About the Book
Published in Association with eLearning has entered the mainstream of higher education as an agent of strategic change. This transformation requires eLearning leaders to develop the skills to innovate successfully at a time of heightened competition and rapid technological change.In this environment eLearning leaders must act within their institutions as much more than technology managers and assume the prime role of helping their institutions understand the opportunities that eLearning presents for faculty, for students, and for client organizations in the community. They need to prepare to participate in policy development around these opportunities. They must understand the multiple dimensions of practice in the field—operations, administration, and working within the complex culture of a higher education institution—while also functioning as scholars of the field who can bring the best ideas from other institutions to help shape policy around eLearning.The second edition builds on the success of the first edition and presents both the collective expertise of veterans who have pioneered the field for 20 years, and of a rising generation of eLearning leaders that are transforming online programs at their own institutions, to address these challenges.This edition has been updated and expanded to reflect the increasing complexity of the field with seven new chapters and the revision of eight chapters that appeared in the first edition. New and updated topics include:·The evolving role of the chief online learning officer·Issues of diversity as more women and minorities enter leadership roles in the field·The increasing role of learning analytics and data-based decisions·The potential tensions involved in cohort-based versus individualized instruction·The increasing need for faculty professional development·The affordances of cloud computing, adaptive learning, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, and mobile learning to the field·The open educational resources movement and the implications for institutional policy and practice·The challenges of an increasingly complex competitive environment·AccessibilityThere are few comparable positions in higher education than that of eLearning leaders who work across multiple academic and support units and whose work fundamentally affects the institution as a whole. This volume is written for them.
Table of Contents:
Foreword—Michael Grahame Moore Preface—Gary E. Miller and Kathleen S. Ives Acknowledgments Part One. The Leadership Context 1. eLearning and the Transformation of Higher Education—Gary E. Miller 2. Leadership for Online Learning in U.S. Higher Education—Eric E. Fredericksen 3. Leading Change in the Mainstream. A Strategic Approach—Gary E. Miller 4. Leadership and Diversity—Cristi Ford and Kathleen S. Ives Part Two. Ensuring Operational Effectiveness 5. What eLearning Leaders Should Know About Learning Effectiveness—Peter Shea and Karen Swan 6. What eLearning Leaders Should Know About Online Teaching—Karen Swan and Peter Shea 7. Supporting Faculty Success in Online Learning. Requirements for Individual and Institutional Leadership—Lawrence C. Ragan, Thomas B. Cavanagh, Raymond Schroeder, and Kelvin Thompson 8. Online Student Services Optimize Success and Engagement for all Students—Meg Benke, Victoria Brown, and Joshton Strigle 9. Moving Into the Technology Mainstream—David W. Andrews, Colin Marlaire, and Andrew Shean 10. Accessibility—Cyndi Rowland and Kelly Hermann 11. Operational Leadership in a Strategic Context—Raymond Schroeder Part Three. Sustaining the Innovation 12. Leading a Quality Online Organization—Jennifer Mathes and Kaye Shelton 13. Leading Beyond the Organization—Meg Benke and Mary Niemiec 14. Preparing to Lead the eLearning Transformation—Kathleen S. Ives, Devon A. Cancilla, and Lawrence C. Ragan 15. Emerging Leadership Issues—Elizabeth Ciabocchi Contributors Index
About the Author :
Dr. Gary E. Miller is Executive Director Emeritus of the Penn State World Campus. Prior to his retirement, he served as Associate Vice President for Outreach and Executive Director of Continuing and Distance Education at Penn State and was the founding Executive Director of the Penn State World Campus, the University’s online distance education program. He earlier served as Executive Director of the International University Consortium and Associate Vice President at the University of Maryland University College. He holds a D.Ed. in Higher Education Administration from Penn State. He is the author of The Meaning of General Education (Teachers College Press, 1988) and a co-author of Leading the E-Learning Transformation of Higher Education (Stylus Press, 2013) and numerous journal articles and book chapters on distance education and the undergraduate curriculum. In March 2004, he was inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame. He has been recognized with the 2004 Wedemeyer Award from the University of Wisconsin and The American Journal of Distance Education, the 2007 Irving Award from the American Distance Education Consortium, the 2008 Distinguished Service Award from the National University Telecommunications Network, and the 2009 Prize of Excellence from the International Council for Open and Distance Education for his contributions to the field. In 2010, he was named an inaugural Fellow of the Online Learning Consortium. Kathleen S. Ives, D.M. has worked in the non-profit, higher education, workforce development and corporate arenas. She currently serves as Senior Vice President, Engagement for University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA). Additionally she serves as Senior Staff member for the National Laboratory for Education Transformation (NLET) as well as Director of Higher Education Transformation; Strategic Advisor for Packback, an AI-powered education technology company; Senior Advisor/Senior
Review :
“In these times of increasing reliance on e-learning, this text is an essential guidebook for leaders who intend to launch into the sometimes choppy waters of innovating through online learning. The information in this book will help leaders at all levels to chart a course of action that will lead institutions to effective implementation and consequent transformation.”
