Extending Virtual Access: Promoting Engagement and Retention through Integrated Support Systems.

Abstract

"Extending Virtual Access: Promoting Engagement and Retention through Integrated Support Systems " focuses upon expanding the scope of on-line instructional delivery to include academic support systems critical to ensuring that virtual learning environments are inclusive, accessible, instructive, and responsive to changing student needs. Using examples from the University of Illinois at Springfield's experience of on-line program expansion in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, this paper examines: benefits of and barriers to integrating extended programming; specific approaches that facilitate virtual support and outreach; and strategies to promote continuous student support for distant students. "Information technology can be the excuse and the means to move closer to educational goals that we have been unable to achieve for decades- and to some new ones. With enough commitment of resources, thoughtful effort, patience, and luck,