Are you a Course/Programme Administrator?

These administrative officers are key people, as the success of a distance learning paper depends heavily on efficient administration and student support both departmentally and centrally.

In the image above, the Course/Programme Administrator is represented by the green sphere. That person keeps everything together! As a member of Otago's distance learning community, their work is essential to the success of the papers and programmes they support and to the high quality of student and staff experience. 

Each department/programme will have specific ways of operating but there are tasks that are relevant to all distance courses. In addition, there is always reliance on administrative activities that are centrally-based, such as those in Student Experience and Timetable Services.

Typical Tasks

The following is a brief outline of the typical tasks involved in providing administration for distance courses. While central services are drawn upon to provide interlinked support for many of these activities, it is usually up to the department/programme based administrator to keep a check on the activities, to make sure things get done.

Use the list below as a guide. You will need to discuss how these tasks are done for your distance papers, as well as your role in contributing to those tasks.

Prompt your paper convenors about these tasks and negotiate a plan with them. Make sure that your plan outlines very clearly how these tasks will be undertaken and your role and responsibilities in getting them done.

Enrolments

• Respond to course enquiries from potential students, referring them to a course advisor where appropriate. This will also entail collaboration with Student Experience and your academic co-ordinators of papers and programmes.
  
• Monitor students’ progress in completing enrolment procedures and following up those who are not course approved. See relevant information here. Academic convenors of your papers will discuss with you how the process will be undertaken and monitored for your papers and whether/how you might be involved in that monitoring.
• You will need access to eVision, and be given appropriate permissions, to enable you to monitor students’ progress in completing enrolment procedures.

Course Organisation

Course material:

• Coordinate course content editing, that is, the material that academic staff use for their teaching. This material is usually housed in Blackboard/Moodle, but where and how will vary from paper to paper and lecturer to lecturer. You will need to be given appropriate levels of access to undertake this task.
  
• Update the administrative guide/Course Outlines for all papers, including additional resources.
  
• Manage the publication and distribution of course material. Usually this will be in Blackboard/Moodle, but may take other forms as well.
  
• Order textbooks and request and organise eReserve articles from the Library.
  

Audio/Video/Web conferences:

• Organise the audio/video or web (e.g., Zoom) conference teaching programme.
  
• Make bookings for the audio/video or web (e.g., Zoom) conference network.
  

Online learning systems including Blackboard & Moodle:

• Rollover papers from previous Semester/Unit and update information.
  
• Facilitate access for students and lecturers. This may include uploading new students and staff, and making sure each has the appropriate level of access/permission.
  

Residential schools/Block courses:

• Book venues and catering, lecturers’ flights, and accommodation.
  
• Provide information to students and lecturers.
  
• Monitor costs and resources allocated and report to convenors regularly about the progress of arrangements.

Archiving Resources

• Storing and labelling learning objects (developed by academics for teaching) so that they can easily updated and incorporated into papers in following years.
• Rolling over Blackboard/Moodle papers.
• Keeping records of (and managing) assessment activities and other learning objects (such as recordings) that can be used in multiple papers or used each year a paper is run. A good classification system will enable academics to re-use learning objects for their teaching and keep them updated.
• Updating (e.g., changing dates, checking links etc) on resources, documents and other materials used for teaching.

Assignments

Many of these tasks are undertaken within Blackboard/Moodle and lecturers are able to access assignment work, mark it and distribute marks to students within those systems. However, some assignments may not be submitted this way and will need pragmatic processes in place in order to support lecturers. Be ready to suggest ways for academic staff to manage this process, with your support. The core tasks that need to be undertaken include:

• Manage assignment receipt.
  
• Record the receipt of assignments, distribution to markers and return to students.
  
• Record internal assessment marks and notify students of their results.
• Provide/plan new staff orientation about how these processes happen for your papers, within your department/programme.

Student Administration

• Respond to enquiries relating to the administration of their paper(s) by enrolled students.
• Respond to requests for student support during the course.
  
• Assist with setting up course and teaching evaluations carried out through the Quality Advancement Unit.
  
• Assist with exam activities: timetables, exam papers, and post exam queries. Work in close collaboration with the Exams Office if your papers have centrally organised exams.
  
• Provide assistance with setting up tests and other assessment activities within Blackboard/Moodle, including seeking professional development support for the academics you support.

Marketing the Distance Programme

• Marketing of distance papers is generally the responsibility of programme coordinators, and they work closely with Marketing Services. However, many administrators become involved in the promotion of their papers to prospective students too.
  
• Marketing will generally be concentrated around August to September to generate enrolments for Semester One in the following year, and again in April/May for Semester Two enrolments.
  

Course Information and Paper Information Details

• Monitor and respond to the requests concerning the annual Paper Capture process, by passing the messages on to relevant academic staff and following up with them to ensure that tasks are complete by the set deadlines.
• Timetables Services is the group that manages this important annual process. Detail about the process can be found by reading Paper Information Capture pages on the University website.
• The Distance Learning Office works with Timetables to make sure information going into the Distance Learning Prospectus is accurate.
•  Information about your contribution to this process in conjunction with the Distance Learning Office can be found in this handbook, here.
• Prompt academics to provide and check information that needs to be updated annually concerning each paper. For distance students, detail about the papers captured through this process can be extremely important to help them plan their study.
  

Lots of other tasks!

There will be a myriad of other responsibilities and tasks that distance learning administrators undertake. Each paper, programme, department is different!

Please contact the Distance Learning Office to let us know about how your programme/papers are administered and we will add those tasks to this list!