Meeting the Mission: E-Learning Implementation Stories from Twelve Postsecondary Institutions

E-learning enables new opportunities for postsecondary institutions to fulfill their missions more effectively. E-learning has not fundamentally changed the mission of these institutions, however; rather, it has enabled implementation of new strategies that are transforming the way teaching and learning occur.

E-learning providers are helping institutions achieve student retention and enrollment growth goals, improve students' academic performance, expand access to programs and academic resources, and enhance faculty members' teaching environment. Moreover, the interoperability of course management solutions with leading ERP and enterprise portal vendors promises a degree of academic and operational integration and efficiencies that have previously not existed on postsecondary campuses.

The case studies comprising this report illustrate the efforts of a dozen leading WebCT customers to create alignment between their institutional mission and an enterprise-wide e-learning strategy. The experiences of the twelve colleges and universities highlight a broad array of strategies and initiatives launched to leverage e-learning to better serve students, faculty, staff, and administrators. The profiled institutions run the gamut from a small liberal arts college with fewer than 1,000 student enrollments to a public land-grant university system serving more than 55,000 students. The report profiles universities from around the world, including ones in Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, and England, as well as the United States. Two case studies, those of Oakland University and the University of Ulster, emphasize institutions that are still in the early stages of implementing the WebCT course management solution.

If experience serves as the best educator, highlighting the early successes and lessons learned from a broad spectrum of institutional customers elevates the ability of colleges and universities to identify an appropriate path for their e-learning strategies.