Despite the economic downturn, online education is poised for continued growth. At its second annual meeting, a group of regional education experts shared best practices and ways to improve e-learning.
Defense Acquisition University (DAU) hosted the second annual meeting of the Tennessee Valley eLearning Consortium in March at the Raytheon Warfighter Protection Center. The consortium, which is a collection of online education experts from local colleges, universities and businesses, met to discuss trends and recent developments in e-learning.
Founded in 2008, the consortium was created out of a necessity for communication among civilian academics and private industry on the subject of online education. Mark Lumb, a member of the DAU faculty and one of the group’s founders, called the consortium “an innovative, regional forum aimed at bringing e-learning practitioners together to share ideas, experiences and innovations.”
This year’s meeting focused predominantly on the growing role of online education in academia and business. One conference participants said online courses in the state of Alabama have increased 927 percent since 1997.
“Online schools will continue to experience a significant growth in enrollment, eventually surpassing the demand for traditional on-campus programs,” said Al Barnes, the DAU-South Region director of program development.
Despite the growth in the popularity of online education, it has not been free of problems. Conference attendees mentioned that the greatest challenge to the advancement of their e-learning programs is, in fact, human nature. Several attendees cited difficulties in connecting senior-level leaders in academia with the technological expectations of their students.
Jim McCullough, the dean of DAU-South Region, served as the opening speaker for the event, and told participants to “continue to share good ideas, lessons learned, best practices and in general learn from each other so as to improve e-learning as a whole, even after this meeting is finished.”
By the conclusion of the event, each of the representatives agreed to support a quarterly newsletter, the entuition, with articles and information concerning the development of online education at their respective establishments. The production of this periodical will facilitate the continuation of an ongoing dialogue among the members of the consortium and lay the foundation for future consortium endeavors.
Members of the consortium include Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University, Athens State University, Columbia College, Defense Acquisition University, J.F. Drake Technical College, Northeast Alabama Community College, Northwest-Shoals Community College, Oakwood University, Tec-Masters Inc., U.S. Army, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, University of North Alabama and Wallace State Community College.
