American University of Rome Case Study: Traditional Institution Transitioning to Online Learning

During the fall of 2013, I was eligible to take a sabbatical leave. The purpose of the sabbatical leave, as a senior faculty member, was to give me an opportunity to be involved in scholarly, creative, professional, and research-based experiences that would help me prepare new courses; retrain in new areas of academic activity; and enhance further contributions to the college. It is hoped that the sabbatical experience can enable professors to pursue new or scholarly interests fulltime and maintain their professional standing so that they may return to their posts with renewed perspectives, vigor, and insight.

When I was in the process of inquiring about sabbatical opportunities, I met with the vice president of marketing at American University in Rome (AUR), who had visited the Nova Southeastern University campus to give a presentation on study abroad programs. Dr. Giliola indicated she could arrange a sabbatical opportunity at her educational institution, and I proceeded to submit a formal application. This lengthy and detailed application required that I provide information concerning opportunities for scholarly enrichment and production, improvement in teaching and administration, promotion of course and curriculum development, and enhancement of professional growth through expanded knowledge. After I completed and submitted the sabbatical application, I was pleased to receive approval from the administrative deans and president. In line with the mission of Nova Southeastern University regarding professional selfdevelopment, the objectives of AUR paralleled those of the former in addition to focusing on intellectual excellence, personal growth, and appreciation of cultural diversity in an international environment.

In 1969, the American University of Rome, known as AUR, was founded as a college for study-abroad students. It was incorporated in the District of Columbia the following year. David Colin, an American journalist in Rome, was active in Rome’s literary and artistic circles. He fostered cultural exchanges between Americans and Italians and provided discussions, which eventually became lectures and later classes. Colin began to work with George Tesoro, an Italian who had lived in America and assisted in the growth and development of educational offerings. As the program grew, it too offered academic study abroad programs. Colin became president and Tesoro chairman of the proposed university, which was named the American University of Rome in 1969. In 1986, AUR received a license by the Education Licensure Commission of the District of Columbia to offer bachelor’s and associate’s degrees. The first class was held in 1987, and now AUR has the distinction of being the first American university in Rome to grant degrees. In the early days, its classes were held in apartment buildings in Rome. By 1993, AUR was established in a building on Janiculum Hill. It was accredited in 1992. Its existence was authorized in Italy by the Italian education ministry and the U.S. Middle States Commission on Higher Education in 2010 (American University of Rome, 2013).

In August 2013, I proceeded to Rome and met with President Richard Hodges, president of AUR and the rest of the administrative team and faculty. Hodges, a former administrator from the University of Pennsylvania and a British citizen, had been mandated to change AUR’s focus from a mostly study abroad educational institution to a world class university with advanced degrees as well as to expand new programs and enrollment. My sabbatical experience at the AUR was scheduled for the 2013 fall semester. I had a strong background in distance education to assist AUR in its goals. Since 1972, the course of study in education at the Nova Southeastern University in Florida campus has become nationally recognized for its innovative distance education programs (Nova Southeastern University, 2014).

During my initial days at AUR, I met often and worked closely with Hodges and Chancellor Andrew Thompson, and was deeply involved in exchanging information on the present administrative structure, planning for the future, and understanding their vision of AUR. Hodges was very interested in expanding their programs and incorporating distance education into the academic offerings. Hodges was supported by board of trustees in his belief that pursuing distance education programs at AUR would be beneficial to the University for getting global exposure and enhancing present and future programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Among my other projects, Hodges suggested that I pursue the feasibility of developing and instituting blended online and distance education courses at AUR. As a professor of organizational leadership at NSU for 14 years through distance education within the doctoral program and other teaching programs, I was eager to assist. First, I determined the interest administrators and staff had with distance education. As a sabbatical professor, I was welcomed by faculty and staff to provide orientation discussions. Within this time, I was able to determine whether senior administrators had ever considered offering online or blended courses. In the course of discussions with the chancellor and dean of undergraduate studies, I sensed a reluctance to bring online education to AUR. Because the purpose of most foreign students was to experience an international university while living in Rome, the administrators believed that this experience was AUR’s greatest incentive. They deemed that neither the students nor faculty would want online classes.

