Distance Education and Title III History
Northeast Community College began offering online courses in 2002-03 with 56 course sections, 47 instructors and 568 duplicated students.
Just seven years later, course section offerings had increased 488%, over three times the number of instructors taught online and Northeast had over 3,000 more students (duplicated) taking online courses.
While exceptional growth reflected students’ and instructors’ support of distance education at Northeast, Northeast visionaries envisioned opportunities to:
- Identify and developed entirely online degree opportunities for distance students.
- Provide instructors with technology tools and training in order to infuse distance courses with rich media files and further engage students.
- Offer continuing education opportunities for faculty and staff members to explore best practices to serve students better.
- Provide students at a distance with quality student support services comparable to on-campus resources through both technology-assisted personal contact and through the development of a system of self-service tools.
In pursuit of this vision, Northeast Community College applied for a US Department of Education “Title III, Strengthening Institutions Program” grant in May 2008. Title III grants assist institutions with identifying institutional problems, developing solutions and utilizing Title III-provided funding to meet grant objectives and provided for future program sustainability.
Northeast was awarded $1,965,374, PR # PO31A090050, in October 2009. This five year grant will end September 30, 2014.