Hoey contributes article to online journal

Dr. Rebecca Hoey, director of online learning at Northwestern College, co-authored an article published in the fall 2014 issue of Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, also known as OJDLA.

Titled “Evaluating the Impact of the Administrator and Administrative Structure of Online Programs at Nonprofit Private Colleges,” the article shares the results of research Hoey and her co-authors conducted to determine the relative efficacy of different online education administrative models in place at Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) institutions.

Because most online programs develop organically according to institutions’ unique faculty, traditions and cultures, often distance education programs and enrollment recruitment efforts are in place ahead of carefully planned administrative structures.

Hoey and her colleagues published data that can help private nonprofit colleges and universities like those that belong to the CCCU determine the best way to structure the administration of online programs to achieve successful outcomes—outcomes such as growth in enrollment and in the number of online programs offered, as well as efficient operation of online programs in the areas of academic program development and delivery and student services. 

Hoey’s co-authors for the article are Dr. Fawn McCracken, dean of Minnesota’s Crown College School of Online Studies and Graduate School; Matt Gehrett, executive director of the Office of Continuing Education at Fresno Pacific University; and Dr. Rick Snoeyink, director of online instruction at Trinity Christian College in Illinois.

As Northwestern’s distance learning director, Hoey oversees the development of the college’s online offerings for adult and graduate students, which currently include programs in analytics, coaching, early childhood education and nursing as well as courses in international development.

For more information about Northwestern’s online programs, visit online.nwciowa.edu.