The chancellor could not envision the possible inclusion of online education in remedial classes. He did request that I pursue a feasibility study on the alternatives of offering remedial classes in mathematics, only because the remedial courses were noncredit and the students who did not opt out though exams had to pursue a specific remedial class. One solution was to provide an opportunity for students to expand and improve their mathematical abilities through a distance education course that would eliminate time-consuming remedial courses. My research provided an opportunity to indicate the advantages of considering an online remedial class. I persisted in featuring the benefits of blended and online distance education and created a report to determine the feasibility of options for offering a remedial mathematics course at AUR.

The objective was to determine a replacement for Mth 085 and assure that students would have the knowledge and skills to successfully complete course and degree requirements within those programs offered by AUR. Although the focus was on the Mth 085 course, I suggested that AUR review other mathematics offerings to follow the recommendations for the introduction and implementation of online learning. In my research I utilized the course description for Mth 085—Integrated Beginning and Intermediate Algebra, as indicated in the course catalog: “This course develops fundamental concepts of algebra; relations; functions; linear equations and inequalities; exponents and radicals; polynomial, rational, exponential and logarithmic functions.”

As already mentioned, Mth 085 is a noncredit course, which provides a basis for common knowledge within a college math program focusing on algebra. Based on the information obtained, I reviewed college offerings, publishing companies, web sites, and online offering programs of instruction. I suggested one of the following options in providing this course as an online noncredit requirement. Each of the following would assure that those pursuing programs of instruction at American University would have the knowledge and skills needed within the college mathematics requirements and would obtain the necessary foundation for pursuing AUR degree offerings.

Several book-publishing companies have developed online instruction programs with online textbooks. Specific publishing companies have provided a selfpaced program of instruction for college credit, which is recognized by the American Council on Education. It is a program guided by an online instructor who provides video tutorials, feedback suggestions on utilization concepts, and working knowledge of college-level algebra and its application.

In the course content, arithmetic and geometric sequences are examined, and linear equations and inequalities are discussed. Students learn to graph linear, quadratic, and absolute value, and piecewisedefined functions. They solve and graph exponential and logarithmic equations. Other college algebra online topics include solving applications using linear systems, and evaluating and finding partial sums of a series. This class closely paralleled the course offered at AUR. The program provided proctoring, tutoring, an exam study guide, and videos at a specific cost per student that can be offered as a credit or noncredit course.

I reviewed and summarized college surveys and concluded with other educators that the two best sources for free, highquality online math courses at this time were MIT OpenCourseWare, now indicated as massive open online courses (MOOCs) and Khan Academy. If this course were to remain noncredit, materials indicated as the best sources for online math courses could be implemented within the AUR curriculum. I identified the purpose and objectives of each option, which opened up an opportunity to introduce administers and faculty members to MOOCs and online courses in general.

Students would be able to have access to an extensive video library. This online courseware encouraged other institutions to utilize the materials and focus on complete custom self-paced learning tools that provide a dynamic system for getting help as well as custom profiles, points, and badges to measure progress. I demonstrated that MOOCs are free courses aimed at large-scale interactive participation and open access via the Web. The major consortiums at the time—Coursera, Edx, and Udacity—began with professors at Stanford University and Edx, which was followed by Harvard and MIT professors. These institutions now have numerous American and international universities within their consortiums.

What is offered within the mathematical field could be used to supplement or supplant the math courses at AUR. Several courses offered certificates of completion if students desired them. A list of mathematics and statistics free online courses/ MOOCs is provided on the following web site: http://www.class-central.com/stream/maths/. Coursera, Udacity, and EdX lead in the offering of classes, which range from self-paced instruction to semester classes from over 80 courses within state universities and well regarded colleges worldwide. The syllabus, PDF lecture notes, homework assignments, midterms, and solutions are often all available, and lectures are from MIT professors and parallel AUR’s Mth 085. Udacity provides a total self-paced free course thorough San Jose State University: Visualizing Algebra—Patterns and Problems. I reviewed the curriculum and noted its similarity to the AUR course. The courses may be found on http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses/. A third option was preparation of an in-house course.

I suggested a third option of an inhouse online development of the Mth 085 course based on the present AUR LMS system as an 8-week online intensive noncredit course that would be either selfpaced or instructor-based. The focus would be parallel to the course description within the AUR catalogue. This course could be developed with the assistance of an AUR online team and with the help of those who have developed and implemented online courses of instruction. Although no action was taken at this time, the report was sent to the president and chancellor for consideration. More importantly, it provided an opening to the interest in learning more and entering the distance education stage at AUR.

