Partnering with TCC Connect Campus
A vast and diverse marketplace of institutions offer eLearning; assessing quality, value, and reputation is critical when making the decision to partner with an online learning community.
Tarrant County College District in Fort Worth, Texas, is proud to showcase the past, present, and future successes of its centralized online campus.
About TCC Connect Campus
Founded in 2014, TCC Connect Campus currently serves over 30,000 enrolled students via 555 online faculty members. Approximately 1,200 unique online sections are delivered every semester via sustainable and scalable planning. Forty programs in areas of Business, Information Technology, and Office Technology are available.
Campus enrollment continues to increase, as shown below:
Fall Campus Enrollment
| Year | eLearning/Online Enrollment | Weekend College/Hybrid Enrollment | Campus Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 21,697 | 1,089 | 24,805 |
| 2020 | 23,488 | 30 | 25,538 |
| 2021 | 24,435 | 1,311 | 27,767 |
| 2022 | 27,340 | 2,330 | 29,670 |
Spring Campus Enrollment
| Year | eLearning/Online Enrollment | Weekend College/Hybrid Enrollment | Campus Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 22,719 | 902 | 23,621 |
| 2020 | 23,488 | 1,064 | 23,812 |
| 2021 | 23,041 | 32 | 23,073 |
| 2022 | 29,604 | 901 | 30,505 |
| 2023 | 27,595 | 2,642 | 30,237 |
Summer Campus Enrollment
| Year | eLearning/Online Enrollment | Weekend College/Hybrid Enrollment | Campus Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 17,432 | 669 | 18,101 |
| 2020 | 18,649 | 1,175 | 19,824 |
| 2021 | 8,171 | 525 | 8,696 |
| 2022 | 20,647 | 1,307 | 21,954 |
| 2023 | 22,629 | 1,626 | 24,255 |
Why You Should Partner with TCC Connect Campus
Distinguished Faculty
Our faculty are the foundation for an effective learning community.
All Connect Campus full-time faculty and department chairs are
- Quality Matters (QM)-Rubric certified,
- active in national distance education consortiums/organizations, and
- regularly present at well-attended conferences across the country.
Since 2019, over 150 professional presentations are credited to members of TCC Connect Campus.
Faculty Support and Development
Connect Campus offers E-Faculty coaching and tailored professional development to increase faculty qualifications.
E-Faculty coaches view courses, collect data and collaborate directly with instructors to identify strengths and areas for improvement based on QM standards for communication, interaction and support. Instructors participating in E-Faculty coaching in Spring 2022 demonstrated a 7.4% average increase in student success and a 2.65% average increase in student retention rates per online section. 85% of observed sections included clear instructions and communication elements to start the course; 96% included learning activities for building community.
Professional development opportunities are aligned to the needs of online instructions. Online faculty must complete a rigorous, comprehensive Online Instructor Certification (OIC). To date, 1,041 TCC instructors hold this certification; 179 of those instructors teach exclusively at TCC Connect Campus.
Other professional development opportunities include:
- real-time webinars and training about various topics including QM, RSI, Canvas, and accessibility,
- annual faculty conference allowing faculty opportunities to share and collaborate, and
- funding for external conferences, workshops, webinars, and leadership academies.
Innovative Instructional Design
An internal, highly-qualified instructional design team supports faculty in the creation and maintenance of rigorous and user-friendly online courses, incorporating
- Online Instruction Certification (OIC),
- Peer Developed Courses (PDC), and
- Quality Matters (QM) Review.
Data-Driven Strategies
Decisions are made based upon verifiable information and trends, allowing course improvements to be proactive rather than reactive.
A campus-wide team of faculty, staff, and leadership meets monthly to review and disseminate the outcomes of activities captured with data. Analysis and discussion lead to initiatives targeting professional development, student demand/need, increased opportunities for participation, etc.
Campus student success and retention rates continue to increase, as shown in the following chart.
| Semester/Year | Spring 2021 | Spring 2022 | Spring 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Success Rates | 72.1 | 74.9 | 76.6 |
| Retention Rates | 88 | 89 | 90 |
Peer Developed Courses
Peer developed courses (PDC) ensure a high-quality online classroom experience for all users. Designed by subject matter and instructional design experts—then downloaded by instructors—PDC offer
- Low-cost scalability of offerings,
- Online education resources (OER’s),
- Consistent course interface/navigation,
- Embeddable media for increased engagement,
- Interactive content such as discussions forums, journals, and announcements, and
- LMS tools, which support regular and substantive interaction (RSI).
To date, 33 PDC are approved and active; others are in development.
Quality Assurance
Quality Matters™ (QM) is a faculty-centered, peer-reviewed process grounded in research and designed to ensure the quality of online courses.
All faculty are encouraged to complete the first QM course, Applying the QM Rubric. The QM Higher Education Rubric has eight general standards and 44 specific criteria that describe best practices in online course design.
All TCC Connect instructional designers and E-Faculty coaches are QM-certified peer reviewers, providing guidance to ensure online courses align with current best practices.
Questions?
For more information, contact:
Kristen Kirkpatrick, Ph.D.
Director of Academic Affairs (Operations)
kristen.kirkpatrick-130@tccd.edu
Updated October 22, 2024