Dear Commons Community,

This brief announcement appeared in today’s online version of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

“The board that oversees California’s 112 community colleges approved a contract on Tuesday to spend $16.9-million on a “one-stop statewide online-education portal” that will let students take online courses from any of the state’s participating two-year institutions. The Foothill-De Anza and Butte-Glenn community-college districts created a partnership to win the portal contract, money for which was included in Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2013-14 budget.

More than half of California’s community colleges now offer a degree or certificate online, Foothill-De Anza officials said in a news release, and more than a quarter of the state’s community-college students take online courses. The goal of creating a single statewide system is to reduce overlap and take advantage of economies of scale, said Joseph Moreau, Foothill-De Anza’s vice chancellor for technology.

This sounds like a wise investment of resources.

Tony