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What Has Happened In The Business World Of On-Line Distance Learning?
Richard Gendreau (E-mail: Rich12@bemidjistate.edu) Bemidji State University
Abstract
On-line distance education has been around long enough to establish a track record all over the world. This paper looks at what has happened in the business world of on-line distance education. There are proposed changes in federal regulations affecting financial aid with more universities doing on-line distance education. Both on-line and traditional classroom education are moving towards assessing the outcomes of their students. The U.S. Department of education is becoming involved in the accreditation process. Several institutions have dropped out of the on-line distance education market. Educational institutions and the U.S. Military are heavily involved in developing and offering on-line distance education all over the world.
On-Line Distance Learning Defined
The United States Distance Learning Association defines distance learning as "the acquisition of knowledge and skills through mediated information and instruction">
What Has Happened In The Business World Of On-Line Distance Learning?
Richard Gendreau (E-mail: Rich12@bemidjistate.edu) Bemidji State University
Abstract
On-line distance education has been around long enough to establish a track record all over the world. This paper looks at what has happened in the business world of on-line distance education. There are proposed changes in federal regulations affecting financial aid with more universities doing on-line distance education. Both on-line and traditional classroom education are moving towards assessing the outcomes of their students. The U.S. Department of education is becoming involved in the accreditation process. Several institutions have dropped out of the on-line distance education market. Educational institutions and the U.S. Military are heavily involved in developing and offering on-line distance education all over the world.
On-Line Distance Learning Defined
The United States Distance Learning Association defines distance learning as "the acquisition of knowledge and skills through mediated information and instruction, encompassing all technologies and other forms of learning at a distance (Roblyer and Edwards, page 192)." Mediated information is the information processed between the professor and the student. It is the exchange of insights (Heerema and Rogers, pages 14 and 16). The text, Instructional Technology for Teaching and Learning, (Newby, Stepich, Lehman, and Russel, page 210), defines distance learning as "...an organized instructional program in which teacher and learner are physically separated." On-line distance learning courses are offered to students anytime, anywhere, and anyplace utilizing computers to access the Internet, computerized presentations, and e-mail (Nasseh, Marklein, and Kauffman).
Government Rules and Grants
The government needs to take a realistic view towards financial aid and on-line distance education. At the present time there are two rules that directly affect on-line distance learners' ability to qualify for financial aid. The first is the 12-hour rule, which requires the learner to be in a physical classroom for a least 12 hours a week. The second is the 50-percent rule, which forbids an institution from offering federal financial aid if more then 50-percent of its courses or students are involved with distance education (Carnevale, page A51).
The U. S. House of Representatives passed H. R. 1992 that would diminish the affects of the above rules. The Senate has a companion bill, S.1445, which is yet (Oct. 11, 2001) to be passed. The bills would suspend the 50-percent rule for institutions with a loan-default rate below 10-percent for the last three years. The 12-hour rule could be ignored if learners spend at least one-day a week interacting with the professor. E-mail or a discussion room could qualify as interaction while some definitions such as one day a week are not clear (Carnevale, page A51).
The Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnership and the Education Department grant program that helped spur experimentation with distance learning education has cut the budget for new awards. The House and Senate has passed close versions of a bill that "...effectively kills the distance education grant program (Carnevale, pages 1 & 2)."
The congressional initiative or lack of initiative is an indication of the mistrust of on-line distance learning. Classroom time used to be the only method of measuring quality programs offered by institutions and to protect the learner against fraudulent institutions. Now, assessment is the appropriate method of measuring quality, honesty, and integrity.
Assessing the Quality of On-Line Distance Education
With thousands of on-line courses being delivered around the world, several studies of assessing the quality of on-line learning have been made. On-line educators are still developing assessment policy to demonstrate the accuracy of their assessments. Because on-line distance education is relatively new, many critics set a higher standard than traditional classroom education when judging quality.
