Formed: January 2000

Massachusetts Colleges Online (MCO) is a collaborative of public state higher education institutions that designs, delivers, manages, and assesses online, blended, and other technology-mediated learning formats. The collaborative gives all members opportunities to address issues and challenges arising from professional practice and to pool financial and intellectual capital to develop and enhance services

The 24 State University and Community College institutional MCO liaisons meet monthly during the academic year to share best practices and identify new collaboration opportunities.

Vision, Mission, and Values

VISION: MCO is the trusted resource for knowledge and expertise in online learning for public higher education institutions within the Commonwealth of MA.

MISSION: MCO, a statewide organization of professionals, advances the quality of online learning and empowers institution members to provide: best practices; advice and consultation to decision-makers on technology, pedagogy, and policy; and support for professional development and research.

VALUES: Education access and opportunity, collaboration, collegiality, continuous improvement, and professional practice

Initiatives & Interests

As a collaborative organization, MCO has been active in:

• Promoting public higher education in Massachusetts, specifically new online delivery models, and introducing innovative practices to promote student engagement and learning.
• Designing professional development opportunities that support both faculty and staff development as it relates to online learning, including planning and hosting an annual conference, recognizing Courses of Distinction (COD), scheduling webinars, and offering training classes
• Fostering partnerships to increase capabilities and efficiencies
• Promoting innovation in using technologies to enhance learning
• Maximizing revenue by cutting costs through collaboration (i.e., technology and consortia discounts) and generating new revenue by offering new products and related services (i.e., workforce development training

Leadership

Kyle Kraus, Chair
Instructional Designer
Springfield Technical Community College
Phone: 413- 755-5326
Email: kskraus@sttc.edu