Models of Administration for Online Learning Programs in the U.S. Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

This study investigated the models of administration for online learning programs in 85 higher education institutions in the U.S. Data used in this study were collected from an online survey with 85 participants who were either staff members or administrators of online learning programs in their institutions.  The results showed that there were two administration models that higher education institutions used to run their online learning programs. The Centralized Administration (CA) model was more common than the Decentralized Administration (DA) model. According to the participants, the online learning program under the CA model tended to be stronger than the program under the DA model. The study was concluded with discussion and recommendations for future studies.