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The authors describe relationships among infrastructure, student outcomes, and faculty satisfaction at the University of Central Florida (UCF). The model focuses on developmental process that progresses from courses with some Web presence to those that are driven by ALN. Faculty receive support for online teaching in the form of release time for training and development, upgraded hardware, and complete course development services. Students receive assistance in the form of orientation, around-the-clock help services, a Pegasus Connections CD-ROM, and a learning on-line Web site. The results of the impact evaluation at UCF indicate that faculty feel that their teaching is more flexible and that interaction increases in the ALN environment. On the other hand, they are concerned that on-line teaching may not fit into the academy culture. The authors argue that faculty satisfaction and student outcomes are strongly related and that their interaction is the most important outcome. Finally, the authors conclude that faculty satisfaction is both a dependent and independent variable that is nested within colleges, departments, and program areas.

Purpose - The paper aims to present a strategic model for online program success in higher education and to discuss the implications of web-based teaching for learning assessment and program evaluation. Design/methodology/approach - This paper uses an analytic approach to deconstruct a successful online program to identify necessary elements for the initiative to become apart of the institutional culture. Findings - The paper traces the evolution of online learning in higher education over the past decade, poses the necessary strategic planning questions that must be answered, identifies critical success factors, argues that that the broadening scope of evaluation will have to encompass emerging constructs such as information fluency, and hypothesizes online learning as a systemic initiative. Research limitations/implications - The study intends to stimulate case study research at other colleges and universities using the template of this paper to assess whether or not the model constructs and elements are robust with respect to institutional context. Practical implications - This paper outlines a planning and assessment protocol that may be used for establishing successful online programs and assessing the outcomes of the initiative in terms of the original objectives as well as unanticipated side effects. Originality/value - This paper unifies many heretofore disparate components of online learning as they effect student populations, faculty development, necessary support services, program accountability, infrastructure issues, and new models for evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]