ABOUT THE ALLIANCE

The roots of Alliance for Excellence in Online Education (A4EOE) trace back to the spring of 2002, when Patrick G. Callaghan, Ph.D., then Strategic Director of the Office of Online Learning at Walsh College, formed a steering committee to develop and promote the first-ever Symposium for Excellence in Online Education. The idea behind the symposium was for fellow educators, administrators, and student services employees to learn from each other as they rose to the challenge of educating a student population with high expectations for online learning and other uses of technology in education.

Our Statement

The accelerated interest in online learning has challenged post-secondary education institutions to work together to establish standards of excellence and to discover creative and practical methods to improve and enhance the quality and experience of online learning for both the student and the faculty. The improvement will come in the form of appropriate technology infrastructure, instructional design techniques, pedagogy, faculty development and effective student-friendly modes of learning. This symposium offers participants a forum to learn and share with colleagues the latest and best practices in online education.

Why Online?

The 2013 Grade Change:  Tracking Online Education in the US survey, conduction by the Babson Survey Research Group, in partnership with the College Board, and sponsored in part by Pearson and the Online Learning Consortium (formerly the Sloan Consortium), revealed the following information:

• 1 million of higher education students are taking at least one online course
• The 6.1 % growth rate represents over 400,000 additional students taking at least one online course
• The percent of academic leaders rating the learning outcomes in online education as the same or superior to those as in face-to-face instruction grew from 57% in 2003 to 74% in 2013
• The number of students taking at least one online course continued to grow at a rate far in excess of overall enrollments, but the rate was the lowest in a decade

Responses were received from more than 2,800 colleges and universities and were aimed at answering fundamental questions about the nature and extent of online education. The Alliance was established to promote online learning best-practices among educational institutions in the Great Lakes Region. Alliance members work together so that all students will benefit from new online degree programs relevant to the job market. Please fill out the contact form to request more information about joining the Alliance. All applications will be reviewed by the Alliance Steering Committee. The membership fee for 2013 is $500 per institution.

A4EOE President Dr. Patrick Callaghan presents 2011/2012 Keith A. Pretty Distinguished Faculty Member Award to Jennifer Luzar of Northwood University.