The second opportunity for introducing distance education was during an early fall visit by the AUR Board of Trustees. Prior to their visit, the AUR president had met with some former professors, business executives, and global political leaders. They had discussed the emergence and great success several of them had had in taking or teaching online education at universities in the United States and the United Kingdom. After having heard successful stories regarding increases in enrollment and favorable outcomes, the president became an advocate. He returned to AUR with a desire to offer distance education opportunities though online or blended learning.

At that point, the president requested that I meet with Rosa Fusco, the senior administrator of computer operations, to collaborate on presenting an awareness and interest demonstration to the board of trustees an example of the proposed changes in the direction of the university. Fusco, an information technology specialist, was a strong advocate who had obtained a degree from England in distance education. After planning, organizing, and coordinating this project, Fusco and I realized the need to develop information indicating the benefits of blended/ online learning for board members, administrative personnel, staff, and faculty. The first task was to identify and research the topics, which would attract the attention and interest of the AUR Board.

The topics were statistics with online education, the evolving world of e-learning, and the global market as reported by the Global Industry Analyses. We identified the benefits of online learning with recorded video clips, the continuance of academic integrity with online classes, blended learning interest, and finally how AUR could benefit from the implementation of distance education courses. What was needed for web-based teaching and an introduction to MOOCs—positive and critical concerns—were addressed with discussion of AUR’s possibilities for joining a MOOC consortium along with AUR expansion around the world, AUR’s student population, and the need to get started soon. The outcome was a well-organized PowerPoint presentation regarding the benefits of entering the online education arena to the board of directors.

The board members were most receptive, and several expressed personal success in their online teaching experiences at universities in the United States. The first step toward the emergence of online education was the board’s “seal of approval.” The results of our presentation encouraged senior administrators to welcome online education at AUR. However, they were concerned about administrators and faculty members who would not be receptive to this approach due to limited knowledge or concern about a greater workload. With the continued support of the president, we continued to pursue the best process for everyone—welcoming distance education to the AUR campus.

Most important were the faculty members who have been traditional on-site professors teaching at a traditional study abroad campus for many years. Faculty members had to be involved with the planning and coordinating of any change in curriculum, yet many were resistant to change. To open awareness and encourage interest, the president requested that Ms. Fusco and I introduce distance education to the faculty similar to our presentation to the board. Because this audience was more prone to negative reactions, we had to revise our presentation so these professors could clearly see the reasons and benefits of online education to students and instructors.

We prepared and presented two distance education presentations to members of the faculty at AUR during two faculty meetings. The first presentation was an introduction to distance education. As mentioned, because there was resistance from the faculty and some staff, the director of computer service and I spent several meeting preparing a presentation focusing on an orientation to faculty that would identify the features, functions, and benefits of distance education. When reviewing the feedback from faculty members and administrators, we realized the need for a specific plan of action to implement distance education.

The information technology director and I focused on creating blended learning classes as a beginning to introduce distance education at the university because this area was the most favorably received by the faculty. The director of faculty meetings, who realized the new interest in this area, requested we present to the entire faculty our program on distance education. We prepared information focusing on a step-by-step blended learning approach to the faculty. Ms. Fusco and I began to create a schedule of activities with an introduction on how to start creating courses of study, both blended and online.

We focused on the following topics: Blended and Online Learning at AUR, Benefits of Blended Learning, How to Redesign to Blended Format, Reviewing a Syllabus, Preparing Course Objectives, Deciding on Topics, and Activities in Classroom or Online. In addition, we developed a list of best practices for face-to-face activities, and best practices on online activities. We indicated important questions to answer when redesigning the course, as well as steps in drafting the course schedule, selection of alternative models, and optional templates. All these topics were developed for the faculty meeting.

We provided handout information on specific topics to assure understanding, and we provided written responses to earlier questions and concerns. These areas included the following: grading and assessments, rubrics for in class and online discussions, providing student instructions percentages of face-to-face lessons, online activities and assignments, online discussions, and attendance policies. A method of implementation and review was indicated with evaluation and suggested changes or adjustments, if any. We realized that resistance would occur, so we utilized all materials known to provide information, which would encourage faculty participation and support. On completion of the program, it was evident that an incentive was needed to encourage initial participation.

To assure a successful session, we researched the literature, located the most relevant studies and online information on blended learning, and created a presentation identifying the features and benefits of a blended learning classroom. Knowing we would have resistance from the faculty, we were able to persuade the president and chancellor to offer a stipend for those who would develop a course outline transitioning their present course outline to a blended learning option. In meetings with the chancellor and the dean of undergraduate studies, we indicated that we needed a monetary incentive for those faculty members who wished to become early adopters and utilize their time to convert their courses to a blended or online format. We were pleased to receive approval from senior administrators. The president approved 1,000 euros to develop and complete each present course offering into a blended format and submit it for platform implementation.

