Digital Tweed: Mapping the Terrain of Online Education

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Digital Tweed: Mapping the Terrain of Online Education

4/1/2005

By Kenneth C. Green

Two Sloan-C reports provide both firm definitions for and hard data about the numbers of students involved in online education.

Like so many things in education and the academic community, much of the (sometimes polite, sometimes passionate) conversation about big issues is often driven by opinion and epiphany, rather than data and evidence. Certainly, the decade-long discussions on and off campus about distance and online education, fall into this mode. All (or at least many) of us have fixed and firm opinions about the efficacy and quality of online and distance education, and the impact of these programs for students and institutions.

“Online education is now clearly part of the evolving, 21st century landscape of American higher education.”

Consequently, it is useful and refreshing to find informative reports with credible data that help map the still somewhat uncharted territory of online and distance learning in American higher education. The November 2004 Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) Report, “Entering the Mainstream,” coupled with the Consortium’s September 2003 report, “Sizing the Opportunity” (both available at www.sloan-c.org), bring timely, informative data to the occasionally contentious conversations about online and distance education. (Sloan-C, a consortium of institutions and organizations committed to quality online education, receives financial support from The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; www.sloan.org.)

The two Sloan-C reports provide both firm definitions for and hard data about the numbers of students involved in online education. As defined by Sloan-C, an online course is one “where most [80 percent] or all of the content is delivered online” and “typically involves no face-to-face meetings.” Some 1.92 million students were enrolled in at least one online course as of fall 2003, up almost 20 percent from 1.6 million in Fall 2002. Sloan-C projected the Fall 2003 online course enrollment numbers would increase by a third to 2.63 million students for Fall 2004.

Not surprisingly, the Sloan-C data reveal that public and private-for-profit institutions are more likely to offer online courses than private colleges and universities. But much of the variation can be explained as a function of mission and markets: Many private liberal arts colleges (i.e., baccalaureate institutions) may offer what Sloan-C defines as Web-facilitated or blended/hybrid courses (courses with both “traditional” and online content that are still structured around traditional, face-to-face class sessions), and which serve their largely residential undergraduate populations. In contrast, both public and for-profit institutions find that online courses respond to both mission mandates (access and training for public institutions) and market opportunities (new or underserved markets, as well as revenue opportunities for all sectors).