Creating the Blended Mode University

Abstract

This session provides an overview of the lessons learned from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington's efforts to create and implement the "blended-mode university," a seamless and transparent partnership wedding academic affairs and information technology systems to create, manage, and support both traditional and online learning opportunities. First we will provide a brief overview of the rationale for creating the blended-mode university. The institutional context will be discussed, and the structural changes in organization and administration will be presented. The second section will provide a discussion for how strategic decisions about online learning options are made, and the interdivisional and inter-institutional processes that have been created and implemented to create the blended-mode university. The third section will describe outcomes to date. The final section will present some directions for the future.