Digital Learning at Baruch

February 2, 2022

Dear Baruch College Faculty and Staff:

I am very pleased to release the final report of the Hybrid and Online at Baruch Advisory Council (HOBAC). Building on the work undertaken during the 2020-21 academic year by the similarly named Hybrid/Online Instruction Planning Group and its recommendations, HOBAC was charged specifically to:

• Articulate the defining characteristics of hybrid and online education at Baruch College
• Research hybrid and online teaching best practices to inform future work
  • Defining characteristics of online and hybrid education at Baruch
  • Measures of excellence of, and assessment rubrics for, effective hybrid and online education
  • Instructional design
• Recommend operational definitions for “Hybrid and Online at Baruch”
  • What is good online teaching?
  • Various modes of instruction
• Recommend definitional mission for the Office of Hybrid and Online Education
• Identify hybrid and online learning spaces for further infrastructure development
  • Student labs
  • HyFlex classrooms
• Serve as search committee for the Director of Hybrid and Online at Baruch

The final HOBAC report provides guidance for internal operations, especially related to the evaluation and assessment of all online courses and programs and the organization of an administrative structure to support excellent online and hybrid teaching and learning. Informed by their work, and that of an external consultant who also collaborated with Interim Provost Myung-Soo Lee last spring, we will be establishing the Digital Learning Hub (DLH) while simultaneously building additional capacity in the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL).

Community Input

HOBAC included faculty and staff from across the College with expertise in digital pedagogy, student success, academic integrity, and learning management systems. They worked tirelessly throughout the Fall 2021 semester to develop the recommendations in the attached report. The Council was chaired by Allison Lehr Samuels, CTL Director and Lecturer in the Narenda Paul Loomba Department of Management, and included:

• Lisa Blankenship, Associate Professor of English and Director of the First-Year Writing Program
• Ted Joyce, Professor of Economics
• Kannan Mohan, Professor of Information Systems and Statistics and Interim Associate Dean, Zicklin School of Business
• Alexis Perrotta, Lecturer, Marxe School of Public and International Affairs
• Mike Richichi, Assistant Vice President of Information Technology and Deputy CIO
• Sharon Ricks, Director of Academic Advising
• Thomas Teufel, Professor of Philosophy
• Don Waisanen, Professor, Marxe School of Public and International Affairs
• Kevin Wolff, Instructional Design and Blackboard Administrator, BCTC
• Annie Virkus-Estrada, Associate Dean of Students and Academic Integrity Officer

The Hybrid and Online at Baruch Advisory Council, charged in August, undertook a program of research and listening. They held 22 community meetings with constituent groups of students, department chairs, faculty and staff, deans from the three academic schools, the library, SEEK, CTL, and more.

The Digital Learning Hub

The HOBAC report defines a mission for the Digital Learning Hub that I accept enthusiastically with a “yes, and” perspective. I add to the recommended mission in ways that will position DLH to support the future growth of fully online programs, while complementing our existing in-person, hybrid, and online course offerings, per the HOBAC recommendations. Thus, the mission is as follows:

The Digital Learning Hub (DLH) supports the development, evaluation, and delivery of online and hybrid programs and courses at Baruch College. DLH works to ensure that online and hybrid courses and programs meet or exceed those expectations that are upheld College-wide: that education be inclusive, transformational, and employ experiential learning and community engagement. With its primary focus on the support and delivery of online programs and courses, DLH works in close collaboration with the Baruch Computing and Technology Center (BCTC), the College’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), the Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute (BLSCI), and external service providers. DLH collaborates with other teaching and learning support units based on program needs. It engages with service providers as needed to supplement internal resources providing support for all-online students. DLH facilitates the instantiation of innovative technology and media production suitable for online, hybrid, HyFlex, and other programs.

The Digital Learning Hub is described in the report as a “hub and spoke” model, as depicted here:

The search for the Assistant Vice President for Digital Learning and Inaugural Director of the Digital Learning Hub will launch as soon as possible.

Modality Definitions

Part of the HOBAC charge involved defining the various modalities of hybrid and online teaching and learning currently in use, and consideration of expansion to new modalities in the future. The Council has carefully defined seven modalities. Please carefully review these definitions, which are expressed from the learner’s perspective as well as from the instructor’s.

Timeline and Next Steps

The Hybrid and Online at Baruch Advisory Council outlines an ambitious timeline for implementation of its recommendations. To launch successful fully online degree programs in a timely fashion, it will be necessary to adhere as closely as possible to that timeline, the first step in which is to review and adopt (or adapt) the SUNY Online Course Quality Review Rubric (OSCQR) for online classes. This rubric will also be used by the CUNY Online unit being developed for system-wide advancement of online degree programs. HOBAC advises—and I agree—that departmental curriculum committees should lead this review and adoption. This process will be discussed in detail at the next department chairs meeting on Thursday, Feb. 17.

Other activities on the timeline are happening simultaneously. The search for the AVP for Digital Learning and Director of DLH will begin as soon as possible. The search committee is mostly a subset of HOBAC and equally broad in its representation and expertise. Kannan Mohan is chairing the search, and HOBAC members Allison Lehr Samuels, Mike Richichi, and Don Waisanen are also serving, along with Caryn Medved, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies.

Working with Arthur Downing, Vice President for Information Services and Dean of the Library, we have identified space in the Information & Technology Building for the DLH media lab and office space. In addition, BCTC continues to work toward outfitting as many as 28 classrooms for fully HyFlex capability.

Working to Achieve College Goals

President S. David Wu outlined six ambitious goals for the College, including the expansion of our online teaching capacity through “the design for a College unit to support online, hybrid, and HyFlex instruction while facilitating experiential learning,” and “assessment tools and faculty and student feedback loop of online and hybrid modality experiences.” The HOBAC report provides a clear path forward for implementation that I enthusiastically accept.

I close with a note of deep and sincere appreciation for the 11 dedicated members of the Baruch community who served on the Hybrid and Online at Baruch Advisory Council, and scores of community members who participated in listening sessions and focus groups throughout the fall semester. Your time and insights were invaluable, and greatly contributed to this important roadmap for our future.

Sincerely,

Linda Essig
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs