The Sloan-C View Newsletter

... From the Editors
A letter from the editors of the Sloan-C View

Drawing on commentary from the fifth annual invitational Sloan-C summer research workshop, John Bourne speculates on “The Art of Possibility: Perspectives on the future of online education.” Clearly, online education is already, and will continue to grow as, an integral part of mainstream higher education, as shown in the recently released report: Sizing the Opportunity: The Quality and Extent of Online Education in the United States, 2002 and 2003.

The integration of online delivery brings questions about and solutions for preserving academic integrity. This issue of the View includes a synopsis of the Sloan-C listserv’s discussion of practices that you can replicate and resources you can share. Visit Sloan-C Effective Practices for more specifics. An “Opportunities” column invites you to explore the possibilities of a proposed Certified Proctor Network designed to enable cost efficiencies, reduce staff time and ensure exam security.

In “High Touch and High Tech,” Joan McMahon of Towson University and Neil Davidson of University of Maryland recount a conversation that led to the creation of a workshop that helps faculty convert their best classroom practices for building student engagement to online teaching practices.

Congratulations to the 2003 recipients of annual awards: Most Outstanding Achievement in ALN by an Individual; Excellence in ALN Teaching; Most Outstanding ALN Program; Excellence in ALN Faculty Development; and Excellence in Institution-Wide ALN Programming. Congratulations to the recipients of awards for effective practices in learning effectiveness, cost effectiveness, access, faculty satisfaction and student satisfaction.

Awards will be presented at the 9th Annual Sloan-C International Conference focusing on Implications for Teaching and Learning, November 14-16, 2003 in Orlando Florida at the Rosen Centre Hotel. Note that a discounted early bird registration for the conference is open through October 17. At the conference, we look forward to getting together with colleagues, veterans and newcomers, and the Sloan-C editors for a cracker barrel workshop: Effective Practices in Online Education on Friday, November 14. Come prepared to contribute one effective practice of your own and take away many other effective practices.

You are welcome to join and to visit Sloan-C soon and often.

Best Regards,

… for the Sloan Consortium

Frank Mayadas,
John Bourne and
Janet Moore

The purpose of the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) is to help learning organizations continually improve quality, scale, and breadth according to their own distinctive missions, so that education will become a part of everyday life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety of disciplines. You are welcome to join Sloan-C: http://www.sloan-c.org

News Welcome to new programs listed in the Sloan-C Catalog

Sloan-C is starting a new initiative that will focus on understanding and illuminating the business issues associated with online education. Currently, some knowledge exists in the form of effective practices and cost information at individual institutions, but little or no industry-wide, cross-institutional research has been conducted. Institutions have approached business practices in very different ways, resulting in very different costs and processes. Given that online education as a whole is expanding rapidly, a strong case is made for the pressing need to develop research models that will help managers of online education programs understand best business practices and benchmark costs and other key business performance metrics.

You can help Sloan-C shape this new initiative to best meet the needs of its membership. To this end, you are cordially invited to attend and participate in an informal discussion of business issues in online education Saturday November 15 from 4:15 to 5:15 in Salon 18 of the Rosen Centre Hotel at the 9th Annual Sloan-C International Conference. Steve Schiffman of the Sloan Center for OnLine Education at Olin and Babson Colleges in Needham, Massachusetts will lead the session.

Page 2Page Number Go BackGo HomeGo Forward
Sloan-C | Privacy | pdf version Sloan-C ViewPDF version