UNC system shifts focus to online

The UNC system’s push to consolidate and streamline universities’ online education programs might still be in its early stages, but administrators already have one model to follow — an emerging foreign language consortium.

A report presented at the UNC-system Board of Governors meeting last week by Jim Woodward, former chancellor of UNC-Charlotte and North Carolina State University, recommended universities develop a system-wide structure for online courses to cut costs during a tough budgetary climate.

Woodward said the system should utilize its foreign language consortium as a pilot program before implementing the new online structure.

Foreign language department chairmen from schools across the system met in May and recommended the formation of a UNC Foreign Language Assembly, a consortium that would merge foreign language programs struggling to attract students with more successful programs through online courses.

William Andrews, senior associate dean for fine arts and humanities at UNC-CH, said the University is discussing options for offering Portuguese courses at other institutions that lack the program.

The pilot program represents an opportunity for campus collaboration, said Alisa Chapman, associate vice president for academic planning and university-school programs for the system.

“It’s really a wonderful opportunity that we have these individuals coming together to think about how we might expand access and at the same time be more efficient,” she said.

Students who attempt to register for online courses often fail to clear the bureaucratic hurdles set in place by other universities’ admissions departments, according to Woodward’s report. He recommended that the pilot program develop an online course pool and system-wide registration process available for students at each campus.

Online courses could also expand beyond the state’s borders to accommodate international students and generate revenue for universities, said Phil Dixon, a member of the board. For example, 70 million Chinese students have expressed interest in taking an online course before participating in an exchange program.

Dixon said universities could save millions from an online course pool by avoiding the construction of costly new schools. The UNC system has sustained more than $1 billion in state funding cuts during the last five years.

“We’re beyond the point now where we can continue to build brick and mortar,” he said.

But Andrews said cost savings shouldn’t necessarily be a priority for campuses interested in expanding online education.

“We shouldn’t be starting out thinking the first thing is to figure out how we can save a dollar,” he said. “The first thing we should consider is how would this technology, how would these circumstances be a benefit to our mission.”

Universities would also need to determine how tuition revenue would be shared among a student’s home institution and the campus offering the online course, he said.

Such logistical issues will be a primary focus of the system’s new director of online services, a position administrators will fill by March, Chapman said.

The online director will also examine efforts by other university systems to increase their scale of online services. The University of California system has discussed developing 25 to 40 more online courses, while the University System of Georgia launched a system-wide registration tool for online courses this spring.

Board Chairwoman Hannah Gage said the position will require an individual with a long-term vision for instruction.

“We want a bold thinker, someone that can … not only coordinate what we have and do better with e-learning,” she said, but also help us design the architecture of the future.”

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