College of Information Sciences and Technology The Pennsylvania State University Director, Online Education John Van Vactor

I ST@PENNSTATEI ST@PENNSTATE

College of Information Sciences and TechnologyThe Pennsylvania State University

Director, Online EducationJohn Van Vactor


Overview

• Current Staffing• Why Online Education?• What are our Different

Programs?• Let’s Look at Some Statistics

to See How We Are Doing?• Who Will We Target in The

Future?• Future Program Offerings?


WE ARE…

• John Van Vactor, Director Online Education

• Shaun Knight, Associate Director Online Education

• Karen Brewster, Program Manager, Research and Education

• Dr. Chao Chu, Senior Academic Director


Why Offer Online Education?

• We are building a brand: IST@PENNSTATE• Offering these degrees is consistent with our vision, our mission, and our goals

• Vision: IST@PENNSTATE will be the best i-school…noted for excellence in learning, scholarship and innovation. It will produce graduates who are professional innovators…• Mission: Through our teaching, research, and service, our people will change the world with inspired solutions, based on humanized technologies, and the conversion of data to information, information to knowledge, and knowledge to wisdom. In so doing, we will empower people, organizations, and communities to make the best decisions that can be made. Through our work, we and others will not only better understand the information age, we will become true thought leaders affecting the course of development of the digital, global society• Expand our presence and influence in the i-field


Why Offer Online Education

• Physical space currently limits the number of seats we have available in the course of an academic week

– In cyberspace we can grow as large as we want to be, we are not physically constrained

• As we move into the next decade demographics will change quickly and precipitously with respect to numbers of in-state, in-residence applicants aged 18-22

– We need to be ready to provide education to non-traditional students, to students location bound, to students who are financially constrained, etc.

– The MPS in IST is one of a set of online educational products we have in place• In this sense online education is a hedge against fall off in the resident education

population and customer base

• Allows IST to generate additional revenue with minimal sunk costs


Our Current Offerings

• Masters of Professional Studies in Information Sciences

• Bachelors Degree in Information Sciences and Technology

• Associate Degree in Information Sciences and Technology


The Vision of the Master of Professional Studies in Information Sciences

“The program aims to produce professionals and organizational leaders who not only can utilize the

foundations of information sciences and information technology, test the applicability of these

foundations for innovating a solution to address a given issue, apply the solution to a real-world

context, but also can be aware of the multitude of technological trends and environmental factors in

the changing global digital environment.”


• The IST Strategic Plan has committed the college to developing information professionals who are uniquely able to synthesize new knowledge and use information technology systematically to solve the most pressing business problems that face many organizations today and into the future

• To meet this strategic goal, the Master of Professional Studies in Information Sciences was carefully developed to meet the demands of the market and practicing information professionals

• Economic factors indicate that fields within the realm of IST will increase more than 25% YOY over the next 5-10 years with organizations hiring for management positions preferring candidates with a relevant applied graduate degree

About the Master of Professional Studies in Information Sciences



• Two cutting edge options (tracks) for the MPS include: - Information Assurance and Decision Support (IADS)

- Software Development (SD) & Enterprise Architecture (EA)

• Certificates can be obtained in the following areas:

- Data Mining

- Human Computer Interaction

- Information Security (INFOSEC)

- Enterprise Architecture



• The Master of Professional Studies in Information Sciences was offered in Fall of 2009 & applications are being accepted for Spring and Fall 2010

• The course curriculum is specifically designed to incorporate real-world business issues and simulations

• Tied to Penn State’s World Campus which delivers courses for more than 50 online degrees and certificate programs



• The Master of Professional Studies in Information Sciences (MPS) is a 33-credit hour program designed specifically for the information professional

• The degree offerings are flexible enough to allow completion in one, two, or three years

• Coursework is delivered in a real-time, state of the art format to insure maximum interaction

• All lessons are also archived for future reference or to meet an information professional’s business schedule


Curriculum Topics for the Master of Professional Studies in Information Sciences

Foundational Information Science

Network SecurityComputer & Cyber Forensics Security and Risk Mgmt.Visual AnalyticsInformation Privacy & SecurityWeb Security & PrivacySystems & Enterprise Integration

Information TheoryData & Knowledge Mgmt.Network Mgmt. & SecurityDatabase Mgmt. & Admin.Database Modeling & ApplicationsModels & Theories of HCIHuman Information BehaviorIT Valuation, Markets & InnovationPublic and Community InformaticsInformation Technology StrategyHuman Information BehaviorUsability Engineering

Information Security and Assurance Intelligent AgentData Mining I Multi-Sensor Data Fusion

Software Development & EA*

Distributed-Object Computing Engineering Software Sys.Requirements EngineeringSoftware ArchitectureAdvanced Enterprise IntegrationService ComputingMedical Informatics

Web & Internet Information RetrievalHuman Computer Interaction Organizational Informatics Crisis, Disaster and Risk Mgmt.

