Online Undergraduate Degree Completion Program:

                                                                                                                  A Proposal
 

                                                                                           October 26, 2004

Integrative Studies With Concentrations in Leadership and Communication 

A Degree That Works forYou and Your Organization

A collaborative enterprise of the Schools of Communication and the Arts,

Liberal Arts, Management 

and 

Graduate and Continuing Education at Marist College with additional collaboration with all Schools for elective courses

Executive Summary – UG Online Degree Completion Program 

1.Students completing Program will earn a BS degree in Integrative Studies with concentrations in Leadership and Communication 

2.Program will be fully online, delivered entirely with web-based courses with total flexibility to the student (i.e., not cohorted) 

3.GCE initiative in collaboration with other Schools – courses under development in concentrations and supportive electives 

4.Admission to Program requires completion of 30 prior college credits with GPA of 2.5 or above

5.Program will accommodate up to 72 transfer credits 

6.Launching in March 2005, Program will feature four 10 week Terms annually identical to existing terms at Fishkill and Goshen sites

7.Program will enable students to enroll in one (PT), two(FT) or three (accelerated FT) courses a Term (for three, six or nine credits)

8.FT or accelerated FT enrollees should be fully eligible for financial aid 

9.Program will necessitate development of 22 online courses over nexttwo years (in addition to the development of 10+ elective courses) 

10. Enrollment projections (and budget figures) based on assumption of 

40 students per Term:20 enrolled in Program courses (10 in one

course each and 10 in two courses each) and 20 students admitted to

the Program enrolled in one elective course each

11.No internal approvals needed except for four new courses- BS in Integrative Studies already fully approved 

12.Board of Trustee and NYS approval needed for online delivery of BS in Integrative Studies

13. Marketing of Program will commence in late November and feature organizational contacts, online outlets and some regional (NY Metro, NJ and New England) media usage

Rationale for Program

The School of Graduate and Continuing Education in collaboration with the other Schools at Marist is proposing to offer the BS in Integrative Studies, with initial concentrations in Leadership and Communication, fully online commencing in March 2005. Since this will be Marist’s first fully online program at the undergraduate level, it will require approval of a “Change in Format” by the NYS Education Department (SED) and, therefore, approval by College’s Board of Trustees before it can be submitted to SED .Since the Integrative Studies program already has internal approval, no further internal approvals are required to offer it, or new concentrations within it, online.Students completing the Program will earn a BS degree in Integrative Studies with initial concentrations in Leadership and Communication and perhaps other concentrations in the future. The Program will be fully online, delivered entirely with web-based courses.
This GCE initiative had been developed in collaboration with other Schools both for courses in the concentrations and a number of elective courses.

The new online delivery of the Integrative Studies Program will add a valuable new way for students to access the College’s innovative, interdisciplinary, baccalaureate degree completion program, which, over the past 20 years, has enabled hundreds of adult students in the mid-Hudson Valley to complete their undergraduate studies.It will address a need that is supported by the market research conducted by GCE over the past year. 

Online delivery of the Integrative Studies program will build on the College’s significant experience in the area of e-learning education. Online MBA and MPA degrees have been offered for several years at the College and have realized great success with students in the Hudson Valley and beyond. In2002, an online version of the Information Systems M.S. program was designed and now is being offered. Fall 2004 the College also was approved to offer a MA in Communication.Beginning in Fall 2003, the College also began to offer a limited selection of online, undergraduate courses.The advent of online, undergraduate courses and the growing awareness of Marist’s fully online graduate program has stimulated tremendous interest in the College moving into the delivery of a fully online undergraduate degree. Moving the Integrative Studies Program to an online format is the College’s response to provide the desired, fully online access to its undergraduate offerings.As designed, the new online Integrative Studies Program will enable students to elect study on a full or part-time basis. All courses will be formatted and offered using Educator in an e-learning environment.