Ali Charr-Chellman, Ph.D. Dean, College of Education, Health and Human Sciences
University of Idaho
"If you are a University leader whose institution just became 100% online thanks to COVID19, this is a must-have book. Miller and Ives have curated timely well-honed chapters on key topics that will serve as a guiding light for your overnight transformation. The chapter authors are the standouts of online education from its inception to current experts. A strong combination of research-informed practice and many 'how tos'--a book you need today when the future just landed at your feet. And make no mistake--there is no going back to pre-COVID19 normal. From now on you will need to be conversant with some level of quality online education. Start with this book."
Marie Cini
Executive Consultant and Strategic Advisor at ED2WORK
"An amazingly well-researched and solid piece of work that provides the necessary historical platform upon which we can build a future of learning that moves beyond eLearning as a category to learning in general in the information age. To have this contribution made by the actual pioneers, architects and innovators in eLearning provides an authentic document reflecting the last three decades of hard work against entrenched odds."
Gordon Freedman, President
National Laboratory for Education Transformation, NLET
“This book is a must-read for aspiring and present online leaders who want to learn more about the intersection of technology, innovation, and leadership. The collective wisdom of these expert authors in the e-learning field brings thoughtful and insightful perspectives on the e-learning landscape at an unprecedented time in our history when online learning is relied on more than ever to transform higher education.”
Chris A. Bustamante, former President of Rio Salado College
CAEL Senior Fellow, and Education Consultant
“This is one of those books that every educator, administrator and policymaker needs to read now. The authors and experts, who represent online learning’s visionaries, innovators and practitioners, offer up clear and authoritative guidance at a time when it could not be more relevant or essential. They have rendered higher education a path forward in its hour of need."
Anthony G. Picciano, Professor
Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center
"The second edition historically contextualizes eLearning and provides needed attention to issues of diversity and equity. [It speaks] to issues that have only intensified as a result of the dramatic pivot to emergency remote teaching caused by the closure of universities worldwide in efforts to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
A statement by Karen Swan sums up the gravity of the current state of academia and its modus apparatus: ‘[I]t isn’t clear that higher education will survive in its current form.’ The contributors to this edited volume address this challenge and its myriad of causes in practical ways that are well grounded in theory; the result is chapters that are easily accessible to readers in non-leadership positions as well as current leaders.
Although Chapter 15, ‘Emerging Leadership Issues,’ is in the last section of the book, in many ways it should be read first if a reader has any doubt that the traditional higher education model should be changed and that eLearning can contribute meaningfully to this transformation.
This book is an informative read for all stakeholders in academia. Indeed, it is written for an eLearning leader audience, but the issues raised, researched, and discussed have huge implications for faculty and students. Ms. Ford states in summary that ‘What we are seeing now is a rebirth of higher education in many ways. We are starting to break the current, industrial era higher education mold.’ The COVID-19 pandemic has, if anything, hastened the breaking of this mold, and all involved in higher education should be informed and involved in this transformation.”
Teachers College Record
"I highly recommend this book to any existing and emerging American online leaders in higher education, including online learning leaders in business, government, healthcare, and other sectors. What is delightfully deceptive about this book is that nearly all the chapters are enjoyable reads and yet they are all indelibly immersed in a conclave of scholarly research and written by very experienced leaders in the online learning field. The reference lists alone and their quality are an invaluable resource in this book."
Don Olcott, Jr., University of South Africa
Online Learning Journal
