Sloan-C Online Community

What is the goal or purpose of the community?

The Sloan-C was created with funding from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for the purpose of encouraging the collaborative sharing of knowledge and effective practices to improve online education.

The mission of this community is to continually assist learning organizations to improve the quality of their online programs. By improving the quality, scale and the breadth of online programs, it is believed that education will become a part of everyday life in addition to being accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time in a wide variety of disciplines.

Membership

There two types of membership:

1. Free membership. These members have access to web-based resources and receive discounts on workshops and publications. Anyone can join.
2. Premium membership. These members have greater access to the newest thoughts in online learning. This membership is for institutions and has special benefits such as
   College pass giving staff and faculty access to the full range of online workshops.
   Access to discussion forms regarding research and opportunities in online education.
   Many Sloan-C publications in PDFs.

Information Provided

This community provides a variety of information in different formats. The following is a list of offers:

• A catalog of high quality online degree and certification programs offered by regionally accredited universities, colleges and community colleges who are members of the Sloan Consortium. This information is listed by institution, discipline area or credential type.
• Speakers and consultants to help institutions learn about online methodologies, in addition to hosting conferences and workshops to assist implementing online programs.
• The publication "Sloan-C View" which has information about the field and provides details about the work of the Sloan Consortium.
• The Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks information regarding research and critical reviews of thematic areas.
• Annual volumes of applied research studies based on responses from over 2,200 colleges and universities regarding online education. They also conduct research and annual surveys on online learning.
• An awards program along with an effective practices database so members can share lessons learned. The effective database focuses on five pillars: student satisfaction, access, learning, effectiveness, faculty satisfaction, institutional cost effectiveness.
• Innovative and replicable practices are collected by the editors. Anyone may view the practices. If you are a member of the website you are able to share and discuss effective practices on the website.
• There is also an “academic-continuity” website which reports on recent workshop issues of academic continuity and emergency management. This site provides information regarding emergency preparedness and response. It contains articles and or blogs regarding homeland security, avian flu, “Virtual Campus Could Aid In An Emergency” etc.
• There are also a number of free publication downloads and three weblogs:
  Online Learning Update http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/onlinelearning/blogger.html
  Techno-News Blog http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/blogger.html
  Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/blogger.html

What types of interactions are available to the community?

There is a wiki for discussion on the database for effective practices. Anyone may view it, however, only members may contribute.

Do the interactions support the goals/purpose?

The interactions do support the goal of helping to make education accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime through online programs. They provide valuable information to improve the quality of online education for faculty. Accredited institutions offering online degrees are listed with a link to their website for anyone seeking an online degree.

What is the best quality of the community in terms of interaction?

In the effective practices database there is a well designed table to locate information for the following topics:

• Community
• Learning Design
• Assessment, research, evaluation
• Information Technology

Each topic has five different categories of information and can be viewed at:
http://www.sloan-c.org/effective/browse.asp

If you were a member, what changes would you like to see made in the community interactions to make it more suitable for you as a learner?

I did not see a method to have a one to one session with someone who may have posted some good information on the effective practices database. If you would like to ask questions regarding their experience it would be difficult since no chat room is available.