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SACRAO Annual MeetingOklahoma City, OK
Session: M308
Date: Monday, February 8
Time and Location: 1:30-2:30 PM. Meeting Room 14
Supporting On-Line Students: Georgia Tech’s Online MS in Computer Science
Presenter
Reta PikowskyRegistrar
Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Tech Basic Facts• Public• Located in Atlanta, GA• Fall 2015 enrollment:
Undergraduate – 15,142 Graduate – 9,892 (25,034 total), up 8.33%
• Global presence• 31 staff members in the
Registrar’s Office• RO reports to Vice Provost
for Enrollment Services who reports to the Provost
• Usual array of functions, with the exception of classroom scheduling
Discussion Items
• GT’s online history
• Administrative structure
• Why this program as a case study?
• Supporting the academic unit
• Supporting the students
• Administrative questions
• Student services challenges
• The future
Welcome to Campus!
Four hours before he walked across a stage and accepted his master’s degree in computer science from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Yingnan Song took an elevator up to the 12th floor of a nearby Hilton Garden Inn and met his classmates and professors for the first time.
He wore a gray cardigan and black sneakers with blue trim. In his pocket he held a Georgia Tech student ID that he had picked up the previous day. He had also bought a Georgia Tech coat, a few T-shirts, some magnets, and a bag. But the small plastic card was his prize souvenir.
"Without a student ID," he says, "I can’t call myself a real student."Source: http://chronicle.com/article/Welcome-to-Campus-Here-Is/234613
Welcome to Campus!
It had been a week of firsts for Mr. Song: first trip to the United States from smoggy Beijing, where he lives and works as a software engineer for a Chinese Internet company. First visit to the U.S. capital, where he skipped sightseeing in order to take his last two final examinations in a hotel room while nursing the worst jet lag of his life.
And, now, a first trip to the real-life version of Georgia Tech, an institution that for the past two years had existed only within the four walls of his computer screen.
Source: http://chronicle.com/article/Welcome-to-Campus-Here-Is/234613
Tech Online History
• Georgia Tech Professional Education has been serving working professionals’ and industry partner education needs on behalf of Georgia Tech for over 100 years, including offering Distance Learning starting in 1977.
• Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE), an academic division of the Georgia Institute of Technology, allows working professionals and industry partners to access the expertise of a world-renowned technological research university.
• Through a variety of face-to-face, online, hybrid, and web enhanced formats, we deliver programs to suit the diverse needs of career-focused adult learners in key industries ranging from logistics to computing.
Source: https://pe.gatech.edu/about-georgia-tech-professional-education
Tech Online History
Summer Online Undergraduate Program (SOUP)
Facilitated by GTPE, SOUP offers:
• Undergraduate Georgia Tech students the opportunity to take a select set of for-credit summer courses online.
• SOUP is part of the Provost and Institute’s initiative to help undergraduate students graduate in a timely manner by providing alternative options for completing coursework.
• The courses operate much like Tech courses taught on campus. The online format is perfect for Georgia Tech students who are working or unable to be on campus during the summer.
• With 2014 marking the program’s second year, it grew by 15 percent to 15 courses and 167 students enrolled.
Division of Professional Education
On-line Degrees
On-line Degrees
MOOCS
• MOOC enrollment has doubled in the last year (from the GTPE 2014 Impact Report).
• Currently, there are 29 Georgia Tech courses in the Coursera catalog with a combined enrollment of 797,553 as of August 2014.
MOOCS
• Is the online MS-CS a MOOC?
Why is this an interesting case study?
• Collaboration with Udacity and AT&T
• Same curriculum, same quality as the traditional MS-CS delivered in person
• Affordability in higher education Friday, August 23, 2013
Georgia Tech’s (OMS CS) earned its highest endorsement to date as President Barack Obama cited the program as a nationwide model for controlling the rising costs of higher education.
Wednesday, March 11, 2015 During his March 10 visit to Georgia Tech, President Barack
Obama for the second time held up the College of Computing’s online MS in Computer Science (OMS CS) program as an example of the kind of innovation needed by the United States to address the rising costs of higher education.
