Internet Learning Volume 3, Number 2, Fall 2014 | Page 37

Internet Learning
• What is your competitive position and
what differentiator will make you noticed
should you wish to take your online
programs to market?
• How are you going to articulate your
online initiative to your stakeholders?
What mechanisms will you have in
place to collect and respond to feedback
from them?
• Have you discussed your online ambitions
with your institutional, and if appropriate,
programmatic accreditors?
• Have you explored potential state and
federal regulatory and legal issues that
might arise from your online programs?
• In addition to academics and information
technology, what other departments
and processes will be impacted
(admissions, student accounts, registrar,
student services, career services,
marketing, etc.)? How will you support
them?
• Is your current educational and business
software – Learning Management
System, Student Information System,
Content Management System, Customer
Relationship Management, etc. – sufficient
for your plans?
• Is your IT network robust enough to
support the bandwidth necessary for
campus-wide online learning?
• Will your online learning platform support
mobile delivery? What policies will
you implement about technology in the
classroom?
Whether and how to engage in online
learning is a strategic decision that each
institution must decide for itself. It is imperative
that campuses have meaningful discussions
about it before, during, and after
any implementation. Continually exploring
and understanding the environmental
trends and how they interact with the institutional
culture and objectives will greatly
assist in making informed decisions. Ultimately,
regardless of whether schools want
to be major players in the market or only
want to use online learning for the benefit
of its traditional students, faculty, and
stakeholders, to be successful they will need
to address online learning in a way that is
consistent with their mission and with student
learning and needs at the core.
References
Adkins, S. (2013). The 2012-2017 worldwide
game-based learning and simulation-based
markets [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved
from http://www.ambientinsight.com/Resources/Documents/AmbientInsight_SeriousPlay2013_WW_GameBasedLearning_
Market.pdf
Allen, I., & Seaman, J. (2014). Grade change:
Tracking online education in the United
States. Babson Park, MA: Babson Survey
Research Group and Quahog Research
Group, LLC.
Allen, I., & Seaman, J. (2013). Changing
course: ten years of tracking online education
in the United States. Babson Park, MA: Babson
Survey Research Group and Quahog
Research Group, LLC.
Dixson, M. (2010) Creating effective student
engagement in online courses: What
do students find engaging? Journal of the
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 10
(2), 1-13. Retrieved from http://josotl.indiana.edu/article/view/1744
Dua, A. (2013). Voice of the graduate. New
York, NY: McKinsey & Company.
Eduventures. (2014). Seizing opportunity,
navigating risk: A guide to the evolving online
market. Boston, MA: Eduventures.
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