Information Assurance & Decision Support


Information Professionals and the Master of Professional Studies in Information Sciences

Job Assignment and the MPS Applicability

Intrusion Detection AnalystNetwork Security Engineer Information Assurance RemediationSecurity Project ManagerSystems Integration EngineerSystems Enterprise Architect Web Security & Privacy SpecialistIT Strategy ArchitectCyber AnalystData Security AdministratorSystems Administration

Intel AnalystsInformation Assurance/Security EngineersNetwork Intel AnalystsEnterprise ArchitectCyber Network Security EngineerInformation Assurance AnalystsCatastrophe Risk AnalystComputer System Security AnalystsSystems Integration AnalystsIT AnalystIT Consulting Manager

Applicable for all people who manage many of these processes and the people performing these functions.


Who Will We Target for our MPS Program?

• Corporations– High achieving, high potential employees with 5-10 yrs of experience

• Grooming for high level leadership positions– Example: Lockheed Martin Corporation’s – Information Systems Leadership Development

Program

– Mid Career individuals seeking new skill sets for advancement• Military

– High achievers are those who make it to the rank of Major• To progress to Colonel a Major must procure an MS degree from a credible

institution in field of relative importance– The military uses information systems like no other entity– Potential for a new Cyber-Service to be created

• Other government agencies– The Obama administration is pushing new technology and enterprise

integration across the government– Intelligence agencies


What Does Our Current MPS Look Like?

• Currently 24 students enrolled– Lockheed Martin represented the majority 18 students– Raytheon with 3 students– PSU, Booz Allen Hamilton, and US Navy have 1 student each– Raytheon has agreed to January 2010 webinars– 75% male, 25% female, 2 are former IST graduates

• We will open a special SP10 enrollment, expected to have 6-9 Lincoln Labs students as well as 4 other qualified candidates bringing us to approx. 37 students in this initial offering

• Lockheed Martin ISLDP is already qualifying their next class of students for FA10

• Projected cohort class for FA 2010 is 50 students


College of Information Sciences and TechnologyThe Pennsylvania State University

Associate Director, Online EducationShaun C. Knight


How About Our Online BS Program?


IST WC Collaboration with IST Campuses/Colleges

• Secured instructors and developers for course offerings and development through FA 2010.

• Representation includes instructors (multiple in some cases) from the following locations: Penn State York, Penn State Beaver, Penn State Worthington Scranton, Penn State Allegheny, Penn State DuBois, Penn State New Kensington, & Penn State UP.

• Looking for more bench strength as we grow.


Identified Demand of the IST WC Degree Program

• Multiple markets for the 4 IST WC offering:– Lower and mid-level

information technology professionals between the ages of 20 and 40.

– Information technology novices seeking careers in information sciences.

– 2 IST WC current students and graduates who are now able to “roll into” the 4 IST WC program.

– Number of individuals holding IST like occupations totaled more than 1,000,000 in 2006 with an expected increase of 80% by 2016 (BLS, 2008).


Enrollment Impact and Student Flow

• The 2 IST with the (G BUS) continues to have little impact on the residential offering

• 4 IST WC- Integration and Application option is having no impact to date on residential offerings- all admits for the 4 IST WC at this point are all new (no previous affiliation with PSU)

• The new population of students unable to enroll through resident instruction for 4 IST major at Penn State are seeking to participate in the online 4 IST WC program rather than going to other competing institutions – Bottom line- We are now attracting the potential students we

were losing to other schools since we did not have a 4-year IST WC offering


2/4 IST WC Course Enrollments

• Student population has grown 50 percent from year to year semester based

• Diversity of students enrolled in IST WC courses continues to be strength for the program.

• Enrollments in IST courses from AY 2008-09 (386) will more than double (est. 750) in AY 2009-10

• IST course offerings will have grown from 5 courses in 2005 to 30 courses in 2011

• Enormous growth with little marketing effort– This is about to change


Who Do We Target This Year?

• Past students who completed the AD program.. rolling them over!; paid advertisements online and print ads in technology journals and media.

• Military, military, military, and military– Many military members move from assignment to assignment and

lose the ability to transfer credits from one institution to another– Our online degree makes this a non-issue, we will market the ability

to take a course online anywhere in the world– Our Penn State and College of IST reputation will enable us to be

an online college of choice with the military community– Great commercial showing PSU WC abilities

http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/we_are.shtml

http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/we_are.shtml


Some Glimpse into the Future of the AD/BS World Campus Offerings

• Will have full compliment of BS courses online in 2010.• Planning to roll out development of SRA courses in 2010 to

provide an additional Support of Major option for WC BS program.

• Will begin evolving a more diverse Support of Option offerings for IST WC BS students in 2010.

• Begin the process for determining viability of an SRA and BA major in IST offered via the WC.

• Marketing of programs will become more geographically and demographically dispersed.


Questions We Face as We Grow

• How/who do we continue to market this program to continue to strengthen enrollments into our programs?

• How can we get the Statewide Faculty more involved in this endeavor?

• What needs and development opportunities should be be seizing upon as we grow this program?

• How do we ensure that our WC programs are comparable to RI experiences?

• How do we continue to positively mold the perception of online degrees as a respected option for professionals?

• How do we continue to differentiate ourselves form our competitors when we go to market our programs?


Questions?

Documents

College of Information Sciences and Technology The Pennsylvania State University Director, Online Education John Van Vactor