Titan Up! Central Carolina Unlocks the Future of Online Learning

By Zeniya Cooley

Central Carolina is advancing its mission of excellence in teaching and learning through its new quality enhancement plan (QEP), Titan Up! Online Learning Unlocked, which is currently in a soft launch. 

Brainstormed by a research team of school leaders, faculty, and staff members starting in February 2023, the plan aims to improve online education and student success through three core strategies. 

These strategies include implementing a mandatory online learning course to enhance student readiness for online learning, equipping faculty with resources to improve the quality of online instruction, and leveraging technology to increase student engagement. 

Dr. Jessica Lea, the Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Accreditation at Central Carolina and a member of the QEP research team said the team used data from surveys and course evaluations as well as data on student outcomes to inform its decision-making. 

“We basically took all of the evidence we had from current courses and the wants and needs of our students, our faculty, and our staff into consideration, and we came up with something that we [thought would] actually fulfill the needs of our students and would enhance success,” said Lea. 

For example, Lea said the team decided to implement a mandatory online orientation for students taking any of Central Carolina’s 12 gateway distance learning—or “Distance Dozen” —courses because two-thirds of CCTC students take at least one online class. She also said that in the past, when the online orientation was voluntary, students who completed it had an 18 percent higher success rate in online courses than those who didn’t. 

The fact that the school has 1,159 online-only learners compared to 681 on-campus-only learners and many online students underperform compared to their in-person and hybrid counterparts also drove the team to prioritize training for faculty teaching distance learning classes.

To that end, Lea said Central Carolina will begin working with Quality Matters—a non-profit quality assurance organization—to help professors improve their online courses. “[Quality Matters] helps faculty members do things like evaluate the design of their course, making sure that the course is aligned really well with institutional policies and that online assignments are in line with something that students can complete on their own,” she said. 

eStudent and course evaluations also revealed that online students missed engaging with their peers. This inspired the QEP team to incorporate CircleIn, a student learning platform and mobile app, into Central Carolina’s learning community. 

“The idea here is to create a virtual community where students can engage with one another, and they can also engage with tutors or their instructors or other faculty members,” said Lea of the CircleIn app. “They can post questions, do flashcards, download their notes, and download resources, so it’s really neat.” 

Each of these “study actions,” to use the app’s terminology, helps students earn points. These points can then be exchanged for gift cards and other rewards. If students earn enough points, they can win micro-scholarships and even laptops. 

Lea added that CircleIn also features an AI tutor, which students can use to study and generate test questions. Though student use of AI has become a hot-button issue, with The Guardian recently finding that 7,000 university students in the United Kingdom cheated using AI tools, Lea assures that CircleIn’s AI tool uses a Socratic approach instead of giving students answers. “This is not a typical generative AI. It will not give you the answer to your questions,” she said. It will ask you for the answer that you think you have, and it will tell you if you’re right or wrong and then give you steps to follow if you’re wrong,” she said. 

So far, CircleIn is only available to online and in-person students in Biology 101, Biology 112, and Biology 210, but Lea reports that 48 students were actively engaged on the platform during the first week of classes and that those students took 1,199 study actions. The app will expand to other “Distance Dozen” classes in the spring. The other strategic areas of the QEP will also officially launch in the spring, with the first cohort of faculty beginning their Quality Matters training and the online orientation becoming mandatory for online students. 

Lea and her team have three main objectives once the plan goes full-scale in January. They hope 100 percent of online students will complete the mandatory online orientation, 100 percent of online faculty will achieve a Quality Matters certification, and that the school will experience a two percent annual increase in course progression rates for “Distance Dozen” courses. 

Right now, Lea said she’s excited by the feedback she’s received from faculty and staff since the soft launch of the QEP. She’s also confident that the plan will promote student success and help position Central Carolina as a leading institution for innovative, student-centered education. 

“I think it’s really serving our community and meeting our students where they are because our goal is to strive for those ideas of excellence, integrity, and innovation, and I think this makes us a major contender in the field,” she said. 

As for students, they have their own thoughts on what the QEP means for online education at Central Carolina. 

Daisy Tucker, an online student enrolled in Central Carolina’s licensed practical nursing program, said she approves of the plan. 

“I think [it’ll help give] new students who aren’t really good with computers a chance to learn how to do everything,” she said over email. “And it will also help some teachers get a better understanding about online classes and how to better help students.” 

Tucker’s especially enthusiastic about the CircleIn app. She’s already using it in one of her classes and finds it “helpful.” Jacob Gay, an online learner and fellow nursing student, is similarly optimistic about the QEP and its potential impact on the Central Carolina community. “[With the QEP], I think they are on the right path to building a better college environment,” said Gay. 

Since many college students continue to take online classes, even after the COVID-19 pandemic, Central Carolina’s commitment to quality online education is an encouraging sign. 

Prospective students seeking flexible online classes that match the academic rigor of in-person options should thus consider enrolling in one of Central Carolina’s online programs. 

These programs help learners earn credentials in high-demand fields like medical record coding and environmental engineering technology, all while offering students the convenience of not needing to commute to campus.