Grant-funded work is part of OLC’s origin story and remains central to how we advance the field of online, blended, and digital learning.
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OLC grew out of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s landmark investment in online education through the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C), a grant-supported initiative that helped to establish a national community dedicated to quality, access, and innovation in online learning. That foundation continues to shape who we are today. Through ongoing grant partnerships and externally-funded projects, OLC works with institutions, organizations, and funders to explore emerging practices, strengthen teaching and learning, and create resources that support the broader digital learning community.
The Online Learning Consortium traces its roots directly to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s groundbreaking Anytime, Anyplace Learning Program. What began as a network of grant-funded institutions working to expand access to online education evolved into the Sloan Consortium—and ultimately today’s OLC. This foundational investment helped shape the modern online learning movement and positioned OLC as a lasting leader in advancing quality digital education worldwide. Learn more about our program history and this foundational grant.
With support from a nearly $1 million U.S. Department of Education FIPSE grant, OLC is leading the creation of the Digital Learning Accreditation Agency (DLAA), a new programmatic accreditor focused exclusively on online, digital, and hybrid postsecondary programs. The initiative addresses one of the field’s most pressing challenges: how to define, evaluate, and communicate quality in rapidly evolving learning environments. By helping establish rigorous, transparent standards for digital education, OLC is shaping the future of quality assurance for learners and institutions nationwide.
OLC has received four consecutive grants from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to track OER awareness, adoption, and use. For this grant, OLC sponsors Bay View Analytics to conduct annual research on digital course material adoption in K-12 and higher education in the U.S., including higher education student panels and a focus on OER awareness and adoption. This grant also supports exploration of collaborative research opportunities to document OER implementation in other countries.
OLC has received funding from Every Learner Everywhere to develop professional development for faculty and instructors focused on using AI to enhance accessibility in their courses. This project addresses the need for higher ed institutions to ensure that all learning materials meet current accessibility standards to be federally compliant as well as to ensure that all learners may be successful. This workshop will be available through Every Learner Everywhere in January 2027.
OLC received an NSA STARTALK grant in 2023 to provide critical language educators with a robust, fully-online professional development experience designed to enhance their skills in designing, facilitating, and assessing digital learning environments for Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Persian, and Russian instruction. The program’s goals were rooted in strengthening participants’ understanding of digital pedagogy and in equipping them with practical tools to deliver equitable, high-quality language instruction in virtual settings. Throughout the 120-hour program, participating educators demonstrated significant growth in both pedagogical knowledge and digital fluency, and they successfully applied key characteristics of quality and equitable digital learning in their instructional design and facilitation practices.
Funded by the National Security Agency’s STARTALK program, OLC partnered with educators and language experts to create E-SCAPE, a series of immersive digital escape rooms designed to spark interest in critical languages and cultures. Blending game-based learning, storytelling, and online collaboration, the project demonstrated how innovative digital experiences can deepen engagement and motivation. The resulting resources continue to showcase the power of online learning to make language education more accessible, interactive, and memorable.
In addition to the current grant project listed above, OLC has collaborated with Every Learner Everywhere since 2018 as part of a national network focused on advancing equitable digital learning in higher education. Through this grant-supported partnership, OLC contributed its expertise in online, blended, and digital learning to a wide range of resources, professional learning opportunities, research initiatives, and convenings. Collaborative projects included work on blended learning models, STEM teaching during COVID-19, online adjunct faculty support, communities of practice, inclusive digital learning environments, student-centered digital learning pathways, and faculty development for generative AI. Across these efforts, OLC worked with Every Learner Everywhere and partner organizations to help institutions design more effective and sustainable learning experiences for all students.
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OLC Elevate is a bold new initiative from OLC that brings high-impact digital learning discussions, hands-on workshops, and thought leadership directly to your regional community.