Abstract
The online education landscape is dominated in higher education by large for-profit institutions and large public universities, but how can a small, private university develop online programs and scale them in such a way as to offer students an excellent learning experience, provide exemplary student support services, and do so with limited resources? This chapter discusses the challenges faced, and solutions deployed, by one such institution as it implemented and grew its portfolio of fully online programs.
TopLiterature Review
A review of the literature was conducted to examine the state of online education in the United States’ higher education system, the importance of online education to said system and the challenges higher education institutions face when moving to fully online degree programs.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Sub-Brand: A subsidiary brand that provides market differentiation to a designated target audience.
Parent Brand: The main brand of a company or organization, it supports product or service subsidiaries by sharing its identity.
Online Education: Education delivered electronically via the internet, most often asynchronous thus requiring no face-to-face meeting times.
Microsite: A small site or collection of web pages that is complimentary to but separate from (in purpose and design) an organization’s main website.
Instructional Design: The process and/or office which assists instructors in creating an online course. Instructional designers may assist with the course technology, look and feel, course flow, etc.
Online Program Management (OPM): A company that offers a suite of services to institutions with online programs. These services may include marketing, enrollment management, instructional design, student support, and others.