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The online environment

Distance education enrollment continues to grow while higher education enrollment is declining overall. Public institutions claim the largest portion of those distance students, with 72.7% of undergraduate-level and 38.7% of graduate-level distance students. (Keep in mind that the vast majority of U.S. higher education students attend public institutions). Because of this growing interest, many higher education administrators in most colleges and universities consider online learning critical to their long-term enrollment strategy. [1]

Why is it important?

The online environment offers tremendous convenience and flexibility for learners to tailor their education and learning preferences, scheduling needs, and geographic constraints. In this way, the online environment has the potential to reach a more diverse student population and meet the needs of many more students than traditional in-person courses.

Notably, a 2015-2016 study (conducted by Noel-Levitz) of more than 118,000 students from 132 institutions found that 86% of students in four-year programs cited the program's reputation as an enrollment factor. Therefore, “if the quality of online instruction, assignments, and faculty availability are issues, those could undermine the perception of the program and impede student completion” (p. 7). [2] This all means that it is critical to weigh the popularity and potential for learning in the online environment against the need to provide a quality educational experience.

Information to consider

The ever-growing body of research finds no significant difference between the effectiveness of face-to-face and online learning. [3] However, this might be because comparing the two modalities is very difficult due to variables of course design, student populations, and teaching effectiveness. The better questions are: What is perceived as quality online education? Are students satisfied with online learning? What do students say contributes to satisfaction and learning?

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References

  1. Allen, I. E., Seaman, J., Poulin, R., & Straut, T. T. (2016). Online report card: Tracking online education in the United States (Rep.). Babson Survey Research Group. Retrieved from http://onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/onlinereportcard.pdf
  2. Ruffalo Noel Levitz (2016). 2015-16 national online learners satisfaction and priorities report. Cedar Rapids: Ruffalo Noel Levitz.
  3. No Significant Difference. Presented by WCET (2016, March 14. Retrieved from https://detaresearch.org/research-support/no-significant-difference/
  4. Seaman, J. (2009). Online Learning as a Strategic Asset. Volume II: The Paradox of Faculty Voices–Views and Experiences with Online Learning. Results of a National Faculty Survey, Part of the Online Education Benchmarking Study Conducted by the APLU-Sloan National Commission on Online Learning. Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.
  5. Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., Bakia, M., & Jones, K. (2009). Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies. US Department of Education
  6. Noel-Levitz (2014). 2015-2016 national online learners priorities report. Coralville, IA.
  7. Shea, P., Swan, K., Fredericksen, E., and Pickett, A. (2001). Student satisfaction and reported learning in the SUNY learning network: Interaction and beyond – social presence in asynchronous learning networks. In Bourne, J., and Moore, J. (Eds.), Elements of Quality Online Education. (pp.145-56). Needham, MA: Sloan Center for Online Education. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1802/2784

Click the infographic to view the full PDF. Courtesy of Online Learning Consortium





Keywords:
online, environment, factors, increase, growth,
Doc ID:
121258
Owned by:
Karen S. in Instructional Resources
Created:
2022-09-12
Updated:
2024-08-23
Sites:
Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring