Moore & Kearsley Strategic Planning Thesis

There is no formula to fall back on when trying to address the real needs and perceived needs of various elements in the organizational hierarchy: hence the challenge for the administrator.

The administrative budget is often the aspect of the online learning environment most tempting to "skimp" upon, given that administrative savings are supposed to be one of the benefits of the online environment, "Good management means extensive planning and this needs market research and other studies which are more difficult to justify to the faculty for the public than creating new courses, hiring more academics staff, or buying new technology." But scheduling constantly overlapping semesters of students and teachers, distributing dates for course registration and tuition payments; completion of the course assignments, examinations, and graduation procedures are required for the university to work as it should, and to maintain a high-quality reputation. Scrutinizing the quality of instruction in a realistic and timely fashion also requires strong administrative procedures and a staff willing to implement them effectively.

Online courses have come under criticism because of the "discrepancy between the literature cited and the actual practice of the institutions surveyed and concluded" and a lack of real educational design and student support. Students complain about the gap between their actual academic experience and that which is advertised in company literature.

Accreditation agencies, however, on the state, regional organization, or federal levels can provide some quality control."If, for example, in institution has a policy agreed to with its staff that there will be a certain ratio of full-time to part-time teachers hired at that institution, distance education administrators know the limits of the options open to them in planning the human resources needed for the delivery of new courses." However, there has been a legislative lag, for the most part, between legislation and the increased popularity of distance education.

Faculty and students have also expressed dissatisfaction: "among the most difficult areas regarding distance education policy in educational institutions concerns faculty especially their compensation, workload, and intellectual property rights" about their course notes and lectures posted online by the university. Educational institutions still have barriers towards fully implementing online curricula because of the entrenched view of teaching as a hands-on, face-to-face interactive process, in addition to having staff and administrative resistant to change. There is also the concern on a national level that an increased shift to online learning will widen the 'digital divide,' the "gap between those who have and those who do not have access to the digital technology that is required online learning. However, as online learning becomes more ubiquitous, despite such institutional and sociological barriers, hopefully the push towards distance education will work to close the gap, rather than widen it, through funding, institutional support, and cultural awareness......