Organizing and Supporting Successful Multi-Institution Consortia
By working together, we can accomplish more than we can on our own. That is the goal of multi-institutional consortia.
This was the first in a series of webcasts about consortia, which are organizations that foster inter-institutional partnerships to share resources with the goal of increasing the institutional capacity for technology-mediated courses and programs. They take many forms (depending on local needs and politics) and vary greatly in the services they offer.
In this webcast, listeners heard about organizational, funding, governance models, and lessons learned that can be applied to individual settings from three distinct, yet successful, consortia:
- John Opper, Florida Virtual Campus – “Working collaboratively with Florida’s 12 public universities, 28 public colleges, K-12 school districts, and other partners, FLVC provides free services to help students go to college, succeed in school, prepare for career success, and in life after graduation.”
- Lena Patterson, eCampus Ontario – “A not-for-profit corporation, is funded by the Government of Ontario to be a centre of excellence in online and technology-enabled learning for all publicly-funded colleges and universities in Ontario.”
- Thomas Gilhooley, Online Consortium of Independent Colleges and Universities – “Member institutions are able to draw upon each other’s expertise in various coursework fields, thus expanding their offerings to their students.”
Speakers:
Thomas Gilhooly
Executive Director, Higher Learning Partners, Regis University
John Opper
Executive Director, Distance Learning and Student Services, Florida Virtual Campus
Lena Patterson
Operations Director, eCampus Ontario
Moderators:
Kevin Corcoran
Executive Director, Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium
Tina Parscal
Associate Vice Chancellor for CCCOnline and Academic Affairs, Colorado Community College System