Affordability
• Affordability in higher education The Online Master of Science in Computer Science
(OMSCS) — a degree from a No. 9-ranked computer science graduate program at one of America’s top 10 public universities — all for just an approximate cost of $6,600.
How does the billing work to result in this amazing price? Per credit hour rate of $170 per hour Mandatory student fees $301 per semester Thirty credits required for the degree Students are limited to 6 or 9 hours per term
(completing this program full-time, especially while working, is not workable)
Serving Specific Populations
• Collaboration with Udacity and AT&T
Online and On Duty: Soldiers Add Their OMS CS Stripes
Supporting the Students
• Dedicated academic advisors in the College of Computing
• Dedicated staff member in the Registrar’s Office At any point in time during the year, several staff members
may be handling email traffic, taking phone calls, or assisting with registration
In addition to supporting students, this position handles information, writes reports, etc.
• Specific program code used in Banner to make sure we can easily run reports on this population of CS graduate students
• Working with College of Computing to determine best way to manage course demand
Orientation Information
Onboarding
Student Portal
Program Information
• Admission Criteria
• Program Rules for Admitted Students
• Academic calendar
• Application process
• Cost and payment schedule
• Courses
• Specializations
Admission Criteria
• Preferred qualifications for admitted OMS CS students are an undergraduate degree in computer science or related field (typically mathematics, computer engineering or electrical engineering) from an accredited institution with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. Applicants who do not meet these criteria will be evaluated on a
case-by-case basis, however work experience will not take the place of an undergraduate degree. The following are required for admission:
• Evidence of award of a 4-year bachelor's degree or its equivalent (prior to matriculation) from a recognized institution, demonstrated academic excellence and evidence of preparation in their chosen field sufficient to ensure successful graduate study
• For international applicants, satisfactory scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
Program Rules for Admitted Students
• GPA – Students must achieve a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 to graduate. Course grades below C will not count toward graduation. All grades labeled as core and elective courses within a student’s specialization must be B or better.
• No course may be used to satisfy the requirements of two degrees.
• Pass-Fail and Audit – All courses applied to OMS CS must be taken for letter grade.
• The maximum total credit hours of Special Problems (CS or CSE 89xx) that may be applied toward the OMS CS degree is 3. These courses must be within the Georgia Tech College of Computing.
Program Rules for Admitted Students
• There is no maximum number of special topics (CS or CSE 88xx) courses that may be used towards the degree.
• Each student must complete the requirements for one specialization.
• OMS CS students must complete their degrees within six calendar years following first matriculation. However admitted students who do not enroll in any classes for two or more consecutive semesters must apply to Georgia Tech for readmission before returning.
• Withdrawal from a single course or ALL courses - If you wish to withdraw from a single course or from Georgia Tech with "W" grades, the deadline to withdraw for Summer 2015 is June 28th at 4 p.m. ET.
Academic Calendar/Application Process
Academic Calendar
• Accepting applications year-round. Deadline for Spring 2016 is September 14, 2015.
• Course payment deadline for Summer 2015: Monday, May 18 at 4 p.m. ET
• Academic calendar:
• The OMS CS calendar is synchronous with the Georgia Tech academic calendar.
Application Process
• Online, through Graduate Admissions
Cost and Payment Schedule
• Tuition & fees for OMS CS: Tuition: $510 per 3-credit hour course (most OMS CS courses
will be 3 credit hours) Fees: $301 per academic term of enrollment ($194
institutional fee + $107 technology fee). Fees are assessed only for those terms in which students are enrolled in courses.
• Students admitted to OMS CS will receive instructions for tuition payment.
• Further cost support Financial aid: OMS CS students can qualify for financial aid
just as any other graduate student. Employer reimbursement: Many employers offer subsidies
for tuition assistance. We encourage you to explore this option with your employer. Because of its greatly reduced cost, OMS CS may be completely covered even by modest tuition subsidies.
Courses
• Georgia Tech's online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMS CS) comprises a curriculum of courses taught by the world-class faculty in the Georgia Tech College of Computing, ranked the country's No. 9 graduate CS department by U.S. News & World Report.
