair-src.org/need-know-news/sr-clair-shows-its-softer-skilled-side
• The past year of beautifying campuses: https://news.stclair-src.org/need-know-news/knowledge-skills-beauty-weve-got-it-all
• Research and Development expands at St. Clair: https://news.stclair-src.org/need-know-news/rd-expanding-significantly-st-clair