With this incentive, several more faculty members expressed interest in pursuing online learning. We realized the need for faculty assistance; therefore, we developed a step-by-step process for entrance into distance education. We created a template specifically related to the AUR faculty. The outcome was favorable, as indicated by those who did not attend our sessions who were later eager to obtain the information on developing their courses of study in blended and online learning formats. Ms. Fusco placed copies of the presentations and the suggested templates within the faculty development AUR computer online platform page. Because the number of faculty had increased, the administration created a process whereby faculty members would propose individual courses. Faculty members would develop their courses on the approval of the chancellor and dean of undergraduate studies. Their courses would then be reviewed. If finally approved, they would be implemented within the following semester. During the initial stage, we decided to conduct one session with a faculty member who was eager to pursue online learning. A professor in international communications and relations who first completed a syllabus in a blended format was allowed to pilot the first course.

During the piloting of this course, administrative concerns such as scheduling, classrooms assignments, the effectiveness of the distance education platform, student acceptance, and the additional assistance needed in a distance education class were resolved. In addition, technical support increased and an additional person for information technology support for distance education was hired. Since that time, many faculty members have prepared and continue to prepare blended and online course syllabi that they are hopeful will be approved for upcoming semesters.

In addition to other administrative concerns, students welcomed the opportunity to pursue blended learning classes, for most were already taking such courses or were familiar with distance education at other institutions in the United States and the United Kingdom. A third person was hired within the department of computer services to assist the other two with additional duties, which would be called on then. At this time, AUR has a web site announcing its online and blended classes for all. The university has been in contractual discussions with a global organization to offer MOOCs worldwide within their expertise, especially within the areas of art history, museum science, language of Italian, and archeology, for Rome and Italy are rich with ancient artifacts and forums.

My intent, as indicated within the sabbatical plans, was to create and develop new and expanded curriculum for AUR with opportunities to provide professional and articulation programs with online degrees. I also intended to continue my interest in writing and conducting research in the areas of distance education, marketization of higher education, organizational leadership, educational strategies, and critical thinking. I gave numerous presentations and instructed highly qualified administrators and faculty in many different disciplines within an international, multicultural environment. As indicated in the sabbatical proposal, the rich and rewarding experiences provided me with a foundation of knowledge and skills for improving and expanding my research, writing, and teaching at Nova Southeastern University in the areas of organizational leadership, higher education administration, and human resource development.

I shall continue to expand and improve the international competency needed for today’s global education force, enriching the knowledge of graduate students in education who shape and support the vanguard of the 21st century global workforce. This experience will provide successful initiatives that connect students in the United States with students overseas for shared learning experiences through distance education.

The transition to distance education involves all within a university, not only faculty but staff, administrators, and custodial services. Colleges must welcome alternatives like distance education to extend and expand global offerings and opportunities for their students. A step-by-step process is needed to assure that everyone within the university knows what to do during the transitional stages. Smaller colleges should proceed with caution and set a time frame in the process of transitioning to distance education learning programs.

Because several students were already exposed to online learning programs, they welcomed the opportunity to obtain course content not only within the classroom but also on the Internet and throughout the city of Rome despite initial administrative concerns. I am hopeful that this report on my sabbatical focus on implementing distance education will benefit those who are interested in bringing distance learning and online education to other universities both within the United States and outside its borders. My activities provided outcomes that would enrich knowledge, skills, and abilities as well as extend and improve the teaching skills of doctoral students who might pursue educational leadership within international and multicultural academic settings.

During my sabbatical experience, I was exposed to different teaching methodologies and approaches that enriched the teaching practice and expanded future student leadership capabilities. Specifically, it has provided me with intercultural competence including the ability to interact and work with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures; both to lead and contribute support to those who lead; and to empathize with and understand a diversity of individuals. The sabbatical offered me the opportunity to assist AUR in pursuing a curriculum internationalized by the development of new offerings through distance education and the infusion of international topics in their current courses. The blended and online options within the curriculum will expand the preparation of graduates for work in multilingual, multinational, borderless organizations. For colleges both in the United States and overseas, I do hope that administrators, staff, and faculty would embrace distance education and improve their instruction so that their students demonstrate cultural competence in a global society