• To be able to continue in the program after the first 12 months from the date of matriculation, students must complete a foundational coursework requirement of 2 courses with a grade of B or better.
• The courses that constitute “foundational courses” are designated with an asterisk on the web page.
Courses
Current & Ongoing OMS Courses
• *CS 6476 Computer Vision (Formerly CS 4495) • CS 6035 Introduction to Information Security • *CS 6210 Advanced Operating Systems • *CSE 6220 Intro to High-Performance Computing • *CS 6250 Computer Networks • *CS 6290 High Performance Computer Architecture • *CS 6300 Software Development Process • *CS 6310 Software Architecture and Design • CS 6440 Intro to Health Informatics • CS 6460 Educational Technology • CS 6475 Computational Photography • *CS 6505 Computability, Complexity and Algorithms • *CS 7637 Knowledge-Based Artificial Intelligence: Cognitive Systems • *CS 7641 Machine Learning • CS 7646 Machine Learning for Trading • CS 8803-001 Artificial Intelligence for Robotics • *CS 8803-002 Introduction to Operating Systems • CS 8803-003 Special Topics: Reinforcement Learning
Courses
Future Courses
Spring 2016
• CS 6340 Software Analysis and Test • *CS 6400 Database Systems Concepts and Design • *CS 6601 Artificial Intelligence • CS 8803 Special Topics: Embedded Software • CSE 8803 Special Topics: Big Data for Health Informatics
Fall 2016
• CSE 6242 Data and Visual Analytics • CS 6262 Network Security • CS 6465 Computational Journalism • CS 6601 Artificial Intelligence • CS 8803 Special Topics: Data Visualization • CS 8803 Special Topics: Biomedical Analytics
Specializations
• Students fine-tune their degrees through specializations. All specializations are tentative and subject to change. Computational Perception and Robotics Computing Systems Interactive Intelligence Machine Learning
Supporting the College of Computing
• Registrar’s Office staff assisted the College of Computing with: Processing the proposal to the Graduate Curriculum
Committee to offer the MS-CS online (this was a minor issue) Examining issues related to the agreement with Udacity as
to how courses would be managed, who would own the content, who would be responsible for the content, etc. that came before the Graduate Curriculum Committee.
Determining how to code student records and courses in Banner to ensure that we could track them, assist with managing course demand, registration, clearing registration hold, etc.
It has taken a village.
Supporting the Students
• Registrar’s Office staff have supported these students by: Answering email Answering telephone calls Interacting with the Admissions Offices and College of
Computing to gather or clarify information Providing information on registration, wait listing, etc. Providing information and assistance during the application
for graduation process Helping them navigate the academic rules and regulations at
Tech Working closely with the academic advisors in the College of
Computing to solve problems
The Administrative Side
• Graduate Curriculum Committee September 5, 2013 Minutes
Update to the Committee on implementation of the program: Course content Proctoring (how will it work) Conditions of admission (GRE waiver) Interactions with students (how managed?) Roles of the Udacity “Course Assistants”
Using the UG Teaching Assistants for CS 1371 as a model? Who owns the courses? And the IP? Royalties, who gets them? Teaching credit (every time it is run, credit for creating it?) National conversation about the value of such a program Dollar amount that makes sense for such a program
The Administrative Side
• Enrollment growth Spring 2014 = 380 Summer 2014 = 495 Fall 2014 = 1252 Spring 2015 = 2287 Summer 2015 = 1499 Fall 2015 = 2779 Spring 2016 = 3356 (still in registration, so a moving target)
• We have graduated 18 students in the MSCS-Online program, all in the Fall 2015 term.
