Conclusion
The Path to Successful Online Programs
The four modules in this book, when combined, provide the foundational knowledge required to develop and sustain successful online programs.
In Module 1, we learned about the online student life cycle and we identified the ecosystem that exists around successful program development and implementation. Building and sustaining the ecosystem requires community engagement from across your institution and beyond as you consider which community stakeholders and other institutions might be engaged throughout the online program’s lifetime. We are encouraged to identify current and potential collaborators and consider how collaborations can be a two-way street that provide benefits within and beyond the program. We also explored questions and frameworks you can use to assess if your institution or program is ready to create online programs and to identify areas where short-, mid-, and long-term planning can increase development readiness and sustainability. Finally, we examined three models for the distribution of online program expertise and resources.
Module 2: Program Vision, Feasibility, and Approval walked us through the process of setting your online program up for success through creating a strong program vision and assessing its feasibility in relation to guidelines set by your institutional context as part of the program approval process. It emphasized the role of collaboration in establishing program outcomes and planning wisely for the development of the program, including timelines and resourcing—particularly those that are specific to online programs.
In Module 3: Course Design and Implementation, we explored the process of visioning your program’s curriculum, including choosing core competencies and/or teaching approaches and eLearning tools to create a consistent and effective student learner experience in your program. It provided examples and tools to help program designers map out learner pathways through the program and embed essential elements such as learner persistence, teaching and learner-driven technologies, and decolonization into courses.
Module 4: Building Sustainable Online Programs emphasized the importance of building sustainability into your online program development work from Day 1. It encouraged you to look beyond participation in mandated academic quality assurance processes to create your own “blueprint” for program sustainability and continuous improvement that accounts for all areas of the online program ecosystem. The module provided information and tools to help you assess your institutional or departmental readiness to develop and implement a sustainability plan as well as an editable sustainability plan template.
In conclusion, this book focused on the internal and external contexts and collaborations that can impact your online program’s quality and sustainability. Programs that thrive over time are designed with specific attention to the many facets required for success, and this book provided a framework and series of activities to help guide you through this process. We designed this book so that you could “dive in” to the parts of online program creation that are most applicable to you at this point in time or to read in its entirety if you are just starting out in this process and come away with concrete, documented ideas, information, and action plans. We encourage you to regularly revisit areas of the book as the need arises. We hope that you will use the conversation prompts, meeting facilitation plans, planning templates, etc. as needed and share and/or adapt any relevant information in this book with those responsible for the day-to-day development and implementation of your online program. Our hope is that this book helped you in your journey to create or improve one or more online programs, no matter which stage of the process you may be in.