Religion in Mainline and Independent Private Higher Education

The story of mainline and independent colleges parallels the narrative of American higher education as a whole. Until the twentieth century, these institutions dominated higher education, and religion in general (Protestantism in particular) played a huge role in their early history. During the twentieth century many scholars began to assume that secularization was inevitable, and religion was deemed irrelevant to higher education. Recent cultural shifts have reversed this trend. Globalization reveals the need for religious literacy and interfaith competencies, and the quest for meaning, personal development, and civic engagement that has always been part of the liberal arts is being reframed in ways that are appropriate for traditionally religious, spiritual, and nonreligious students. Religion is being reintegrated into the educational programming of mainline and independent colleges and universities—which still attract more than a quarter of all American college students—in ways that would have been unthinkable a generation ago.

Why Choose an Online Course?

OCICU is the Online Consortium of Independent Colleges and Universities and consists of five provider institutions which are located throughout the United States and Ireland. This consortium is the first of its kind to exist in distance education. The researchers wanted to understand why students choose to take courses through the consortium as well as why students opt for online learning instead of traditional face to face instruction. The research was limited courses that were completed in the Fall 2006, Spring 2007, and Fall 2007. The review of the literature revealed several factors of teaching online that affect why member schools recommend an OCICU course to their students and why these students succeed or fail in an online environment. The response rate of 25% diminishes the ability of this investigation to generalize to this population of 64 institutions.

Do Orientation Materials Help Students Successfully Complete Online Courses?

OCICU is the Online Consortium of Independent Colleges and Universities and consists of five provider institutions which are located throughout the United States and Ireland. This consortium is the first of its kind to exist in distance education. The researchers wanted to understand the importance of orientation materials to successfully completing an online course taken from another institution. The review of the literature revealed several factors of teaching online that supported the position that pro-active development of orientation materials is essential to the growth and development of online learning and results in additional revenue to participating institutions. [Article copies are available for purchase from InfoSci-on-Demand.com]

Build an Online Program Consortium

The Online Consortium of Independent Colleges and Universities (OCICU) was launched in January 2005 after several years of successful classroom-based partnerships, a failed attempt at a previous online collaboration effort, and extensive market research. Beginning in 1990, New Ventures of Regis University formed partnerships with independent, notfor- profit (NFP) colleges across the country. These partnerships focused on helping colleges develop and implement classroom-based, accelerated degree programs for working adults based on the experiences of the Regis adult education programs which had been established in 1979 (Husson & Kennedy, 2003). In all, New Ventures assisted over thirty colleges to launch or improve their adult education programs.

Do Orientation Materials Help Students Successfully Complete Online Courses?

OCICU is the Online Consortium of Independent Colleges and Universities and consists of five provider institutions which are located throughout the United States and Ireland. This consortium is the first of its kind to exist in distance education. The researchers wanted to understand the importance of orientation materials to successfullycompleting an online course taken from another institution. The review of the literature revealed several factors of teaching online that supported the position that pro-active development of orientation materials is essential to the growth and development of online learning and results in additional revenue to participating institutions.

Why Choose an Online Course?

OCICU is the Online Consortium of Independent Colleges and Universities and consists of five provider institutions which are located throughout the United States and Ireland. This consortium is the first of its kind to exist in distance education. The researchers wanted to understandwhy students choose to take courses through the consortium as well as why students opt for online learning instead of traditional face to face instruction. The research was limited courses that were completed in the Fall 2006, Spring 2007, and Fall 2007. The review of the literature revealed several factors of teaching online that affect whymember schools recommend an OCICU course to their students and why these students succeed or fail in anonline environment. The response rate of 25% diminishes the ability of this investigation to generalize to this population of 64 institutions.

Diversity Management: Seeking Validation

Diversity management is widely valued in higher education today, but closer examination often reveals a lack of action to support the level of diversity that institutions claim to embrace in many of their strategic documents. This paper includes an assessment of diversity management within South Carolina’s technical colleges and an examination of survey results. It is a companion study to a prior study of diversity in North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (NCICU). The purpose of that research was to review campus-wide documents and structure of schools in the NCICU to determine diversity transparency (Bledsoe/Oatsvall).