Online Education Consumer Organization

AboutEdu is one of the country's first Online Education Consumer Organizations.

The non-profit organization was founded on the belief that a "well-informed" online educational consumer is the best defense against unethical industry practices that have risen with the aggressive growth of Online Higher Education.

Consumer Education:

As part of the group's mission to better educate online education consumers on all their choices, AboutEdu has partnered with the country's largest Association of Community Colleges to bring greater visibility and accessibility to the online education offerings of community colleges nationwide thru the launch of the Community Colleges Online Education Consortium (CCOEC), and its National Online Education Website initiative.

Public-Private Funding Partnerships in "Public" Online Higher Education:

As part of AboutEdu's mission to insure the long term viability of affordable public online higher education in the US, AboutEdu originates, and provides advisory services on the development of Public - Private Funding Partnerships in public online higher educational ventures.

Research:

As part of our objective of bringing greater consumer visibility to affordable online educational options, AboutEdu recently completed an extensive national research and review of existing online programs at Community Colleges nationwide. Many of our findings are on this site.

FOR INDIVIDUALS AND THEIR FAMILIES: AboutEdu's goal is to be a key central resource of "unbias" information, and evaluations of online retraining certificate programs at community colleges nationwide. Programs that take into account what most of you have told us you are looking for today:

Short Term, Low Cost, Accredited Distance Programs in industries and functional areas with forecasted job growth.

Programs and colleges that are welcoming of "Online Working Adult Learners" and "Out of State Distance Learners" from the first page on their website to registration to admission to student support to career services to the last day of class of the online program selected.

While some of these certificates may articulate into associate or bachelor programs upon completion, our focus is not on degree programs. Our emphasis is on "short term" programs that within a year could provide the necessary training and credentials to gain entry-level access to jobs in growth industries.

Our goal is to provide you, and your audiences with the most up to date central source of "unbias/non-commercial" information and reference on short term accredited online "retooling" programs nationwide. Our hope is that this information can be a resource in addressing the overwhelming demand for help, and guidance by the growing number of America's unemployed and displaced workers.

For those in need of more "localized approaches", we will work with you to identify key local industries of growth, and develop "online resources plan" more directly in tune with your local needs. Whether in English or in Spanish, we will work with you to educate, train, and support your local teams, and their audiences on understanding and using these online resources. From on-site training sessions or webinars at local public libraries dealing with overwhelming demands by unemployed workers, to national staff training on matching online resources to local audiences, to technical & online course demonstrations with non-technical audiences.

Our national research findings have resulted in key recommendations for improved online educational policies at the Federal, State and Regional levels. Recommendations that can help to streamline your online educational policy to result in new sources of revenues; lower operating costs; greater educational accessibility; new service job creation, and higher quality of online education.

FOR COLLEGES:

We work with your Online Education teams to evaluate, test, and streamline your online education consumer services, and processes. From the integration of your online offerings and information on your website all the way thru online student enrollment, retention, placement information, and post-graduation data collection - We work with your local teams to review each part of the process from the consumer's perspective.

If you are undergoing major layoffs, restructuring, job elimination, or closing down a business unit - we can be an "unbias/non-commercial" resource you can offer your unions, and your employees and their families nationwide. Whether in English or in Spanish, we can develop more localized approaches to your specific situation, employee needs/challenges, and community needs.

If you are undergoing growth, and need to plan for talent development in specific functions or areas, we can work with you to develop online "retraining" paths that could more directly connect experienced, and qualified members of our audience with your specific job and skills needs - taliloring the online path to meet your business needs, and ensuring long term access to qualified pool of talent.

For Venture Capital, Private Equity and Individual Investors invested in, or interested in Public - Private venture opportunities in "Public" Online Higher Education, we provide advisory services. For more information, please contact Augusto.Failde@aboutedu.org.