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At many higher education institutions, traditional ones in particular, the development and advancement of online degree programs have occurred on the periphery of the academic, financial, and administrative units. For many, online learning has been marginal and slow to become a missioncritical institutional objective. As a result, it has not been fully leveraged as a strategy to increase access to higher education, improve learning outcomes, adapt the culture and values of current and future students living and navigating in a technology-complex and interconnected world, and meet enrollment goals. There are many reasons for this slow progression of online learning into the mainstream academy - some a matter of opinion, some a matter of history; however, many reasons are a matter of culture and our own assumptions about online learning.
Online education, as we know it today, is really still in the final stages of its first generation. We have made great strides in establishing online programs across public and private institutions of higher learning. But, as we are stabilizing our assumptions and policies into an established culture of online education, the world around us is changing. Whether we are ready or not, we must be thinking about the next generation of online education.
In order to build our culture of online education and integrate it within the academy, we have adopted many assumptions about various aspects of online teaching and learning. We have chosen to focus on these assumptions around the design of the online learning environment, learning theory, quality in online learning, online faculty, students, and the future of online learning. Therefore, the following questions will guide this article:
1. The online learning environment: Are our online learning environments really student-centered and interactive?
2. Learning theory: Which theories really apply to online learning and are they accurate?
3. Quality in online learning: Do we understand what quality is, and do our policies and practices support quality?
4. Online faculty: What is the real role of faculty in the online learning environment?
5. Students: Is there such a thing as a profile of the ideal online student?
6. The future of online learning: Will online learning transform the academy?
ABOUT THE ONLINE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
LEARNING IS "STUDENTAND STUDENTS ARE IN OF THEIR OWN LEARNING
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