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Who are the organizations behind Sloan Semester?

by Sloan-C

About the Organizations Behind the Sloan Semester
Sloan Semester Steering Committee
Institutions that are providing online courses for the Sloan Semester

About the Organizations Behind the Sloan Semester:

A consortium of institutions and organizations committed to quality online education

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. Created with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Sloan-C encourages the collaborative sharing of knowledge and effective practices to improve online education in learning effectiveness, access, affordability for learners and providers, and student and faculty satisfaction.

Sloan-C maintains a catalog of degree and certificate programs offered by a wide range of regionally accredited member institutions, consortia, and industry partners; provides speakers and consultants to help institutions learn about online methodologies; hosts conferences and workshops to help implement and improve online programs; publishes a newsletter, the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN), and annual volumes of applied research studies; and conducts research, surveys and forums to inform academic, government and private sector audiences. Sloan-C also offers services such as awards, conferences and workshops, an effective practices database, and listing in the Sloan-C catalog for members with online degree and certificate programs.

Since its inception just 10 years ago the Sloan Consortium has sought to enlighten the academic community by making the case for asynchronous learning on traditional "turf" and in traditional terms. Sloan-C's five "pillars" focus on what matters most to stakeholders (students, faculty and administrators): learning and cost effectiveness, faculty and student satisfaction, and access. By highlighting "best practices" and empirical research findings, and furthermore, through its workshops, seminars and support of numerous projects, Sloan-C has become a true academic forum for learning what works and what doesn't work, in e-learning.

The Southern Regional Education Board has a similar, albeit shorter history, in its work involving technology in education. SREB’s seven year old Electronic Campus (www.electroniccampus.org), the South’s "electronic marketplace" of e-learning courses, programs and services, continues to grow. Early in 2004, an expanded Electronic Campus was launched, adding a variety of services, including online applications, financial aid, career services and campus tours to its listing of over 10,000 credit courses and 500 degree programs from 300 colleges and universities from it 16 member states*. The Electronic Campus now hosts a specialized portal for teachers (www.theteachercenter.org) to serve the needs of k-12 educators and administrators and is adding features focusing on the needs of adult learners. Much of the work of SREB focuses on addressing policy "barriers" in e-learning and has developed both an agenda of the barriers and suggested approaches to overcoming them. In its report "Technology Can Extend Access to Postsecondary Education: An Action Agenda for the South" (endorsed by the Executive Committee and the Board as the region's agenda), four broad areas are targeted:

• Extend citizen and student access to infrastructure, programs, services and training.
• Take advantage of regional resources that can be shared.
• Use state and institutional financing policies to more effectively support distance learning.
• Provide more and better information for quality improvement and accountability.

SREB’s efforts now focus on promoting initiatives to achieve these ends.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (www.sloan.org), a philanthropic nonprofit institution, was established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr., then President and Chief Executive Officer of the General Motors Corporation. For many years Mr. Sloan had devoted the largest share of his time and energy to philanthropic activities, both as a private donor to many causes and organizations and through the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Mr. Sloan, as a realist as well as a humanist and philanthropist, looked upon the Foundation as an extension of his own life and work. Although he recognized the inevitability of change that might dictate a different course, he expected the Foundation would "continue as an operating facility indefinitely into the future...to represent my accomplishments in this life." His accomplishments during his lifetime were of the highest order, and in themselves provide the most dramatic and lasting tribute to his extraordinary talent. Through the Foundation, his accomplishments have been extended and expanded.

The Foundation's programs and interests are divided into five main areas outlined as follows:

• Science and Technology
• Standard of Living and Economic Performance
• Education and Careers in Science and Technology
• Selected National Issues
• The Civic Program

* Member states are: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

 

Sloan Semester Steering Commitee

Co-Chairs:
Burks Oakley II, Ph.D., Sloan-C, Board of Directors Member; Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Illinois
John Bourne, Sloan-C, Executive Director; Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Olin College, Professor of Technology Entrepreneurship at Babson College

Members:
Frank Mayadas, Ph.D., Sloan-C, President; Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Program Director
Bruce Chaloux, Ph.D., Sloan-C Board of Directors; Southern Regional Education Board, Director of the Electronic Campus
Ray Schroeder, Professor Emeritus, Director, Office of Technology-Enhanced Learning, University of Illinois at Springfield

Staff:
Mary Larson, Southern Regional Education Board, Associate Director of the Electronic Campus
Janet Moore, Sloan-C, Chief Learning Officer
Martine Dawant, Sloan-C, Director of Technical Operations
Jeff Seaman, Ph.D., Sloan-C, Chief Information Officer and Survey Director
Keith Bourne, Sloan-C, Chief Operations Officer

Press Contact:
Patti Giglio, PSG Communications, Media Relations Specialist 

 

Institutions that are providing online courses for the Sloan Semester:

