According to: “Class Differences: Online Education in the United States,” (2010, Sloan Consortium)

• Sixty-three percent of all reporting institutions said that online learning was a critical part of their institution’s long term strategy, a small increase from fifty-nine percent in 2009.
• Over 5.6 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2009 term; an increase of nearly one million students over the number reported the previous year.
• The twenty-one percent growth rate for online enrollments far exceeds the less than two percent growth of the overall higher education student population.
• Nearly thirty percent of higher education students now take at least one course online.

As online learning has developed and grown exponentially in recent years, there has not been a corresponding growth in the field of civic engagement within higher education. The opportunities to improve communities by effectively incorporating civically engaged teaching into online courses are numerous. Please join colleagues for an exploration of questions including:

• How are faculty currently implementing service-learning in online courses? What are the challenges and benefits?
• What types of service are online students engaging in? Community-based research? Separate, place-based volunteering at individual sites?
• Do  blended or hybrid courses that combine face-to-face and online learning offer unique opportunities?
• What opportunities might online service-learning open up? International partnerships? Serving more rural communities or communities without colleges or universities?

Facilitator

Jean Strait, Ph.D.,is associate professor in education at Hamline University, in St. Paul, Minnesota. She published some of the earliest research on service-learning in online courses, and has vast experience as a service-learning practitioner. Jean is Co-editor with Marybeth Lima, of The Future of Service Learning, New Solutions for Sustaining and Improving Practice, Published in 2009 by Stylus Publishing.

With questions contact John Hamerlinck at john@mncampuscompact.org or 320-308-4271.