Preparing for Transformational Change Is Big Theme at Graduate and Online Summit

For the second year, RNL will host the online Graduate and Online Innovation Summit on February 23, 2022.The goal of this day-long event is to provide attendees with useful and tangible strategies and tactics that they can implement to bring innovation and change to their institutions. Last year’s event brought hundreds of graduate and online leaders together for an immersive learning experience that one attendee called “the best virtual event I have attended in all of the pandemic.”

We are especially pleased that attendees will get a first look at RNL’s yet-to-be-released 2022 national research on the demands and preferences of online students (to be published in April) in addition to the insights of an RNL team with more than 80 years’ experience in the graduate and online space. You will also get to hear from some of the greatest minds working in the space, including:

Susan Aldridge is the recently retired president of Drexel University Online. Prior to her service at Drexel she was president at University of Maryland University College (now UM Global Campus), where she oversaw dramatic enrollment growth.

Eddie Maloney is executive director of the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship atGeorgetown University, the co-author of the widely read Learning Innovation blog on Inside Higher Education (with Josh Kim), and co-author of Learning Innovation and the Future of Higher Education and several recent books.

Joshua Kim is director of online programs and strategy at Dartmouth College, co-author of the widely read Learning Innovation blog on Inside Higher Education (with Eddie Maloney), and the co-author of The Low Density University and several other books.

Jenna Templeton is vice president of academic affairs at Chatham University in Pittsburgh. Jenna was appointed to that position after several successful years as dean of Chatham’s School of Graduate Studies and the School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

Cheri Declerq is assistant dean for MBA Programs at Michigan State University Broad College of Business. In that role Cheri has been the champion and advocate in managing the college’s sophisticated marketing initiatives.

Topics for the day

In a single, action-packed day, attendees will dive into a as much actionable information as we can fit in a day, so that they can find strategies and insights they can use right away. Sessions will focus on the following:

Building your Checklist for Transformational Growth: What structures work best? What technology do you need in place? How do you balance student expectations and faculty culture? How to you plan for the resources you will need? All of these and more will be covered by our experts.

Findings from RNL’s Graduate and Online Student Recruitment Research: In this session, attendees will get an advance look at the findings from RNL’s 2022 proprietary research on the demands and preferences of online students, additional research from our 2021 study on graduate students, and then discuss how these findings impact our marketing and recruitment plans.

Building for Academic Excellence: In this session we’ll explore the academic components that influence success. We’ll discuss best practices on topics from building new programs, course design, and credit vs. non-credit considerations.

Getting Your Students to the Finish Line: Challenges and Opportunities in Student Success and Retention: In this session, we’ll discuss the challenges associated with student success—from mental health to academic resources to early alert systems — and the impact these factors have on retention and completion rates.

Bringing It All Together: Best Practices in Setting Meaningful Goals and KPIs: As we think about all the factors that influence success in this space, we’ll close out the day with best practices for setting up KPI’s and reports that can provide transparency, information, and direction.

Don’t miss the 2022 RNL Graduate and Online Innovation Summit

This will truly be a day of great information, insights, and strategies for graduate and online enrollment. Join us online February 23 as we:

• Address the new realities of enrollment management.
• Tap into new and next digital marketing.
• Share the latest strategies to achieve long-term institutional sustainability.

Register for the online summit