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The Strategic Importance of Online and Blended
Learning
Prof. Burks Oakley II Professor Emeritus,
University of Illinois Board of Directors, Sloan
Consortium
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Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

• The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation was established in
  1934 by Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., then-President and
  Chief Executive Officer of General Motors.
• As a non-profit philanthropic organization, the
  Alfred P. Sloan Foundation makes grants in the
  areas of science and technology, economic
  performance, the quality of American life, and
  critical national issues.

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Sloan Foundation Program

• In 1992, Ralph Gomory and Frank Mayadas started a
  program called Learning Outside the Classroom.
• Our goal is to make high quality learning,
  education and training, available anytime and
  anywhere, for all Americans motivated to seek
  it.

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Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

• Championed the approach termed Asynchronous
  Learning Networks (ALN) for offering online
  courses
• Instructor-led class, typically based on academic
  semesters
• Relatively low development costs
• Students use computers and the Internet to
  interact with course materials, other students,
  and the instructor
• Minimal requirements for bandwidth and computing
  power

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Sloan Foundation ALN

• Asynchronous Learning Networks ALN
• Anytime, anyplace asynchronous
• Over 3.5 million students across the US (or over
  20 of all students) at degree-granting
  institutions are enrolled in at least one course
  fully online.
• A steadily increasing majority of chief academic
  officers believe that ALN is at least as
  effective as traditional classroom education.

See http//www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/
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Sloan Foundation Funding

• Since 1993, there has been a progression from
• Stage 1 individual online courses
• Stage 2 entire certificate and degree programs
  delivered online
• Stage 3 scale-up to large numbers of
  enrollments through multiple online degrees and
  certificates
• Grants to support community building and
  knowledge dissemination major support to the
  Sloan Consortium

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Sloan Foundation Funding

• Since 1993, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has
  provided 75 million in grants to approximately
  110 academic institutions to advance online
  education.
• Direct program support
• Community building
• Sloan Consortium

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Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Sloan Consortium
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Sloan Community Building

• The Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) was created in
  1999 to help move the field of online learning
  forward.
• Sloan-C is a community of institutions and
  faculty who engage in ALN and share their
  practices and experiences - its theme is Quality
  with Scale and Breadth.

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Sloan-C Quality Framework

• Emphasis on quality and the five pillars
• Access
• Learning effectiveness
• Student satisfaction
• Faculty satisfaction
• Cost effectiveness
• Effective practices
  based on the pillars

Westminster College Fulton, MO
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Elements of Quality
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http//www.sloan-c.org/
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http//www.sloanconsortium.org/
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Sloan-C Annual Surveys
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2007 Annual Survey

• Almost 3.5 million students were taking at least
  one online course during the fall 2006 term a
  nearly 10 percent increase over the number
  reported the previous year.
• The 9.7 percent growth rate for online
  enrollments far exceeds the 1.5 percent growth of
  the overall higher education student population.
• Nearly twenty percent of all U.S. higher
  education students were taking at least one
  online course in the fall of 2006.

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2007 Annual Survey

• Community colleges have the highest growth rates
  and account for over one-half of all online
  enrollments for the last five years.
• All types of institutions cite improved student
  access as their top reason for offering online
  courses and programs.
• A large majority (69 percent) of academic leaders
  believe that student demand for online learning
  is still growing.

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Strategic Importance
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Strategic Importance
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Conferences Workshops

• Annual Conference
• Orlando, Florida
• 7-9 November 2007
• Blended Learning Workshop
• Chicago, Illinois
• 6-8 April 2008
• Emerging Technology Applications for Online
  Learning
• Carefree, Arizona
• 7-9 May 2008

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http//www.emergingonlinelearningtechnology.org/
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Univ. of Illinois at Springfield
2007 Sloan-C Award for Excellence
in Institution-Wide Online Programming
Ralph Gomory, Shari McCurdy, Frank Mayadas 7
November 2007 Orlando, Florida
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Sloan-C Listserv

• Example of recent discussion topics
• Faculty development
• New technologies, such as podcasting
• Student evaluation
• News
• Learning methods
• Policy issues

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Sloan-C Online Workshops

• Provided 24 workshops in 2007
• Will provide 30 in 2008
• Each about one week in length
• From beginners to more advanced
• Registration fee supports the workshops
• Faculty and staff can earn a Sloan-C certificate
  in online teaching
• Over 1000 participants this year

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Virtual Worlds Initiative

• Realistic, student-centered combined asynchronous
  and synchronous learning experiences. Hypothesis
  create high quality learning in a virtual
  world.