The online Integrative Studies Program with concentrations in leadership and Communication not only will build on the College’s prior experience with distance learning at the graduate level but also on its now four-year old, highly-successful experiment with a cohort, hybrid delivery of a related program in Organizational Communication and Leadership (OLC) within the Integrative Studies framework. The OLC program has featured a combination of classroom and web based delivery and has given Marist faculty valuable experience in using the Educator platform at the undergraduate level.Since its inception in 2000, over 200 persons have enrolled on OLC, drawn from a three county area.It is anticipated that persons with similar interests and goals will be drawn to the new Program from a larger region (CT, MA, NYS, NJ, and PA) from which traditional undergraduates are drawn and therefore the Marist name is known.Consequently, the new Program will extend the opportunity for a quality Marist education to persons heretofore not able to access undergraduate Programs at the College.

Market Research Supporting the Online Degree Completion Program 

The decision to propose the moving the Integrative Studies program with initial concentrations in Leadership and Communications to on online format is based on direct market research as well as inferences drawn from other offerings. The decision is supported by the following:

1.Many hundreds of inquiries over the past two years, in response to marketing activities for online graduate programs or current campus-based or site-based programs, have indicated an interest in an online undergraduate program. Many of these inquiries indicated an interest in communication or organizational (business-related) studies. 

2.Contacts with organizations in the region and beyond have indicated an interest in an online undergraduate program and especially one that provided a mechanism to “grow organizational leaders” internally 

3.Representatives from community colleges in the region and beyond have suggested that a Marist online degree completion program would be attractive to persons with Associate Degrees now in professional positions and desiring a flexible way to complete a baccalaureate degree. 

4.Formal and informal consultations with external experts and advisory groups have supported the decision to offer an UG degree program online.Consultation has occurred directly or indirectly with the following:

qELearners.com

qMaguire Associates 

qCAEL 

qDirector of Marketing, Chapman University 

qGCE Advisory Board 

5.Additionally, inferences can be drawn from the success of the Organizational Leadership and Communication (OLC) program in the 

Mid-Hudson region.Over 200 persons have enrolled in the OLC program

since its inception in 2000, drawn from the three county area. It is

anticipated that persons with similar interests and goals will be drawn to 

theOS program from a larger region (CT, MA, NYS, NJ, and PA) where 

Marist is known- persons heretofore not able to access undergraduate 

Programs at Marist. 

 Program Features 

 

 Typical Student Program

wTransfer Minimum – 30 credits 

wSix Integrative Core Courses – 18 Credits 

wCourses in Concentrations – 30-45 Credits 

wTransfers to Concentrations– 0-15 Credits 

w Transfer or Elective Courses – 0-27 Credits 

wTotal – 120 Credits 

Admissions Requirements

wCompletion of 30 prior college credits with a GPA of at least 2.5

wOfficial transcripts of all previous college work 

wA Resume depicting professional experience

wA Brief Essay (one page or less) of academic intentions 

Program Delivery Plan

The online Integrative Studies program will feature four,

10-week terms as depicted below:

Term 1March 5 – May 14, 2005

Term 2June 4 – August 13, 2005

Term 3September 10- November 19, 2005

Term 4December 3, 2005 – February 18, 2006

Program Courses [* - courses already developed in online formmat]

Required Integrative Core Courses 

wINTD 105Perspectives on Education

wPHIL 103*World Views and Values (Philosophy & Ethics) 

wINTD 209Perspectives on the Humanities 

wINTD 212Perspective on the Social Sciences 

wINTD 213Perspectives on Science and History 

wINTD 477Capping Experience (Individual Research Project) 

Leadership Concentration- Courses 

Completion of an appropriate number (depending on choices of concentrations) of the following courses:

wORG 100 Exploring Business and Management 

wORG 39X Issues in Leadership

wORG 302 Behaviors in Organizations301

wORG 301 Managing Human Resources 

wORG 202 Global Issues in Business and Society 

wORG 39X Accounting & Finance for Organizational Leaders 

wORG 39X Introduction to Project Management

wORG 39X Project Management 2 

Communication Concentration – Courses

Completion of an appropriate number (depending on choices of concentrations) of the following courses:

wIS 330 Business Information Systems

wCOM 255* Communicating on the Internet

wCOM 270 Organizational Communication 

wCOM 389* Communication Revolution 

wCOM 400 Gender, Culture & Communication

w XXXCourse TBA 

wPHIL 235 Philosophy & Technology 

 Electives 

Courses developed or to be developed for online delivery 

[* - courses already developed]

