CIC recently selected 21 member colleges and universities to
participate in the second Consortium for Online Humanities Instruction
(see list below).
The Consortium is part of a multi-year project to improve teaching and
learning in the humanities, explore new approaches to test the economic
viability of online education, and promote collaboration among smaller
private liberal arts colleges.
A $1.38 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supports
the work of four-person teams from each participating institution over
three years. Two faculty members from each team will develop new
upper-level courses in the humanities, pilot the courses in online or
hybrid formats in 2017, revise the courses, and offer them again in 2018
to students from all the participating colleges. Two administrators on
each team—usually the chief academic officer and the registrar—will
focus on institutional support for online learning, policies for sharing
courses, and other aspects of institutional collaboration. The teams
will come together for three national workshops, beginning in
Alexandria, Virginia, on August 7–9, 2016.
For more than a decade, independent colleges and universities have
demonstrated considerable interest and expertise in online teaching and
learning in many different formats and fields of study. The major
challenge they face is finding ways to use technology strategically to
enhance student learning without abandoning traditional approaches that
emphasize small classes and close student-faculty interaction. According
to CIC President Richard Ekman, “Online teaching and learning has
tremendous potential to sustain the humanities at smaller liberal arts
colleges. By sharing courses that might be under-enrolled at a single
institution, humanities programs can maximize the use of instructional
resources and offer students a wider range of high-quality courses.”
The second cohort of institutions will build on the success of and
lessons learned by the 21 colleges and universities that have
participated in the first Consortium since 2014. Deanna Marcum, managing
director of Ithaka S+R, the New York-based organization that serves as
advisor and evaluator for the project, notes that “thanks to the work of
the CIC institutions that have collaborated since 2014, we already know
that online humanities courses can produce excellent results for
students. This second Consortium provides an opportunity to learn more
about innovative approaches to pedagogy, faculty support for online
learning at smaller liberal arts colleges, and new approaches to
collaboration—and then share the findings with other institutions.” The
first cohort of institutions will complete nearly three years of
practical experiments with a culminating workshop in Alexandria,
Virginia, on August 5–6. Several project participants from the first
cohort will serve as mentors to the new teams.
Consortium for Online Humanities Instruction Participants (2016–2018)
Bloomfield College (NJ)
Carlow University (PA)
Carroll College (MT)
Carroll University (WI)
Claflin University (SC)
Clarke University (IA)
Concordia University Texas (TX)
Gettysburg College (PA)
Lasell College (MA)
Mount Mary University (WI)
Northwestern College (IA)
Randolph-Macon College (VA)
Rosemont College (PA)
Shenandoah University (VA)
Siena College (NY)
Simpson College (IA)
St. Edward’s University (TX)
St. Olaf College (MN)
Ursuline College (OH)
Walsh University (OH)
Wesleyan College (GA)