Improved Support for Online Programs

The College of Education continues to be a leader in the development of innovative online programs. Starting in 1998, through a grant from UI-Online, the college developed its first two online master's degree offerings. Building on this initial success, we have expanded our online offerings to include 9 programs that lead to a master's degree, 3 certificate programs, and two teacher endorsement programs.

Even with our continued success, the current economic environment demands that we find ways to be more efficient in the development and delivery of our online programs. We are also facing increased competition from peer institutions and for-profit education providers as they develop competitive online programs. Students who are interested in online degrees now have more choices than ever before.

In response to these challenges, we have been working to maximize our resources for online program development and delivery. In conjunction with the Online Programs Steering Committee, department heads, faculty, and online program coordinators, we have identified responsibilities that are best centralized at the College level and those that should remain the responsibility of the departments. Although some of the responsibilities are best managed in collaboration with college service units, the autonomy of decision-making resides in the academic department, or in the case of joint programs, across departments.

Existing structures for the technical support we provide to our online programs are also being reconsidered. We need more efficient and cost effective ways to manage our technical resources as we expand our programs into new areas and departments. Our plan is to streamline technical support efforts without affecting the overall quality of service we provide. The proposed changes will reduce coordinator appointments by 21% and result in a projected savings of $45K. In addition, we expect to see improved efficiencies and better communication across all programs by co-locating the Program Coordinators and our technical support team in our existing online facilities (Rooms 3, 360, 363, & 364).

For more information about the efficiency improvements and the restructuring of our support services, please contact Scott Johnson, Associate Dean for Online Learning.