wART 125 Arts and Values* 

wBIOL 101 Topics in Biology

wBIOL 225 Topics in Nutrition 

wBIOL 237 Human Biology

wCOM 201 Communication in Society 

wCOM 325 Intercultural Communication*

wCOM 307 Sex and the Media 

wCOM 470 Organizational Writing

wCSIS 103 Computer & Informational Literacy*

wECON101 Intro. to Economics 

wENG 117 College Writing 2*

wENG 220 Literature and Gender

wENG 339/COM 390 Film in Literature 
wENV 101 Environmental Issues 

wHIST 101 Themes in Modern History* 

wHIST 218 History of the Hudson River Valley 

wHIST 220 The Empire State*

wHIST 228 America Since 1945

wMATH 115 Calculus with Management Applications

wMATH 130 Intro. to Statistics 

wMUS 105 Intro. to Music

wPHIL1 01 Intro. to Philosophy

wPHIL 300 Ethics 

wPOSC 240 Intro. to Public Policy

wPOSC 285 Public Administration 

wPSYC 101 Intro. to Psychology

wPSYC 220 Social Psychology*

wPSYC 385 Industrial Psychology

wREST 335 Marriage and Family

wSOC 101 Intro. To Sociology 

wSOC 341 Social Change

wSOC 336 Sociology of Inequality

 Initial Delivery Plan – Spring 2005

Term 1 (Spring 1 - 2005)
Program Courses

o INTD 105

o COM 389*

o ORG 39X 

Electives 

o ENG 117

o HIST 220 
o COM 390/ENG 339

Existing Online Courses

Term 2(Spring 2 - 2005)
Program Courses

o PHIL 103*

o ORG 301 

o COM 255*

Electives 

o ENG 220
oHIST 228 
o COM 307

o BIO 101

 Delivery Plan – Fall 2005 – Spring 2008


 

 
Not including electives 
Not including electives
 
 
Term 3(Fall 1 - 2005)
INTD 105 

INTD 209 

COM 270

COM 400 

Term 4(Fall 2 - 2005) 
INTD 212

PHIL 103

ORG 39X

IS 330

 
 
Term 5 (Spring 1 2006)
INTD 105 

INTD 213

ORG 389

ORG 39X

ORG 302

Term 6 (Spring 2 2006)
INTD 477

PHIL 103

PHIL 235 
ORG 39X

ORG 100

 
 
Term 7 (Fall 1 2006) 

 INTD 105

INTD 209
COM 389

COM 255

ORG 202

Term 8 (Fall 2 2006)
INTD 212

ORG 390 

PHIL 103

 XXX TBA

ORG 100
 
 
Term 9(Spring 1 07)
INTD 105 

INTD 209 

COM 400 

ORG 389

INTD 477

Term 10(Spring 207) 
INTD 212

PHIL 103

ORG 39X

IS 330

COM 270

 
 
Term 11 (Fall 1 07)
INTD 105 

INTD 213

ORG 389

ORG 39X

ORG 301

Term 12 (Fall 207)
INTD 477

PHIL 103

PHIL 235 

ORG 39X

ORG 100

 
 
Term 13 (Spring 108) 
INTD 105

 INTD 209

COM 389
COM 255

ORG 202

Term 14 (Spring 2 08)

 INTD 212

ORG 39X 
PHIL 103

XXX TBA

ORG 100

 

Tentative Marketing Plan

wWork with College Advancement on PR 

wDevelop promotional material

wLaunch multifaceted advertising campaign:

Piggy-back on graduate online approaches

Develop new online outlets 

Use media (cable & newspapers) in CT, MA, NJ, NYC & Upstate

Direct contact with 40-50 organizations in CT, MA, NJ & NYS




 

Promotional Themes

The online Integrative Studies Program will:

provide access to a Marist UG degree to qualified students anywhere, anytime, anyplace at any UG level who have completed 30 college credits

wprovide access to a Marist UG degree for students anywhere, anytime at any UG levelwho have completed 30 college credits

wenhance individual careers and prepare individuals for graduate

programs, including the MBA, MPA, MSIS/IT and MA in Communications at Marist 

wprovide a mechanism for organizations to grow managers from existing employee pools

waccommodate full-time or part-time enrollment 

wwith its interdisciplinary focus appeal to students of diverse interests

wthrough the availability of a range of elective courses will enable students 

to complete credits to reach the level needed to begin required integrative core and concentration courses 

