The Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration (OJDLA) is a peer-reviewed electronic journal offered free each quarter. The journal welcomes manuscripts based on the original work of practitioners and researchers with specific focus or implications for the management of distance education programs.
Yvonne Earnshaw, PhD.
Mary Ann Bodine Al-Sharif, Ph.D.
Witt Salley, Ed.D.
Abbot L. Packard, Ph.D.
Ryan Fuller, Ed.D.
Glen A. Holmes, Ed.D.
Bryce Platt Kayanuma, Ph.D.
Carlos Morales, Ph.D.
Melanie Shaw, Ph.D.
Linda K. Cummins, Ph.D.
Audrey Rabas, Ph.D.
Sladjana Rakich, Ph.D.
Carrie Lloyd, Ph.D.
Michael Shriner, Ph.D.
Samuel Hernandez, Ph.D.
Ronald Morgan, Ph.D.
Anthony A. Piña
Nichol Brown, M.A.
Courtney Cox, Ph.D.
Stephanie L. Wilson, MATD.
Evan S. Brown, Ed.D.
Greetings,
As we move rapidly into a new era of online learning, I wonder if our success metrics are measuring relics of a bygone decade.
Before the pandemic and the proliferation of AI, our focus was on completion rates, graduation, and possibly career outcomes. Our best discussions focused on balancing rigor with a student-first approach, or helping administrators to overcome seeing remote learning as a yes or no proposition.
While we surely explored student isolation at length, most of us never predicted how tangible the epidemic of loneliness has become in spite of technologies that can "connect" us instantly. Perhaps our world today demands us to shift our thinking to new models and measures that focus more on qualitative measures of growth, well-being, and true reflection.
Such a shift can become a distinguishing characteristic in both enrollment efforts as well as contributing to a far healthier climate in education.
Peace to all,
Melanie N. Clay, Ph.D.
OJDLA Editor-in-Chief
October 15, 2026