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Digital transformation often begins with your search for the right tool or some ideal platform that will serve all of your needs. How often does it start with a conversation about what those needs actually are?

Organizations that use teaching, mentoring, or consulting to deliver their mission have likely faced an existential challenge since the COVID-19  pandemic hit, restricting in-person connections. Perhaps they had previously considered moving online but had not yet made that commitment. When the pandemic struck, they had to quickly transition to an online-only delivery model. This has probably involved copious amounts of Zoom and Google Hangouts.  Organizations have no doubt discovered that filming a play and calling it a movie does not result in Avatar. 

The pandemic has challenged higher education institutions to move their courses online quickly. The different statuses of every school do not allow a one-size-fits-all prescription for what to do. Extension Engine has put together its Online Learning Response Team (OLRT) that works with schools with varying needs and defines (and help the school execute) an efficient, holistic, adaptable approach to getting online.

The pandemic has challenged higher education institutions to move their courses online quickly. The varied status of each school prohibits a one-size-fits-all prescription for how to move forward. Extension Engine has created an Online Learning Response Team (OLRT) to work with schools with varying needs to define (and help execute) an efficient, holistic, adaptable approach to getting online. In this article, I describe our approach, highlight our work with two vastly different schools, and then provide a quick description of next steps to determine if this would work for you.

Schools are preparing to launch the Fall 2020 semester under a cloud of uncertainty over further COVID-related school closures. 13% of US higher ed institutions have announced that they will either be fully online (6%) or have proposed various hybrid models (7%). Students suffered through the hastily cobbled-together Zoom lectures when schools first closed but they will not want to continue college if the Fall semester was a repeat of the remote learning model of the second half of the Spring 2020 semester.