Catholic Health East Named 2009 National Distance Learning Week Award Recipient

Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) November 11, 2009 -- Drexel University Online (www.drexel.com) honored Catholic Health East with the 2009 "Outstanding Contributions to Corporate eLearning Award" for demonstrating its commitment to training and development through various forms of eLearning to meet business goals and objectives. The award was presented to Catholic Health East at a recent 2009 National Distance Learning Week (www.ndlw.org) annual awards reception.

Catholic Health East (www.che.org) is a multi-institutional Catholic health system with locations in 11 eastern states from Maine to Florida. The system includes 34 acute care hospitals in addition to long-term care facilities, hospice care and behavioral health and rehabilitation facilities. Catholic Health East employs approximately 54,000 full-time employees system-wide.

A partnership between Catholic Health East and Drexel University Online was formed in 2003. Since then, over 150 CHE employees have embraced online learning in the nursing field and other areas including information technology and business.

"E-learning is one of the tools Catholic Health East uses to foster an environment of continual learning for our colleagues," said Suson Tillman-Taylor, CHE's director of human resources. "Our employee survey data shows very high levels of job satisfaction among staff, and a portion of that is attributable to the variety of ways that we make education opportunities - including elearning - available and easily accessible for our workforce."

"It is with great pleasure that we give the 'Outstanding Contributions to Corporate eLearning Award' to Catholic Health East for their contributions, commitment, and dedication to education and eLearning," said Todd Lucca, director of business development for Drexel University Online.

Today, over 3.5 million college students are taking online courses and/or earning online college degrees. At the secondary school level, over 700,000 high school students are taking one or more courses online and nearly 40 states have established virtual schools. During the week of November 9-13, schools, colleges, businesses and government agencies across the country will be showcasing their online programs.

NDLW, sponsored by the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA), is an initiative that seeks to generate broader awareness and appreciation for distance learning within the areas of pre-K-12 education, higher and continuing education, home schooling serving business, military and government markets.

For more information regarding NDLW, contact Dr. Ken Hartman, academic director for Drexel University Online, by phone at 215.895.0501 or visit www.ndlw.org.

About Drexel University Online:

Drexel University Online, winner of the 21st Century Best Practice Award for Distance Learning from the United States Distance Learning Association, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Drexel University, specializing in innovative, Internet-based distance education programs for working professionals and corporations in the United States and abroad. A pioneer in online education since 1996, Drexel's online programs are taught by the same world-renowned faculty as the University's on-campus courses. Drexel University is continually ranked one of the best national doctoral universities by U.S.News & World Report and enjoys regional accreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges & Secondary Schools.

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