WCET Selects eCollege(SM) to Deliver Technology Costing Methodology Project

eCollege(SM) [Nasdaq: ECLG] announced is has been selected as the eLearning provider for the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET), a unit of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). WCET will use the eCollege AU(SM) platform and services to support its “Technology Costing Methodology” project, designed to give administrators and policy-makers insight into educational technology costs.

“Understanding all of the costs associated with educational technology is critical for planning and budgeting,” said Oakleigh Thorne, chairman and CEO of eCollege. “Just as we have done our own research on the total costs associated with building and supporting successful eLearning programs, we believe the research WCET will present on overall educational technology costs is relevant and timely given current budget issues. WCET has an excellent reputation in the industry, and we look forward to working with them on this project.”

Technology Costing Methodology (TCM) is an authoritative costing analysis tool for institutions to analyze the costs of instructional approaches that make heavy use of technology, and to legitimately compare cost data for different instructional approaches. This project expands WCET’s work to develop a standard methodology to calculate technology costs across higher education, and help policy-makers and planners understand how to use cost information.

“TCM was developed in reaction to the need for a standard costing approach that would be accepted by educators from across the institutional spectrum,” said Russell Poulin, associate director, WCET. “We wanted to create an online, self-paced course to teach the procedures within the costing methodology that we created. We found eCollege to be the ideal partner because they not only shared a similar vision with regards to costing research, but they provided a total solution to support the project. In addition to the CMS, eCollege is providing a reliable hosted environment, a digital campus, online registration and evaluation capabilities, and 24×7 help desk support for all participants.”

If you are a member of the higher education community interested in accessing the research presented through the TCM project, please visit http://www.wiche.edu/telecom/projects/tcm/index.htm or call Marianne Boeke at 303-541-0310.