by Ray Schroeder

This first Sloan-C View column on news and research related to online learning focuses on some ways ALN is enabling wider access and greater sharing of cost-effective resources:

A University Is Not a Business (and Other Fantasies) - Milton Greenberg, Educause Review — Milton Greenberg, Professor Emeritus from American University has written a particularly timely and thorough essay on the issues surrounding the convergence of the current funding crisis in higher education, the rise of the for-profit university, and the advent of online learning. This thought-provoking piece will be useful to many in our field who need to explain to faculty members and administrators just how important online learning is in assuring the future survival of their institutions.

UMassOnline Revenue Grows 39% and Enrollments Grow 32% in FY 2004 - TMCnet — It’s great to see online programs thriving in these difficult fiscal times. UMassOnline certainly has a success story to tell. Revenues this year are approaching $13 million, up from $9 million in FY 2003.

Some college-bound students playing catch-up online - Wayne Ortman, Associated Press — Students in South Dakota who have fallen short of qualifying for the new $5,000 Opportunity Scholarship program, now have the option of taking up to three online classes offered by Northern State University. The scholarship program requires at least a 24 ACT score and a number of specific college prep classes. Northern State University uses a grant to develop and offer the classes in physics, senior math and Spanish that are designed to help students meet their deficiencies and raise their ACT scores.

Internet-based tools could bridge gap in chemistry education, reports Carnegie Mellon Univ. — Carnegie Mellon Professor David Yaron has pulled together some exciting online resources for introductory Chemistry educators who are seeking to provide their students with real-life examples of practicing chemists. The materials are located online at www.chemcollective.org.

UM Releases Specs for eLearning Software Project — The University of Michigan has released preliminary specifications for developers seeking to contribute to the open-source software course management system, Sakai. The Java-based specs will assure that software to be developed to support the project will operate across the systems at adopting institutions. The Sakai project is supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

We plan to share selected items that have recently been posted at the Online Learning Update blog, which provides daily summaries of news and journal articles in the field with links to the complete articles. You can always visit the Online Learning Update blog to see the latest items, and find many more articles posted seven days a week at the Online Learning Update blog. Until next time, I’ll see you online!
~ Ray Schroeder

Faculty Guide for Moving Teaching and Learning to the Web, Second Edition, Judith V. Boettcher and Rita-Marie Conrad

Turning Knowledge into Action, Lisa A. Petrides

The Leadership Dialogues: Community College Case Studies to Consider, Larry W. Tyree, Mark David Milliron, and Gerardo E. de los Santos, Editors

Building a Workforce System through Partnering, Norm Nielsen, Dee Baird, Boo Browning, and Mark David Milliron, Editors

From Digital Divide to Digital Democracy, Gerardo E. de los Santos, Alfredo G. de los Santos Jr., and Mark David Milliron, Editors