List as of September 26, 2005

• Arizona State University - Arizona
• Arkansas State University Mtn Home - Arkansas
• Arkansas State University, Beebe - Arkansas
• Austin Peay State University - Tennessee
• Baltimore City Community College - Maryland
• Baruch College, CUNY - New York
• Berkeley College - New Jersey
• Bismarck State College - North Dakota
• Bluegrass Community & Technical College - Kentucky
• Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY - New York
• Bossier Parish Community College - Louisiana
• Bowling Green State University - Ohio
• Brenau University - Georgia
• Bronx Community College, CUNY - New York
• Brooklyn College, CUNY - New York
• Broome Community College - New York
• Bryn Mawr College - Pennsylvania
• Buena Vista University - Iowa
• California University of Pennsylvania - Pennsylvania
• Capitol College - Maryland
• Carnegie Mellon University - Pennsylvania
• Central Texas College - Texas
• Charter Oak State College - Connecticut
• College of Southern Maryland - Maryland
• College of Staten Island, CUNY - New York
• Community College of Denver - Colorado
• Community College of Vermont - Vermont
• Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas - Arkansas
• CUNY School of Professional Studies - New York
• Daniel Webster College - New Hampshire
• Delta State University - Mississippi
• DePaul University - Illinois
• Drexel University - Pennsylvania
• East Carolina University - North Carolina
• East Tennessee State University - Tennessee
• Eastern Oregon University - Oregon
• EduKan - Barton County Community College - Kansas
• Ellis College of NYIT - Illinois
• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Florida
• Empire State College - New York
• Enterprise-Ozark Community College - Alabama
• Fairmont State University - West Virginia
• Florida Community College at Jacksonville - Florida
• Florida Gulf Coast University - Florida
• Florida State University - Florida
• Franklin University - Ohio
• Frostburg State University - Maryland
• Graceland University - Iowa
• Hampton University - Virginia
• Heidelberg College - Ohio
• Henderson Community College - Kentucky
• Henderson State University - Arkansas
• Herkimer County Community College - New York
• Hostos Community College, CUNY - New York
• Hunter College, CUNY - New York
• Jackson Community College - Michigan
• Jefferson State Community College - Alabama
• John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY - New York
• Johns Hopkins University - Maryland
• Jones International University - Colorado
• Kent State University - Ohio
• Kingsborough Community College, CUNY - New York
• Lehman College, CUNY - New York
• Lesley University - Massachusetts
• Liberty University - Virginia
• Limestone College - South Carolina
• Longwood University - Virginia
• Malone College - Ohio
• Marshall University - West Virginia
• Massachusetts Colleges Online - Massachusetts
• Maysville Community College - Kentucky
• Medgar Evers College, CUNY - New York
• Mercy College - New York
• Miami-Dade College - Florida
• Michigan State University - Michigan
• Michigan Technological University - Michigan
• Mississippi State University - Mississippi
• Morehead State University - Kentucky
• Murray State University - Kentucky
• New Mexico State University - New Mexico
• New York City College of Technology, CUNY - New York
• Nicholls State University - Louisiana
• North Arkansas College - Arkansas
• North Carolina State University - North Carolina
• Northampton County Area Community College - Pennsylvania
• Northern Arizona University - Arizona
• Northwest Arkansas Community College - Arkansas
• Northwestern State University - Louisiana
• Nova Southeastern University - Florida
• Ohio Dominican - Ohio
• Ohio University - Ohio
• Oregon Health & Science University - Oregon
• Ouachita Technical College - Arkansas
• Ozarka College - Arkansas
• Ozarks Technical Community College - Missouri
• Park University - Missouri
• Penn State World Campus - Pennsylvania
• Piedmont Technical College - South Carolina
• Pulaski Technical College - Arkansas
• Queensborough Community College, CUNY - New York
• Rasmussen College - Minnesota
• Rio Salado College - Arizona
• Rochester Institute of Technology - New York
• Saint Leo University - Florida
• Salisbury University - Maryland
• San Jacinto College - Texas
• Siena Heights University - Michigan
• Southeast Arkansas College - Arkansas
• Southern Arkansas University Tech - Arkansas
• Southern Christian University - Alabama
• Southern New Hampshire University - New Hampshire
• St. Petersburg College - Florida
• Stevens Institute of Technology - New Jersey
• SUNY at Community College at Ulster - New York
• SUNY at Jamestown Community College - New York
• The College of Saint Rose - New York
• The University of Memphis - Tennessee
• Thomas Edison State College - New Jersey
• Touro University International - New York
• Tulsa Community College - Oklahoma
• Tunxis Community College - Connecticut
• UMassOnline - Massachusetts
• University of Alabama - Alabama
• University of Arkansas, Community College Hope - Arkansas
• University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff - Arkansas
• University of Baltimore - Maryland
• University of Colorado at Colorado Springs - Colorado
• University of Illinois, Chicago - Illinois
• University of Illinois, Springfield - Illinois
• University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign - Illinois
• University of Maine System - Maine
• University of Minnesota, Crookston - Minnesota
• University of Mississippi - Mississippi
• University of North Alabama - Alabama
• University of North Carolina, Charlotte - North Carolina
• University of North Carolina, Greensboro - North Carolina
• University of North Texas - Texas
• University of Oregon - Oregon
• University of South Carolina, Aiken - South Carolina
• University of Southern Indiana - Indiana
• University of Tennessee, Martin - Tennessee
• University of Texas, Brownsville - Texas
• Upper Iowa University - Iowa
• Valencia Community College - Florida
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) - Virginia
• Wake Technical Community College - North Carolina
• Wayland Baptist University - Texas
• Wayne County Community College District - Michigan
• West Kentucky Community and Technical College - Kentucky
• West Virginia University - West Virginia
• Westmoreland County Community College - Pennsylvania
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Massachusetts
• York College, CUNY - New York
• York Technical College - South Carolina