Some Advice for the University of Illinois virtual campus

READ MY ARTICLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In recent news, there was an article on how the University of Illinois is struggling with their online enrollment growth. I posted a recent article and talked on this exact subject matter in Las Vegas in September. With the latest news article on the University of Illinois challenges, I believe it also proves the point of my article that going online has it’s challenges for most schools. I can certainly feel for some of the pain that this university is feeling… having experienced to some degree similar pain. In fact, those challenges and pain are exactly what inspired me to write my article. In the article on the University of Illinois, President Joseph White said:

“I’m not mad at anybody about that. I think we’ve come to realize that we have a university faculty that is at capacity.” 

With all due respect to President White’s observations, I would venture to say that, although his faculty might have some ‘capacity’ constraints, the more plausible reason for the lack of online enrollment at the University of Illinois is what I call “transitioning from tradition”.  Many resident programs are driven and controlled by academic committees and deans that often embrace a “ground campus” type attitude.  While not negating the great importance in offering a quality, student experience and assessing student learning outcomes, oftentimes a school can be governed by the mindset that believes that unless a student is sitting in front of a live faculty member, he or she is not learning.

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