Tonight I continued watching the CHLOE 9 – Strategy Shift: Institutions Respond to Sustained Online Demand webinar. Richard Garrett, Eduventures Chief Research Officer, Encoura, focused on outsourcing and third party services (TPS) and online program management (OPMs). Garrett noted that there is growing importance and regulation of TPS and OPMs. Chief Online Learning Officers (COLOs) noted some concern about expanded TPS oversight; however most schools adopted the “wait-and-see” approach to TPS regulation from a sample of 265. Garrett explained that this topic is connected to accreditation and influenced by the federal government’s position. The Majority of COLOs were unconcerned about TPS oversight. It was interesting to learn about the use of OPM partnerships. Most institutions seemed happy with the OPM partnership. Jenay Robert from EDUCAUSE spoke about their research on AI attitudes. Robert spoke about respondents to CHLOE had mixed feelings about using AI use for teaching. Interestingly, COLO sentiment about AI use in online learning is largely positive. Responses were very positive/positive for use of AI for automation of tasks. Use of AI does vary at higher education institutions. COLO sentiment included encouraging students to use AI in a variety of ways in online coursework. Intriguingly, AI for administrative institutional needs varies. Most institutions are working on publishing policies for student use of AI. Bethany Simunich, PhD, Vice President of Innovation and Research, Quality Matters, concluded the webinar by noting the support from iDesign, Science Interactive, and others. CHLOE 9 can be downloaded by visiting bit.ly/CHLOE9
