Overview

Learning at the Speed of Light is a collection of stories, articles, and interviews by and with pioneers and visionaries across the United States who shared a belief in greater access to higher education. This belief that education was a right, not a privilege, put them on a path to create what is known as online learning. This book brings together the early ideas that guided their thinking, and shows how funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's Asynchronous Learning Networks initiative (guided by Dr. Frank Mayadas) spurred experimentation and created a new community of innovators, the Sloan Consortium (now the Online Learning Consortium). It also describes the development of early influential technology, and shares a behind-the-scenes look at the uncommon persistence of those who imagined and built the systems that continue to bring us closer to fulfilling the democratic mission of education for all.

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9780989845120

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Reviews

Disruptive change is never easy, especially in higher education. And it's all here: history, heroes, battles, missteps, leaps forward, and politics. Embedded in this collection is inspiration for those immersed in the work, as well as lessons for policy makers, institutional leaders, business/vendor partners, and faculty. -- James Applegate, Executive Director, Illinois Board of Higher Education and former Vice President, Lumina Foundation This book does an excellent job tracing the complexities of how distance learning (also known as online education and asynchronous learning) developed, as well as the many iterations through which it has gone. A book explaining how this happened is ideal. -- Belle Wheelan, President, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges Many of the major figures, without whom online learning may never have become the force it is today in education, are accurately portrayed in these pages. Especially well-documented is the work of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Sloan Consortium (now the Online Learning Consortium), critical catalysts for bringing anytime, anyplace learning to the public. -- Anthony G. Picciano, Founding Member of the Board of Directors, Sloan Consortium

Disruptive change is never easy, especially in higher education. And it's all here: history, heroes, battles, missteps, leaps forward, and politics. Embedded in this collection is inspiration for those immersed in the work, as well as lessons for policy makers, institutional leaders, business/vendor partners, and faculty. -- James Applegate, Executive Director, Illinois Board of Higher Education and former Vice President, Lumina Foundation This book does an excellent job tracing the complexities of how distance learning (also known as online education and asynchronous learning) developed, as well as the many iterations through which it has gone. A book explaining how this happened is ideal. -- Belle Wheelan, President, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges Many of the major figures, without whom online learning may never have become the force it is today in education, are accurately portrayed in these pages. Especially well-documented is the work of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Sloan Consortium (now the Online Learning Consortium), critical catalysts for bringing anytime, anyplace learning to the public. -- Anthony G. Picciano, Founding Member of the Board of Directors, Sloan Consortium

Author Information

John Ebersole, LPD, (1944-2016), served as president of Excelsior College in Albany, New York, from 2006 to 2016. His career in adult, online, and continuing education spanned more than twenty-five years. In 2015, Ebersole was inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame. He was the author (with William Patrick) of Courageous Learning: Finding a New Path through Higher Education, which was made into a documentary film of the same name. William Patrick is a writer whose works have been published or produced in nonfiction, poetry, fiction, screenwriting, and drama. He is a faculty member and co-director of Fairfield University's MFA Program in Writing, as well as founder and director of the New York State Summer Young Writers Institute, which will celebrate its 20th year in 2018.

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