Case Study: edX Online Campus Helps Dartmouth Maintain High-Quality Learning in Rapid Transition to Online

The Challenge:

How to Transition to Remote-Only Learning While Maintaining a Quality Experience

With the coronavirus pandemic causing Dartmouth to make a rapid shift to remote teaching and learning in March 2020, university leadership needed a way to deliver learning continuity for its students, partners and other members of its community. Also problematic was that stop-gap measures for emergency remote teaching, such as web conferencing, were not designed to deliver sustainable and effective learning. The university wanted to ensure that the online learning experience would uphold its reputation for providing an atmosphere of rich intellectual engagement between faculty and students.

"After closing our campus and going fully online due to COVID-19, we needed a way to offer our students a variety of electives and a way to continue to enrich their learning,"

- Mike Goudzwaard, Associate Director of Learning Innovation, Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning, Dartmouth College

The Solution:

edX Online Campus Provides Dartmouth with High Quality Online Courses

Through edX Online Campus, Dartmouth was able to access its own online content as well as courses from other top universities and companies in the edX partner network. This content was made available to students to keep them engaged, on track and progressing despite campus closures. Faculty and staff working remotely, potentially for the first time, could also use any downtime for additional learning opportunities in their areas of focus, either to expand their knowledge or simply just to learn something new.

The Results:

Rapid Access Enriches and Expands Students Learning Opportunities

By tapping into the expansive catalog of courses offered through edX’s Online Campus program, Dartmouth was able to quickly transition to a completely remote learning environment for its students while maintaining the university’s standards of delivering a high-quality education.

Additionally, by allowing students access to edX courses beyond those offered by Dartmouth, students were able to take advantage of flexible, on-demand learning opportunities between spring and summer breaks. And, Dartmouth’s broader community of learners was also able to pursue personal or professional learning goals.

“edX is a valued partner. We can trust that the courses on the platform are of high quality and standard. We also know that they are quick to react and get us up to speed extremely quickly," Goudzwaard said.