Governance

Penn State Online Governance

Penn State Online is based on the principle of shared governance, coordinating across both administrative and academic unit resources in order to develop a streamlined administrative approach to ensure a highly integrated, yet flexible, environment to advance Penn State’s strategic online initiatives.

A variety of units are brought together into a leadership community that encourages the collaboration and innovation needed to prepare Penn State to achieve the long-term vision for e-learning. Each participating unit continues to be responsible for its own work, but coordinates with other units to achieve the above goals.

Penn State Online is governed through several groups:

1. The Penn State Digital Learning Steering Committee stands as the University’s e-learning governing board. The Steering Committee is co-chaired by Dr. Robert Pangborn, Vice President and Dean for Undergraduate Education, and Dr. Craig Weidemann, Vice President for Outreach and Vice Provost for Online Education.
2. The Penn State Digital Learning Academic Council was established to address the broad academic administrative issues that arise in digital learning. It is intended to align with the charge of the Penn State Digital Learning Steering Committee and to advance the topics that are directly related to academic matters.
3. The Penn State Online Coordinating Council aligns with the charge of the Penn State Digital Learning Academic Council and was created to support academic policy as it aligns with the Penn State Online Digital Steering Committee, particularly with regard to scale and planning in online operations.
4. The Penn State eEducation Council aligns with the charge of the Online Coordinating Council and was created to implement policy and best practices as they align with the work of the Penn State Digital Learning Steering Committee, particularly with regard to technology-enhanced teaching and learning.