Online Programs Assessment

Rationale for Indicator: Online courses provide access to higher education for students throughout COCC’s service district, some of whom may not be able to travel to COCC campuses, have work or family obligations that prevent them from taking in-person classes, or prefer online learning. Meeting the differentiated needs of students includes offering online instruction and further advances the College’s access goal.

 

Definition: The indicator measures the headcount and FTE of students enrolled in online courses and the number of credit courses and sections of each course. Currently, several disciplines offer most or all of their classes online, but at this time, COCC is not considering these as fully online programs because some of the required support courses may or may not be offered online. The Online Programs Action Team will help move the College towards its goal of developing fully online programs.

 

Targets: Targets are based on the aggregation of the data noted above (headcount, FTE, courses, sections) as compared to the 2022-23 benchmark year. Numeric targets are set up in ranges that represent a settling or growth pattern over time (not counting pandemic years) even though a single year may swing upward or downward within the parameters listed in the table below.

 

	Online Credit:
	Headcount	FTE	Courses	Course Sections
Met (3 of 4 criteria)	2,994–3,304	760–1,100	217–245	520–552
Almost Met (2 of 4 criteria)	2,501–2,499	601–759	201–216	498–519
Not Met (0 or 1 criterion)	2,500 or fewer	600 or fewer	200 or fewer	497 or fewer

 

Progress: Progress towards this indicator will depend greatly on the work of the Online Program Action Team. Currently, their work is focused on identifying the infrastructure and supports needed to offer quality online offerings, noting that a Project Manager was assigned in late spring to move this work forward. Regardless, for 2024-25, COCC met all targets for each of these indicators:

 

Online Credit:	Target	2024-25 Actual
Headcount (preliminary)	2,994–3,304	3,474
FTE (preliminary	760–1,100	1,091
Courses	217–245	262
Course Sections	520–552	597

 

Additional data can be reviewed by visiting the 2023-27 Strategic Plan assessment page and the College Sustainability indicator.