A recent study prepared by the Institute for Higher Education Policy has identified the most essential benchmarks for quality Internet-based distance education. The major categories of benchmarks to ensure the highest quality of Internet-based distance education include the following: institutional support, course development, teaching, learning, course structure, course support, faculty support, and evaluation and assessment (Institute of Higher Education Policy, pages 25 & 26).
"...(A)ssessment is taking center stage as on-line education experiments with new ways of teaching and proving that they're teaching effectively (Carnevale, page A43)." Both on-line and traditional classroom education are moving towards assessing the outcomes of their students. It is a cultural change influenced by education, students, parents, accreditation agencies, politicians, employers, and higher education administrators (Carnevale, page A43).
According to Heerema and Rogers (Heerema and Rogers, pages 14-21) higher education is confronted with a choice between quality and quantity on-line education. The problem faced by higher education is whether the trade-off between quality and quantity will take place or if quality and quantity can be obtained simultaneously. Making the appropriate investment in designing a course with information technology can eliminate the quality versus quantity trade-off. "By investing in substantial course development, we convert the cost structure from a variable expense to a fixed expense (Heerema and Rogers, page 20)." The fixed expense will decrease as enrollment increases without a decrease in quality.
The information technology will allow student-faculty interaction to be designed into the course. This will customize the content of an on-line course to respond to complex student questions. Institutions will have to make an investment of resources up front to build in the information technology as part of the course design as new courses are being developed.
Alley and Jansak (Alley and Jansak, pages 1-21) identified the basic levels of guidance for designing quality on-line courses: principles, practices, and applications. Then they developed ten basic principles integrating the three levels of guidance for instructional design of quality courses. The end result is practical applications for the design of quality courses.
Practical Applications
1. Webliography
2. Course Structure Map
3. Campus Portals
4. Chat Tools
5. Self-Assessment Learning
6. Action-Oriented Assessment
7. Collaborative Group Projects
8. Survey Common Misconceptions
9. Cycle Repeatedly Through Content
10. Instructional Artistry
(Alley and Jansak, pages 1-21)
Accrediting On-Line Distance Education
Gaining institution accreditation is a three-step process involving: eligibility, candidacy, and finally accreditation (Carnevale, page A51). The Western Governors University has satisfied a major criticism when it was awarded candidate status for its on-line institution. This happened after two years of assessment and controversy over the accrediting of distance education.
The U.S. Department of Education has concluded that the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology lacked the experience to properly evaluate distance education programs (McMurtrie and Mangan, page A36). The U. S. Department of Education will not allow existing standards for accrediting traditional programs to be applied to on-line learning. Since congress has not established a separate standard for distance learning that would imply existing standards include distance learning.
In Canada it took five years for Lansbridge University to gain accreditation for its on-line MBA degree. It is Canada's first for profit private on-line university. At issue in Canada was that private education is seen as an attack on Canadian social philosophy (Phillips, page 2).
The U.S. guide to accredited business related schools, Best Distance Learning Graduate Schools: Business and Management 2002 can be accessed at http://www.geteducated.com/bdlgs_bm.htm (Phillips, page 3).
On-Line Course Development
"Experienced on-line instructors can easily identify the most time-consuming tasks in course development, management, and delivery: course organization, the conversion of course material for on-line delivery, student assessment, and interactive features (Baker, page 24). Somewhere along the way the developer will become familiar with the software to create an on-line course. The scenario usually follows the following steps not necessarily in order (Abright, page 6):
1. The developer becomes familiar with the software, possibly taking an application workshop.
2. A decision is made as to what course will be developed for on-line delivery. For many faculty this will be a course already offered on campus.
3. During the process a syllabus is posted on-line and e-mail is integrated into the course for communications.
4. New material can be tested in the traditional classroom and later put on-line, i.e., course assignments, grading policy, study guide, and examples of previous student work.
5. The development of PowerPoint presentations can be used to outline lecture topics.
6. On-line testing is usually one of the last developments.
7. Along the way, the developer will seek out other colleagues who are experienced in on-line delivery to share information. Ideally support staff would be available for consultation.
