Online Higher Education: Positioning Community Colleges 2011 STEMtech Conference OnlineCommunityColleges.org SEARCH ∙ CONNECT ∙ EDUCATE Jake McBee, Instructional Designer LeCroy Center

Agenda Dis cus s

 The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), in collaboration with AboutEdu (a nonprofit online education consumer group), led discussions with online leaders from community colleges across the country.  OnlineCommunityColleges.org (OCC) has developed a plan to incubate a new and "trusted“ single access search site for the online program offerings of community colleges.  July 2010 – Conclusions reached by the group: o Online offerings of community colleges are often being excluded from online searches, students are too often “guided” to online education providers with the largest marketing budgets and the higher tuitions. o Community colleges, individually, cannot afford to effectively compete. Collectively, OCC can provide greater visibility and accessibility via a "trusted" national searchable site to low income students, unemployed workers, and other underserved student populations. OnlineCommunityColleges.org The Start 5 “We are very excited about this endeavor taking Darton College national. It is an affordable way to get national visibility”. – Renita Luck, Darton College

“ O f the 30 fastest growing occupations in America, half require a Bachelor's degree or more. By 2016, four out of every 10 new jobs will require at least some advanced education or training.” President Barack Obama Speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Conference on Education March 10, 2010

7 Education Requirements for Jobs, 2018 Georgetown University, Center on Education and the Workforce, 2010 p. 14

8 Fastest-Growing Occupations Healthcare Professional Healthcare Technical STEM and Social Science Education Community Services and Arts Managerial and Professional Office Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

How do students find an institution for their education?

OnlineCommunityColleges.org Why the Need? 11

OnlineCommunityColleges.org OCC Members  Who are the OCC members? Anne Arundel CC, Broward College, Dallas TeleCollege Online, Darton College, Foothill College, Illinois Central College, Ivy Tech CC, Northern Virginia CC and Rio Salado CC  Through Partnerships anything is possible…

 TOGETHER: The OCC member colleges jointly: Serve more than 600,000 students nationwide Have an inventory in excess of 2,000 online courses Are helping to engage and educate other colleges on the initiative, and its timely importance OnlineCommunityColleges.org Members Collaboratively

 One-Stop Access to Affordable Higher Education - a central, “trusted” website that will provide students with one-stop access to online program offerings of member community colleges nationwide  Student Focused Website – a student friendly site that incorporates advanced interactive tools to search, identify and self-select affordable online community college programs  Centralized Marketing and Communications – to increase the presence of participating community colleges’ online programs in online searches  Future Services - for our community colleges and their students - personalized student enrollment services, best practices in student support, and student retention/completion services OnlineCommunityColleges.org Overview

OnlineCommunityColleges.org Progress – continued

OnlineCommunityColleges.org Progress  What has been happening? Building the foundation/infrastructure Recruiting Community Colleges Establishing guidelines for Corporate Sponsors Building the OCC website…

Opportunity to:  Increase visibility and affordable access to: Displaced workers Traditional students – needing direction and Retooling Skills enhancement 2 nd /3 rd careers  Innovate and position community colleges for the future – keep viable and competitive  Together we can make a difference! OnlineCommunityColleges.org Why Now?

 Increase value to the nation’s community colleges — including online community colleges – positioning for a change world and future  Respond to shrinking marketing budgets – opportunity for a new market of students  External resources for national brand building campaigns and expertise and marketing Annually, billions of dollars are being spent on marketing by less cost effective competitors; while the already limited marketing dollars of many community colleges are disappearing OnlineCommunityColleges.org Why Now? - continued

What would you want?

OnlineCommunityColleges.org Q & A For more information on the OnlineCommunityColleges.org contact Valerie Cavazos or Jake McBee, DCCCD/LeCroy