10 Questions Organizations Need to Ask Themselves When Considering eLearning

1. Management: Who will be responsible for providing the leadership of developing an online program? The person or department in this role will be responsible for everything from planning to instructional design to implementation.
2. Institutional Readiness: How will management determine whether or not the organization is ready to fully support an eLearning program? An assessment must be conduction to determine if the organization has the resources it needs to support eLearning and if it doesn’t, is it ready to acquire them.
3. Cost: What factors should be considered when calculating the cost of eLearning? Organizations must consider both direct and indirect cost of designing and maintaining an online learning program.
4. Funding: How will the organization fund the eLearning program? There are several routes an organization can take to fund eLearning from partnerships with other institutions or with private sector companies to reallocating funds from other programs.
5. Content Development: How will new learning technologies be created? It’s important to determine whether instructional tools will be designed in- house or bought off the shelf.
6. Technology: How will the organization handle the technological infrastructure of the program ensuring that the program is user friendly and sustainable?
7. Technological Support: Is there an IT department that is able to assist faculty and students with questions regarding technology? If not how with this issue be addressed?
8. Student Support: Where will students be able to find out information about program requirements, counseling, financial aid, or tech support? Student support services are essential to a student’s ability to perform well in an online course.
9. Faculty Support: How will the organization handle the training and development of faculty member to ensure that they are capable of using new learning technologies?
10. Evaluation: How will the organization approach program evaluations to ensure that the course meets the needs of all stakeholders, such as students, faculty, and support staff?