Future of Online Learning Summit Agenda

Online learning is re-shaping higher education. There is mounting competition. The geographic preferences that regional colleges and universities enjoyed for the past 150 years are melting away. Learning is anywhere, anytime, for anyone. Many students have become savvy consumers, no longer swayed by tradition and legend. They seek value, relevance, and convenience of access. The institutions that survive this disruptive revolution will be ones that respond to the needs of the learners, the demands of the economy, and the opportunities of the new technologies.  Those institutions that fail in fully responding to these factors do so at their peril.
  
Our opening panel examines the changes brought about by online learning that are re-shaping higher education. Who will benefit and who will be left behind? How will this new era in higher education serve the American public differently than the one that is quickly fading away? What do we need to do as institutions to assure that we remain relevant to society and meet the changing learning needs of this country?  

• Moderator: Bob Hansen, CEO, University Professional and Continuing Education Association

• Frank Mayadas, Senior Advisor, Sloan Foundation shares his unique perspective on the evolution of online learning—what attracted him and the Sloan Foundation to the early promise of online learning, the partial fulfillment of that promise over the past couple of decades, and the remaining challenges and opportunities as online matures at a time of massive shifts in higher education and society. 

• Ray Schroeder, Director, Center for Online Learning Research and Service at the University of Illinois at Springfield,discusses how  technological innovation (predictive analytics, mobile learning, open source learning)is shaping a future that is already here—transforming not only the nature of learning but society itself!
         
• Diana Oblinger, President & CEO, EDUCAUSE provides an overview of the ways students are using technology and how it is related to student success, how it is driving innovation on campus, and how it is changing the business model of higher education. 
   
• Todd Leach, President, Granite State College describes how the incremental change that has defined tradition-bound higher education no longer works; strategic advantage in online education requires thinking big and moving with a sense of urgency.
   

Building a Three-Year Vision
Facilitated breakout sessions are focused on developing the building blocks of a shared vision for online education in the next three years. Participants will react to the panel discussion, brainstorm key ideas with colleagues, and identify three to five priority ideas to share with the other Summit participants. 

• What are the needs and markets?  In the next three years, where should continuing education leaders and other administrators of university-based online initiatives focus their energies and resources?   What are the pressing social needs on a regional and national scale?  What markets are still underserved?  What are the most important new and emerging markets?   Facilitated by Bob Hansen, UPCEA, and Roxanne Gonzales, Regis University.
   
• What are the methods and modes?  What are the best methods and modes for expanding access to quality online learning, and how might they evolve over the next three years?  What should higher education institutions be doing to respond to—or better yet, lead—these changes?  Facilitated by Ray Schroeder, University of Illinois-Springfield and Beth Meyer, University of California San Diego.
   
• How can the increasingly sophisticated business of managing online programs drive broader changes in higher education?  In the next three years, how can the leaders of online initiatives help drive business innovation at their institution, and in the process help higher education meet regional or national needs?  Facilitated by Bill McClure, University of Massachusetts Amherst and Bilita Mattes, Harrisburg University of Science & Technology.
   

Putting the Pieces Together for an Action Agenda
Breakout sessions report out on key takeaways, followed by a facilitated discussion focused on how ideas from the three groups might be integrated into a three-year blueprint, or a call to action for the online higher education community.

The Shifting Policy Landscape
Higher education issues such as state approval, affordability, enrollment capacity, and academic quality are high on the list of critical policy issues in the aftermath of the Great Recession. The steep rise in online learning has pressured online providers to be accountable and transparent about tuition prices, curricula, student debt levels, and employment outcomes.  As for-profits seek accreditation and a deeper level of respect, it is important to examine all sides of the issue. And if the missions of public institutions are founded on the historical goal of educating as many citizens as possible, online learning must cease to be viewed as merely a means of delivery.

This panel focuses on the intersection of online learning and the higher education policy landscape.   

• Moderator: Jim Pappas, Executive Vice President, Association of Continuing Higher Education & Vice President for University Outreach, University of Oklahoma
  
  
  
• Sylvia Manning, President, Higher Learning Commission will focus on how the business model of outsourcing online programs and support has blurred lines of accountability, and the lingering tendency of the public policy makers and the general public to conflate online with for-profit providers. 
   
• George Mehaffy, Vice President for Academic Leadership and Change,American Association of State Colleges and Universities will discuss how campuses are now thinking about online learning within the larger context of strategic opportunities, and its implications for public education policy.       
   
• Joel Thierstein, Senior Advisor and Counsel, Office of Undersecretary, US Department of Education shares the perspective of federal policy makers on pressing issues surrounding online education.    
   
• Russ Poulin, Deputy Director, Research and Analysis, WCET will focus on what the states are doing to promote and support online learning, the remaining impediments at the state level, and likely future policy directions. 
   

Making the Case
Perspectives from the panel session will inform three breakout sessions designed to develop an agenda for advocacy around online, continuing and adult education.  

• The Internal Case: How do we advance the agenda of online, continuing and adult education with university leadership—presidents, provosts, CFOs, other deans, and faculty—during this period of radical change, where challenges, opportunities and threats abound?  Facilitated by Wayne Smutz, Penn State University and Tish Szymurski, Neumann University.
   
• The External Case: How can we better inform federal and state policy makers and the public at large, and what do we want them to know about the value of online learning and its importance to building tomorrow’s workforce?  Facilitated by Jim Pappas, University of Oklahoma and Jim Shaeffer, James Madison University.
   
• Telling the Story with Research and Information: How can we leverage our collective knowledge, research and information to build a compelling, data-informed case for online learning? Facilitated by Pat Book, University of Northern Colorado and Russ Poulin, WCET.

Next Steps: Building an Inter-Organizational Agenda
After breakout groups report out, this final session will feature a concerted effort to build an inter-organizational action agenda that advances the interests of online education and adult learners with state and federal policy makers, the public, campus leadership, and regional accrediting bodies. Facilitated by Tom Gibbons, Northwestern University and David Grebel, Texas Christian University.