The Administrative Side
• Access to courses (Spring 2016) CS 6250 Computer Networks (closed, with waitlist) CS 6290 High Perform Comput Arch (open) CS 6300 Software Dev Process (closed, with waitlist) CS 6310 Software Arch & Design (3 seats left, capacity 250) CS 6340 Software Analysis & Test (closed, with waitlist) CS 6400 DB Sys Concept & Design (closed, with waitlist) CS 6440 Intro Health Informatics (closed, no waitlist) CS 6460 Edu Tech Foundations (open, seats remaining) CS 6475 Comp. Photography (open, seats remaining) CS 6476 Computer Vision (open, seats remaining) CS 6505 Computability & Algorithms (closed, with waitlist)
• Managing waitlists
The Administrative SidePrimary Program Admission Term Registered Courses Waitlisted Courses Registered Hours Max HoursMSCS-O 201508 0 6MSCS-O 201508 CS 8803 O02 (91415) CS 6476 O01 (91844) 3 6MSCS-O 201408 CSE 6220 O01 (91419) CS 6035 O01 (91416) 3 9MSCS-O 201408 CS 6505 O01 (90099) 3 9MSCS-O 201508 0 6
MSCS-O 201508CS 6290 O01 (90096) CS 7637 O01 (90100) 0 6
MSCS-O 201508 CS 6310 O01 (90097) 3 6MSCS-O 201405 0 9MSCS-O 201405 CS 7637 O01 (90100) 3 9
MSCS-O 201408CS 6035 O01 (91416) CS 6310 O01 (90097) 6 6
MSCS-O 201502CS 6300 O01 (90093) CS 7637 O01 (90100) 6 9
MSCS-O 201508 CS 7637 O01 (90100)CS 6250 O01 (90092) CS 6300 O01 (90093) 3 6
MSCS-O 201502 CS 6300 O01 (90093) 3 6MSCS-O 201502 0 0
MSCS-O 201408
CS 6475 O01 (91414) CS 7641 O01 (90094) CS 8803 O02 (91415) 9 9
The Administrative Side
• The challenge won’t be to have a sufficient number of courses to offer.
• The challenge will be to hire enough teaching assistants to support the courses with growing enrollment.
The Student Services Side
• Students located all over the world In different time zones Technology access with different levels of reliability Working professionals
Need assistance, answers, need them quickly Keeping pace with the class (example of auto-graded course)
• We are not a 24-7 service provider
• Trying to determine what kinds of services students need and how to provide them
• Determining how to access our success at providing services to students
Lessons Learned - Administrative
• Making sure the Curriculum Committee has as much detail as early on in the process as possible
• Understanding the limitations of the academic calendar and how much staff effort goes into work-arounds during start-up term (working with Bursar and Financial Aid on these questions)
• So relieved that we came up with a good coding scheme in Banner
• Understanding Udacity and having them understand us was more of a challenge than either imagined
• Underestimating how needful the students would be…
Lessons Learned – Students
• They don’t read email…
• They don’t pay attention to email…
• They expect immediate response and action…
• They tended to underestimate the rigor of the courses and of the program (the fact that the cost could be relatively low, doesn’t mean the courses have been watered down)…
• Instructors are top-notch faculty with high expectations – they expect nothing more or less of these students than the traditional students…
• Those with backgrounds weaker in CS struggled…
What does the future hold?
• We expect this program to continue growing – not sure what our max capacity is at this point
• Other MS or PM degrees being considered and that we will likely propose soon; unclear whether the OMS-CS model will be the standard
• Serious discussions about how we provide services to online students will be needed
• How we are going to assess our success or lack thereof in providing services and information to on-line students will be a necessary conversation
• The Curriculum Committees will be looking at how the online format has or has not informed or changed the curriculum…
Resources
• Harvard professor explains why OMS CS program boosts access to STEM education https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKcU_6PAiO0&feature=youtu.be
• November 2014 Chronicle of Higher Education articles on the program http://chronicle.com/article/Welcome-to-Campus-Here-Is/234613 http://chronicle.com/article/What-Georgia-Tech-s-Online/149857/ http://chronicle.com/article/Ga-Tech-to-Offer-a-MOOC-Like/139245/ http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/georgia-tech-designs-its-
udacity-pilot-to-avoid-failure/48947
• Website for the OMS-CS program http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/
• GT Whistle article on the program http://www.whistle.gatech.edu/archives/13/may/27/052713.pdf
Guidebook and Wi-Fi Access
