Sloan in the News…
Posted on April 17, 2009 by Barbara Macaulay
Two interesting things about the Sloan Foundation and the Sloan Consortium crossed my desk in the last week and a half that prompt me to comment.
One has to do with the Sloan Foundation ending its major grant program for online education (see a full report from the April 6th online edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education). The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is closing its online-education grant program, a foundation official has told The Chronicle. Some college officials are concerned that the decision will leave a fast-growing sector of American higher education without a major source of support. The news item goes on to say that Sloan has provided some $80 million for online education initiatives. For UMassOnline, it was a Sloan Consortium grant that funded the development of our innovative blended learning model and subsequent offerings.
I certainly can feel a sense of loss that online education will not enjoy the same level of external funding support as we have known, but I have to say that the seeds the Sloan Foundation planted over the last 17 years have produced worthy results–strong online programs, research initiatives, venture efforts, and rich resources. The investment has paid off and the results are well known.
Among its many successes is the Sloan Consortium, an organization that provides ongoing training opportunities for online educators. For me, Sloan-C is the first source for research, staff development, professional journals, and interesting and provocative discussion forums. And this brings me to the 2nd item that crossed my desk on April 14th—an announcement about Sloan-C receiving a $4 million grant to take the lead on integrating online learning into the mainstream of higher education. All I can say is “wow!” This is an exciting next step in the evolution of online education, one that will have major impact for the future.
So what do I conclude from these 2 items? While the Sloan Foundation may be changing the direction of its support for online learning, clearly the support continues. This is an important and critical initiative and none are better suited to take the lead than the Sloan Consortium. I look forward to hearing more about this important work and want to say a humble thank you to both the Sloan Foundation and the Sloan Consortium for the wonderful array of programs and initiatives—UMassOnline has been one of the beneficiaries for sure!
Tags: Now 'U' Know, Online Learning, UMassOnlinePermalink | Trackback |
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