Summary Finding One

Higher Education institutions that are succeeding in Internet-supported Learning have strong motivations to do so (see section VII).

Some of the factors that are most closely correlated with degree of success are:

• Consistency of Internet-supported learning with institutional mission (64%)

• Competitive pressure to provide Internet-supported learning (64%)

• Intention to grow enrollments through Internet-supported learning (59%)

Summary Finding Two

Institutions successful with Internet-supported learning have a strong commitment to the initiative (see section VIII).

• Administrators and faculty are clear that Internet-supported learning is a long-term commitment (91%)

• Administrators are actively involved in leading the efforts and administrative support for success is perceived as adequate for success (82%)

• While top-down leadership predominates, facilitative leadership that nurtures grass-roots support, coupled with a focus on high impact programs appears to be most effective

Summary Finding Three

Successful institutions measure themselves in a variety of ways depending on what is important to them; quality is at least or more important than growth (see section IX).

The measurements used to evaluate Internet-supported learning in order of frequency are:

• Student outcomes (29%)

• Student satisfaction (21%)

• Growth in enrollments (21%)

• Faculty satisfaction (10%)

Summary Finding Four

Students and faculty are well-supported at successful institutions through a set of well established capabilities that are being constantly improved (see section X):

Most prevalent support services include:

• Highly available website or course management system (100%)

• Faculty helpdesk (91%)

• Course development help from a support center (86%)

• Student phone helpdesk (86%)

• Technical training for faculty (86%)

• One-on-one instructional design consultations for faculty (82%)

• Orientation to online courses for students (82%)

• Clear and effective policies for ownership of online materials (82%)

• A single program coordinator or student contact point (78%)

• Student feedback through course assessments (78%)

Summary Finding Five

The “secret sauce” of achieving success in Internet-supported learning varies from institution to institution, however, a “programmatic approach” with a commitment to fully online programs seems to be most critical (see section XI):

• A focus on getting programs (a full degree program) fully online (a “programmatic approach”) as opposed to single courses fully online or web-enhanced courses, greatly increases the chance of achieving “overwhelming success” by a four to one margin

• Best practices of the programmatic approach often result in new program/course configurations that enhance quality

Summary Finding Six

Institutions successful in Internet-supported learning have gone beyond the technical issues and are much more focused on achieving a better educational product (see sections VI and XII).

A large variety of innovations and best practices have been developed by the successful institutions applied to all areas of the curriculum. Examples include:

• 24/7 learning labs

• Participation by 100% of full time faculty

• Faculty required to take comprehensive training program

• Course standards

• Maintaining a high degree of faculty/student interaction

• Use of class archiving and video replay to improve study

• Commitment to same high quality experience for all students

• Innovative business and centralized support models

Summary Finding Seven

The major challenges experienced by successful institutions indicate why many institutions continue to struggle with Internet-supported learning (see section XIII).

Even though the predominant methods for involving faculty in development of courses is to work with early adopters or those hand-picked by the academic leadership, the greatest challenges by far concerned the development and delivery of effective online learning materials and environments (42%):

• Technology learning curve and associated training required for faculty, coupled with lack of time for training (18%)

• Developing online learning materials and environments that support the quality and variety desired (13%)

• Finding and engaging enough faculty to meet the demand (11%)

Summary Finding Eight

To successful institutions Internet-supported learning is an opportunity to reconsider the intersection of mission and student service and to create an improved educational product. It is not about technology adoption. The successful institutions are addressing strategic, cultural and process issues that will help them perform their mission more effectively in the future no matter what direction technology takes (see section XVI).