Funding strategies:

External grants- Refers to grants written by outside sources not related to the organization. In essence, money not within the organization given from another organization with intentions to help the receiving organization achieve its vision with funding, usually  by the government.

Government grants-  Governments have a responsibility to face up to the additional costs that allow from committing to the use of technology for teaching. Governmental funding has some limitations such as affecting the organizations autonomy, short term duration, limited duration.

Technology fees- these costs are the most expensive and associated with the use of information tehcnology at a University or College, some of which tend to be underestimated, or underbudgeted.They are typically broken down into categories of infrastructure, administrative applications, and academic applications.

Central/decentralized funding – ideally, all departments and individual faculty would have a clear and shared vision for where technology fits into the teaching of the institution, and consequently would make rational and appropriate decisions about how funds should be spent. Some situations, funds can be allocated better through departmental control and others through the deans and heads of the department.

Balanced funding- In a context where resources are finte, you need to look at the total picture. Funds need to be balanced between Infrastructure, Administrative applications, and educational applications. One must audit the system and see where more funds need to be allocated depending on the institutions goals and vision.

Partnerships- Technology based distributed learning allows for courses developed in one institution to be available at another.Technology such as videoconferencing and the internet can be used not only to deliver courses from one institution to another but also for administrative course team meetings between both institutions, whatever the distance. Partnerships may help with cost in them being shared, and fight off competition for students from other sources.

I would recommend balanced funding approach if they were to launch an online initiative in the next 12 months. I choose this approach because it’s the most fundamental and makes the most sense. The University of Illinois is a very big institute with various departments of different sizes. A balanced approach  would be necessary with a centralized/decentralized organization. At my institution, each department is handled by the dean or head of the department, hence, decentralized. I think that the U of I has a really good system and structure, but I do think that each department should meet bi annually or sporadically so that the mission of the institute is level across the boarder. Though each department has different goals and objectives to reaching those goals, a vision should be seen that’s equal to each department. Meeting bi annually makes sure that everyone is on the same page. These different funding strategies are essential to different organizations needs for survival and improvement. A needs assessment is the vital action to be taken in order to make that judgement.