Enrollment Projections 


 
Year
Admitted (with 30-57 UG credits); to enroll in electives 
Admitted with 57 or more credits to enroll in Integrative core or concentration courses 

Total 

2004-05 
(Terms 1&2)
20 Course Enrollments
(20 students in elective courses each Term) 

Credits = 120

30 course enrollments (10 students in three courses for two Terms)
Credits = 180

100 course enrollments 
Credits = 300

2005-06
(Terms 3-6)
20 Course Enrollments
(20 students in elective courses each of four terms) 

Credits = 240

45 Course Enrollments (10 enrollments in avg. of 4.5 courses for four Terms)
Credits = 540

260 Course Enrollments 
Credits = 780

2006-07 
(Terms 7-10) 
20 Course Enrollments
(20 students in elective courses each of four terms) 

Credits = 240

50 Course Enrollments (10 enrollments in five courses for four terms) 
Credits = 600
280 Course Enrollments 
Credits = 840 

Program Budget – Year 1 – 2005-06 


 
Basic Expenditures 
Adjustments 
Revenues 
Administrative Support – $52,800*($40,000+ fringe) 

Marketing – Advertising - $20,000

Initial Marketing Materials - $10,000

Course Development –$16,800*

(3 courses @ $5000) 

Instructional Cost(courses unique to program only)

5 courses only @ $4500- $25,200*

Total = $124,800

* with fringes

Salary for 6 months 

1/1/05-6/30/05 = $26,400 

Amortize Course Development Over Three Years 

.33 of $16,800 = $5540

Adjustment = $52,800 less $26,400 = $26,400and$16,800 less $5540 = $11,260

Total Adjustment =

+ $37,660 

300 credits @ $445 = $133,500 

Net Expenditure =

$124,800 less $37,660 =

$87,140

Net Income = $46,360

Program Budget Year - Year 2 – 2006-07


 
Basic Expenditures 
Adjustments 
Revenues 
Marketing – $30,000 
Course Development 

13 courses @ $5000$72,800*

Instructional Salaries-$80,600*

(16 courses @ $4500)

Program Director - $72,600*($55,000 + fringes) 

Support- $34,320* ($26000 + fringe) 

Administrative Support - $52,800*

Total = $343,120

* with fringes

Course Development Amortization

Add: .33 Year 1 costs = $5540

Subtract: .67 Year 2 costs 

= $48,780

Total adjustment = $48,780 less $5540 =-$43,240 

780 credits @ $460 = $358,800

Net Expenditure = 

$343,120 less $43,240

$299,880 

Net Income = $58,810 

Program Budget Year – Year 3 – 2007-08


 
Basic Expenditures 
Adjustments 
Revenues 
Marketing – $30,000 
Course Development

2 courses @ $5000$11,200*

Instructional Salaries-$100,800*

(20 courses @ $4500)

Program Director - $74,880

Support- $35,340*

Administrative Support - $54,390*

Total = $306,610

* with fringes 

Course Development Amortization

Add: 33 Year 1 costs = $5540

Add:33 Year 2 costs = $24,020 

Subtract:67 Year 3 costs = $7500

Total adjustment = $24,020 + $5540 = $29,560 less $7500 = + $22,060 

840 credits @ $475 = $399,000

Net Expenditure = 

$306,610 + $22,060 =

$328,670 

Net Revenue = $70,330

Consultation/Approval Steps

Develop initial plan with GCE Senior Staff and Revise (done) 

Consult with AVP and Meg Franklin (done)

Consult with School Deans 

Initial budget discussion with CFO 

Consult with AAC Chair and Curriculum Committee 

General plan and budget to IOG 

General plan to Board of Trustees 

Begin collaboration with other Schools for course development for online delivery begins

Begin working with Student Services offices and IT to develop online admissions, registration and payment processes 

Submission of Proposal for “Change in Format” to SED 

Marketing begins 

Initial inquiries begin 

Hire Recruiter 

Second round marketing and intensive recruitment begins )

Faculty training 

Initial courses loaded 

Program launched