You may be familiar with what goes on at the beginning of every semester at the typical "bricks and mortar" institution of higher learning.  You have seen 500 or so students file into a massive lecture hall, you've seen the long lines at the bookstore, and you've listened to young men and women agonize over whether or not they received a "bid" for the fraternity or sorority they participated in "rush" for.

You're also familiar with the activities of the commuter student, who drives in at night or on weekends to take accelerated or compressed courses.  Armed with a giant "venti"-sized Starbucks coffee, they file into classrooms to make progress toward their degrees or certificate programs. 

Behind the scenes at a bricks and mortar institution, department heads are marshaling their forces, motivating professors to turn in their syllabi, select the courses they will lecture, and to train their graduate assistants to take roll, distribute materials, proctor tests, and then grade them.  Departments schedule courses, committees meet to approve curricula, admissions, and faculty appointments.  In the meantime, professors put final touches on their syllabi, update their curriculum vitae, and complain about committee work.  Classroom scheduling arranges classrooms, information technology integrates the databases, bookstores order materials, students register for courses and pay their bills, and graduate students agonize about their mounting student loans.

In the online institution, all the same elements are in place.  However, it is a very different process, primarily because the tasks are done by different people, and the individuals may be across the country from each other. Because of the distributed nature of the process, extreme planning is required.  For example, course development is coordinated between subject matter experts (SME's), instructional technologists, instructional designers, and learning management system support.  Depending on the institution's needs and procedures, it is necessary to follow a very clear set of steps and procedures, and to be sure to meet deadlines far in advance of the actual deployment of the course(s).

In the online learning organization, the role of course coordinator is infinitely more complex than in a traditional environment.  The individual must be able to do everything that was necessary before in terms of organization, evaluation of academic integrity, meeting curriculum and academic standards.  Further, he or she must be familiar with the technology.  In addition to being familiar with navigating whatever software is being used, it is also necessary to have a solid understanding of the basics of instructional design, and to be able to use technology appropriately.  In this case, a solid understanding of instructional technology is also vital.

In contrast with the bricks and mortar campus environment, where tradition reigns supreme, the online environment is marked by rapid and constant change.  For example, there are extreme changes in service providers.  The recent acquisition of WebCT by Blackboard is just one example.

Students' needs constantly evolve and change as well.  For example, they may not be able to access the Internet 24-7.  They may have to use slow dial-up connections.  Further, they may need accelerated courses that fit their schedules.  Instead of a 16-week, full-semester long course, the learners may need one that can be completed in 8 weeks, or even 4 weeks.

The online program that is not responsive to learner needs and which cannot meet those needs quickly - perhaps almost instantaneously - will find enrollments plunging precipitously as the competition scrambles to meet the demand.  The online institution of higher learning cannot afford the glacier-like progress of a traditional college.  While resistance to change has been an asset and a brand-solidifying process for traditional universities, it is just the opposite for an online program.

Likewise, the information-dissemination processes that universities often took for granted, such as informal networks of students that made sure that people got the news in a timely fashion, do not exist in the same way in an online environment.  It is difficult to replicate the in-class announcements, the flyers plastered on walls, the campus daily newspaper available for free in the student union, the dorms, the intramural sports, the Greek houses, the commuter lounges.  Thus, online organizations have had to find new ways to get the word out.  They have employed e-mail, list-serves, text message, electronic bulletin boards, student information networks and portals, blogs, and even podcasts.  Further, to cynical traditionalists, the online institution of higher learning has taken on the look of a telemarketing call center, as rows of online college employees sit with headsets in their office cubes and log into the phone system that has become the heart, soul, and voice of the college.  Ironically, this is only an illusion. 

The actual structure of the organization is not centralized but utterly distributed in a manner that resembles the worldwide web itself.  There are nodes and networks, which allow easy access to all.  The online institution may house itself in ivy-covered buildings, but they are more a symbol than an actual place.

[Listen to the companion podcast at:
http://community.elearners.com/blogs/inside_elearning/attachment/341.ashx - 3.57 MB]

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