Executive Summary

Options Report (pdf)

Strategic Areas

Benchmark Colleges

References

• Rio Salado is one of the 10 colleges in the Maricopa Community College District serving Phoenix, Arizona and surrounding areas. Rio Salado is known as the "online college" in the Maricopa system. Rio Salado College has 20,000 students enrolled in online courses. Approximately 85% of their students live within the immediate geographic area. The demographic of these online students is predominantly female, working mothers, average age 32. In addition, Rio Salado serves several thousand eArmyU students, predominantly male, average age 31.

• Rio Salado offers fully online (no campus attendance), online (campus attendance for orientation and tests), and hybrid classes. Between 76% and 100% of their offerings are through distance learning. Rio Salado has 28 full time faculty who server as the instructional leadership for all courses and programs. Program development occurs in consultation with advisory councils and subsequent research. There are over 350 course titles, with 300 courses being available online. Curriculum includes the lower division general education courses needed to transfer to the Arizona university system, Associate of Arts degree, Associate of Business degree, Associate in Science degree, as well as a number of Associate of Applied Science degrees.
• Faculty are trained and supported through an instructional help desk, as well as a technology help desk. Faculty chairs work with adjunct faculty of navigating the Rio Salado system. The help desk is available to both faculty and students and has hours seven days a week and on holidays.
• Student services are available online, by telephone, and in person.

• While Rio Salado is the distance learning college within the Maricopa system, each of the other colleges have substantial distance learning offerings that are not coordinated with Rio Salado.
• Course developers are given a contract for development of the course. The amount of the contract is currently equivalent to the load hours of the course but there is the recognition that some courses take more time to develop than others.
• Rio Salado is developing online responses to specific workforce demands - including the shortage of health care workers.
• 20% of Rio Salado students take correspondence courses.