The Sage Handbook of Online Higher Education

This book should be on the reading list for all educators who care about providing a quality educational experience for their students. Written by global experts in online learning, it provides a comprehensive foundation to guide leaders, faculty and staff through the various elements that are critical to building effective online programs. It is through resources like this that we are able to provide a path forward to successful learning during normal times and continuity of learning during a crisis or natural disaster.

This resource could not have come at a more opportune time. The breath and scope of the sections and chapters capture the global sense of where online learning has been, where it is now and what the future might have in store for us. The topics covered are emergent making the handbook much more than the sum of its parts guiding us skillfully around the world, addressing online teaching and learning through the perspective design, delivery, instructional technology administration and student support. The best educational scholars across the globe have made this book a tour de force for understanding and implementing quality online learning.

This international collection of chapters on developments in online learning in higher education is timely, coming soon after the impact of Covid-19 on teaching and learning, the recent developments in new online technologies such as video streaming, social media, simulations and games, virtual reality, and the growing impact of AI tools such as ChatGPT. The chapters include a review of online learning around the world, online instructional design, online instructional delivery, instructional technology, online educational administration, and student support services. The book will be essential reading for all in higher education concerned with either teaching or administration. 

With the increasing demand for online higher education, it is essential that we have a comprehensive understanding of how to design, develop and deliver high-quality online education, lead and manage online education institutionally, and support faculty endeavors and student learning. The SAGE Handbook of Online Higher Education, which is a ground-breaking volume with contributions from more than 100 well-recognized experts of online education, is an invaluable resource for higher education educators and leadership. It systematically explores theories, frameworks, strategies and technologies for online learning design, teaching, assessment, and administration and provides eight case studies across six continents.

On behalf of the Asian distance educators, enthusiasts, and practitioners, I would like to appreciate the initiatives of the editors as well as the writers of this handbook, who have worked hard in promoting the online learning practice as the most effective mode in open and distance learning system.  This handbook is a real portrait of the online learning practice in higher education globally. Furthermore, this handbook is very insightful in terms of the coverage of the different dimensions of online education. Everyone involved or interested in offering online education must have a copy of this handbook.

In response to the pressures of the recent global pandemic, online learning has become a global imperative forcing initially reluctant institutions of higher education to start engaging with the realities and complexities of designing, developing, and implementing quality online learning which is here to stay. This useful handbook comes just in time, and will be very useful for a variety of users, supporting the various steps and processes required for the design, delivery and management of quality student-focused online learning experiences and programs. Issues regularly faced by higher education institutions are approached from a variety of global perspectives, strategies, and best practices.