Somewhere in the process the decision is made to offer the course synchronous with a set minimum number of students going through the course at set times or asynchronous where learning is self-passed and can be taken anywhere, anytime, and anyplace (Nasseh, Marklein, and Kauffman). Synchronous courses can offer a group of students in similar time zones a sense of continuity as they proceed through a course together. Asynchronous courses offer the most flexibility and appeal to a larger market. A course Web page can offer the syllabi, faculty e-mail address, and required course material including textbooks (Gendreau, page 97).
Developers have a variety of course development software to choose from, i.e., Blackboard, The World Wide Web, and WebCT to mention a few. Additional software such as Dreamweaver and FrontPage can be used to convert material into HTML or WebPage format (Baker, page 25).
If the developer has a good experience with course development more courses and faculty may be accumulated to offer multiple courses in an area with resulting majors and degrees being offered on-line. Many institutions are offering financial incentives such as royalties to on-line course developers. There is still a wall of uncertainty at many institutions as to the ownership question of on-line courses (Young, page 2). The best practice may be to sign a contract outlining the ownership issues, pay, and institutional policies for on-line course development. Several institutions have contractual agreements with on-line course developers. "Copies of sample contracts are available on-line http://www.unt.edu/cdl/approval_procedures/intellectual.htm (McLemee, page A41)
Institutions Offering On-Line Distance Education
Single and groups of institutions are offering on-line distance education all over the world. "The World Bank's Human Development Network has announced DistEdNet, to help organizations and individuals use distance education as a means of human development. The European Association of Distance Teaching Universities has 18 members from 14 countries providing distance education to over 900,000 students (Alley, page 6)." There are several global groups of institutions collaborating to promote distance education, i.e., British International Studies Association, The Central and East European International Studies Association, European Association of International Education, U.S. International Studies Association, U.S. Information Agency, IDP Education Australia, European Universities Continuing Education Network, and Global Wireless Education Consortium (Alley, page 6).
In the U.S. on-line distance education is expanding rapidly through the use of multiple strategies. Institutions are involved in conventional on-line courses, networked colleges with a central on-line access point, aligned systems like the Southern Regional Education Boards' Electronic Campus and The Western Governors' University, independent virtual universities with a separate corporate unity like the National Technological University, privatized noncredit course delivery by public-degree-granting institutions, and on-line proprietary training schools (Carr, pages 1-35).
The participation of single and groups of institutions have resulted in reducing the barriers to on-line learning and increased the opportunities for on-line learning all over the world. Institutions are trying new strategies to offer on-line courses looking at competency-based credentialing systems, performance based and assessment based learning, and quality assurance in on-line programs.
Institutions Dropping Out of On-Line Distance Education
Several institutions have pulled out of on-line distance education. NYUon-line, a three-year-old venture of New York University is dropping out due to economic conditions (Carnevale, page 1). The economic condition has to do with the heavy competition from other more successful institutions like the University of Phoenix with a 29,000 enrollment. Other institutions dropping out of the on-line market are the University of Maryland, UMUCon-line, and Temple University's Virtual Temple (Carlson and Carnevale, page A31).
There are several reasons why on-line distance education is failing, i.e., high cost of technology, poor decisions, competition, and an inappropriate attitude towards distance education curing the ills of education (Saba, pages 1-5). "Distance education should not try to replicate the classroom experience on-line (Saba, page 2). Until institutions use technology to successfully mediate information instead of replicating the classroom experience, on-line education will have a high failure rate.
On-Line Distance Education in the Military
The Army and Navy have been active developing the resources necessary to offer on-line courses, programs, and degrees to soldiers. The Navy is in the midst of transferring 50% of its training material to the Web for asynchronous delivery over the next five years called Project Red Knot (Arnone, page 2). The Navy is pursuing on-line education for its personnel through a $75 million contract awarded to NCS Pearson. The program will allow more than 85,000 officers and sailors from around the world to earn college degrees through on-line distance education (Arnone, pages 1-2). In addition, the U.S. Naval Academy is developing on-line courses for the Naval War College, The U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Air Force Academy.