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Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

• Has provided grant funding for circumstances
  where ALN can make a special and unique
  contribution.
• Sloan Semester in 2005 institutions provided
  free online classes to students affected by
  Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
• The Sloan Foundation received special recognition
  from Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of
  Louisiana.

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Xavier University
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Wednesday, August 31st

• 845 am Conference call with John Bourne (Exec.
  Director, Sloan-C), Bruce Chaloux (Director, SREB
  Electronic Campus), Ray Schroeder, Frank Mayadas,
  and Burks Oakley to plan Sloan-C response in
  collaboration with SREB
• 1002 am Draft proposal submitted to Sloan
  Foundation requesting 1M to provide stipends to
  institutions providing free online courses to
  students impacted by Katrina

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Sloan Semester Results

• Online catalog listed 1,322 courses from 158
  institutions in 38 states
• Applications were processed from 1,725 students
• 4,256 course seat requests, leading to 2,827
  enrollments by SloanSemester students
• 5,385 enrollments by native students
• 8,212 total enrollments

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Summary of ALN Today

• ALN is the preferred method of online teaching
  today.
• This approach has been adopted by a wide range of
  institutions.
• There are industry-specific programs (e.g.,
  telecommunications, electric power).
• Estimated to be 3,000 online degree and
  certificate programs available nationally.

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Blended Learning

• The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation also is supporting
  initiatives in blended learning.
• Direct program support
• U Mass campuses, Stevens Institute of Technology,
  University of Central Florida and Estrella
  Mountain Community College
• Community building
• Fifth Annual Blended Learning Workshop
• Chicago, Illinois 6-8 April 2008

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Course Definition
Blended Course
Online Learning Activities
Face-to-Face Learning Activities
Replace
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Blended Learning Definition

• Courses that integrate online with traditional
  face-to-face class activities in a planned,
  pedagogically valuable manner and where a
  portion (institutionally defined) of face-to-face
  time is replaced by online activity.

From the Sloan-C Workshops on Blended Learning
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Fundamental Concept

• Students spend less time sitting in class and
  more time working individually and
  collaboratively on assignments, projects, and
  other learning activities.
• Faculty spend less time lecturing in class and
  more time reviewing and evaluating student work
  and guiding and interacting with students.

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Blended Program Definition
Blended Degree Program
Blended Courses
Online Courses
Face-to-Face Courses
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Blended Learning Resources
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Blended the Sloan-C Pillars

• Access Increased course and program access,
  on-campus services
• Learning effectiveness Course re-design takes
  advantage of best of both worlds
• Cost effectiveness low-cost local marketing,
  effective use of space, less commuting expenses
• Student satisfaction students retain
  affiliation with campus, enjoy using technology,
  spend less time commuting
• Faculty satisfaction control of curriculum,
  increased professional development

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Benefits of Blending

• Strengthens local position of institution
• Specific workforce preparation
• Uses classroom space more effectively
• Reduces commuting time
• More programs available (not all programs can be
  fully online)
• Local advertising is less costly
• Blended pedagogy may be the best of both worlds

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Strategic Option for Presidents

• The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is interested in
  activities that will increase visibility of
  online and blended learning as strategic options
  for college and university presidents and
  chancellors as they think ahead.
• One project involves NASULGC (National Assoc. of
  State Universities and Land Grant Colleges).
• Another project involves the League for
  Innovation in the Community College.
• Yet another is directed to presidents of HBCUs.

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Looking Ahead

• Online courses will account for 50 of all
  college enrollments.
• Blended courses will account for the remaining
  50.
• Online course and faculty sharing will be
  widespread.
• Industry-specific online programs will dominate
  (e.g., petroleum, nursing, auto production).

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Summary

• Tremendous progress since 1993.
• Partial success.
• Continuing need for initiative.
• Sharing knowledge and resources is key to driving
  the field forward.
• Common assessment framework based on the
  Sloan-C pillars.

access, learning effectiveness, student
satisfaction, faculty satisfaction, cost
effectiveness
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The Strategic Importance of Online and Blended
Learning
Prof. Burks Oakley II http//www.burksoakley.com/
burks.oakley_at_sloan-c.org