The American Distance Education Consortium

ADEC, the American Distance Education Consortium, leverages active collaboration for advancing access to learner centered educational programs anywhere in the world at any time. ADEC is the embodiment of its members and is flexible, agile, innovative and responsive to the needs of members’ communities of interest and communities of practice.

ADEC Vision

ADEC will provide affordable science based global access to higher education learning resources, programs, courses, degrees and research opportunities. ADEC is E-Access, E-Learning, E-Science.

ADEC Mission

ADEC has a central mission of helping member institutions become fully engaged with their communities, however they may be defined. ADEC as an international consortium of educational institutions and organizations, provides economical distance education programs and services via the latest and most appropriate information technologies.

ADEC members offer programs and services through emerging network technologies that create access to quality distance learning opportunities. The consortium draws upon the best and most effective subject matter specialists and information resources to share knowledge and content with learners. ADEC programming is offered locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally and is characterized by the following:

1. Design for active and effective learning.
   Principle:  Distance learning designs consider context, needs, content, strategies, outcomes and environment.
2. Support the needs of learners.
   Principle: Distance learning opportunities are effectively and flexibly supported.
3. Develop and maintain the technological and human infrastructure.
   Principle: The provider of distance learning opportunities has both a technology plan and a human infrastructure.
4. Sustain administrative and organizational commitment.
   Principle:  Distance education initiatives are sustained by an administrative commitment to quality distance education.

Forces of Change

Four driving forces of change exert significant influence on ADEC’s future. These forces are economic, demographic, technological, and learning methods.

1. Economic:
   • Globalization
   • Disparities between rich and poor
   • Public and private funding challenges
   • Meeting and financing human needs and medical care
2. Demographic:
   • Requirements for various population age groups
   • Urban-rural population shifts
   • Diversity, including gender, racial, and ethnic changes, in and out migration, age; young and old
3. Technology:
   • Information technology and interaction with materials and biology
   • Learning technology
   • Knowledge management technology
4. Learning:
   • New places and methods, greater role for learner

Institutional Challenges

The forces of change pose significant challenges to ADEC member institutions. These challenges include the following:

1. Living with increased competition and constrained state and federal funding.
2. Addressing new learners and methods of learning; more diversity; student access; cost containment.
3. Organizing internally for efficiency and effectiveness; encouraging innovation and external cooperation and collaboration.
4. Managing change; overcoming institutional inertia and resistance.

ADEC Guiding Principles and Core Values

ADEC’S guiding principles can be summarized in five core values. ADEC members advance the core values of learning-system excellence and access, diversity, accountability, globalization, and public awareness.

Excellence is the standard for all ADEC programs. Moreover, the commitment to excellence means that while ADEC cannot be all things to all people, it must remain accessible. Thus, all programs offered by ADEC members fulfill their potential for true excellence and integrity in serving member institutions and in addressing the most pressing needs of the communities they serve.

Through diversity, ADEC members ensure gender, racial, and social balance. Diversity enhances perspective, ensures quality, and maintains strength from which meaningful change can occur. Diversity is central to the ADEC commitment to excellence.

ADEC members are responsive and accountable to the communities, students, and audiences served. In building world-class programs, ADEC members are committed to improving and expanding efforts to articulate policies and programs that are relevant to improving the quality of life for all people.

ADEC members develop world-class programs that meet global needs. The global marketplace dictates that ADEC members develop and foster worldwide perspectives on issues and events that significantly impact its member institutions and the communities they serve.

ADEC members expand the public awareness of programs and benefits. ADEC members put faces on their programs; create consistent images and project consistent identities; and connect identity to programs that serve people. Moreover, ADEC members communicate the importance of the people and industries they serve. ADEC member institutions understand and fulfill clientele preferences, and help build public and private commitment for support.

The ADEC Goal and Strategic Initiatives

The ADEC goal is to enable, harness, and empower visionary thinking about education and technology. It is centered in collaboration of people, environments, hardware and connectivity and software-driven tools that encourage and enhance teaching and learning specifically to engage people in intensive ways in the created environment. Collaboration can provide the means for meeting the needs of member institutions and can enhance their engagement with communities of interest. Specific strategic initiatives in support of the ADEC goal include the following:

• Global Science & Education Programs
• Disaster Relief and Homeland Security
• Innovation: research and development
• Human Capacity: Workforce development and Commonwealth of Courses
• Digital Infrastructure

These strategic initiatives can best be accomplished by strategic partnerships, Member driven initiatives, organic/virtual organization and infrastructure, and fundraising and developing endowment.

• Strategic Partnerships
• Member Driven Initiatives
• Organic/Virtual Organization and Infrastructure
• Fund Raising and Endowment

ADEC's Value to Society

The 65 state universities and land grant colleges comprise the foundation of the ADEC non-profit organization. ADEC is inclusive and actively engages large and small institutions, including the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the Hispanic Serving Institutions and the Tribal Colleges and Reservation Education programs.

ADECnet includes the member institutions participating in the NSF financed Advanced Internet Satellite Extension program. This program focuses on hybrid networking designed to real rural, remote and underserved regions and studies program and learner effectiveness. More than 100 local learning centers, biological field stations, minority serving institutions, extension offices and disaster affected communities have participated to date in this program. The Internet2 Consortium, Tachyon, Inc., OARnet, the North Central Regional Rural Development Center, Texas A&M ITEC and the Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System (IHETS) are leading partners in this $5 million plus activity.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and ADEC partnership: In 2004 the Sloan Consortium and ADEC entered into a formal partnership to support a number of learning initiatives including 1) advancement of online and blended learning throughout the higher education community; 2) encouragement of new programs and strong leadership in the field; 3) improved data and research base for online learning and distance education; 4) policy development; and 5) programs that support minority serving institutions and development of minority scholars in distance and online learning.

ADEC was developed in partnership with the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC). NASULGC and EDUCAUSE frequently collaborate with ADEC in advancing distance education and online learning. SigmaXi and ADEC collaborate in advancing science, engineering and technology research, development and education.

ADEC works with government agencies and organizations including the National Science Foundation; the U.S. Department of Agriculture including the Cooperative State Research Education and Extension Service (CSREES), the National Agricultural Library (NAL) and the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS); the Department of Commerce and others.

Internationally, ADEC collaborates with the Institute for InterAmerican Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA), the Consultive Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the World Bank Global Distance Learning Network and international research and education organizations and universities throughout the world.

ADEC Member Institutions