Academic Innovators as Community Organizers -- Part I

Last updated: Monday 9/1/14 @ 8:36 am

DLL Editor's Note -- An earlier version of this article was posted in March 2014

Preface

These notes recommend that HBCUs produce online programs for off-campus students at a much faster pace. The author's recent experience as the planner/community organizer of a comprehensive online initiative launched by Howard University, the wealthiest HBCU, suggests that HBCUs cannot accelerate their production of online programs fast enough by acting alone, even if they receive substantial technical and financial support from a corporate partner. If HBCUS are to assume a leadership role in the development of online programs for the nation's black students, they will have to form strategic alliances with each other wherein they pool their limited resources and share the costs and tuition revenues derived from the online programs that they develop together.

Howard-Online @ Gig.U

Gig.U

"The University Community Next Generation Innovation Project, or Gig.U, is a broad-based group of over 30 leading research universities from across the United States. Drawing on America’s rich history of community-led innovation in research and entrepreneurship, Gig.U seeks to accelerate the deployment of ultra high-speed networks to leading U.S. universities and their surrounding communities. Improvements to these networks drive economic growth and stimulate a new generation of innovations addressing critical needs, such as health care and education." (This description is from Gig.U's home page)