The Army plans to spend $600 million over the next six years to offer on-line distance education college courses to soldiers. It awarded a $453 million contract in 2000 to PricewaterhouseCoopers for building a portal to deliver on-line courses. The portal, called eArmyU http://www.earmyu.com, already has 20 accredited institutions offering courses to 12,000 soldiers (Car, Arnone, and Olsen).
References
Abright, T. Kaye, "How To Translate Your Course On-Line Successfully," The Teaching Professor, Vol. 15, No. 9, p 6, 2001.
Alley, Lee R., "Sustainable Global Development of Human and Economic Resources Through Lifelong Continuous Learning and Personal Knowledge-Management," European Journal of Higher Education, Available at www.WorldClassStrategies.com, pp. 1-12, 2001.
Alley, Lee R. and Kathryn E. Jansak, "Ten Keys to Quality Assurance and Assessment in On-Line Learning," Available at www.WorldClassStrategies.com, pp. 1-21, 2001.
Arnone, Michael, "Army's Distance-Education Project Seeks More Colleges as Participants," The Chronicle Of Higher Education, Available at http://chronicle.com, pp. 1-2, December 10, 2001.
______________, "At the Naval Academy, Professors Are Pushing to Offer First Distance Course," The Chronicle Of Higher Education, Available at http://chronicle.com, pp. 1-2, December 19, 2001.
______________, "Navy Rewrites Its Course-Writing Software to Enhance On-Line Distance Education, "The Chronicle Of Higher Education, Available at http://chronicle.com, pp. 1-2, December 5, 2001.
Baker, Judy, "Enhancing On-Line Faculty Productivity with WebCT," Syllabus, pp. 24-27, Vol. 15, No. 3, 2001.
Carlson, Scott and Dan Carnevale, "Debating the Demise of NYUon-line," The Chronicle Of Higher Education, p. A31, December 14, 2001.
Carr, Sarah, "Army Releases Details of Its Plan for On-Line Education for Soldiers," The Chronicle Of Higher Education, p. A46, September 29, 2000.
Carnevale, Dan, "Accrediting Panel Grants Candidate Status to Western Governors U," The Chronicle Of Higher Education, p. A51, December 15, 2000.
_____________, "Assessment Takes Center Stage in On-Line Learning," The Chronicle Of Higher Education, p. A43, April 12, 2001.
_____________, " House Votes to Ease Rules on Distance Education, but Senators May Not Agree," The Chronicle Of Higher Education, Available at http://chronicle.com, pp. 1-2, October 11, 2001.
_____________, "NYUon-line Will Shut Down," The Chronicle Of Higher Education, Available at http://chronicle.com, p. 1, November 28, 2001.
_____________, "Senate Vote Effectively Kills a Distance-Education Grant Program," The Chronicle Of Higher Education, Available at http://chronicle.com, pp. 1-2, November 7, 2001.
Gendreau, Richard, "Electrifying Financial Management For Distance Education," Journal Of Accounting And Financial Research, pp. 94-100, Vol. 5, No. 2, 1998.
Heerema, Douglas L. and Richard L. Rogers, "Avoiding the Quality/Quantity Trade-Off in Distance Education," T.H.E. Journal, pp. 14-21, December 2001.
Institute for Higher Education Policy, "Quality on the Line: Benchmarks for Success in Internet-Based Distance Education," Washington, DC. Available at www.ihep.com, pp. 1-33, 2000.
Kauffman, Rick, "Assessing the Virtual University," Adult Assessment Form (Vol. VI, No. 2), pp. 1-5, Vol. 6, No. 2, 1996.
Marklein, Beth, "Distance Learning Takes a Leap Forward," USA TODAY, June 4, 2001.
McLemee, Scott, "Internet Studies 1.0: a Discipline Is Born," The Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A41, march 30, 2001.
McMurtrie, Beth and Katherine S. Mangan, "Education Dept. and Career Schools Clash Over Accrediting of Distance Learning," The Chronicle Of Higher Education, p. A36, December 17, 1999.
Nasseh, Bizhan, "A Study of Training and Support Programs, and Computer/Communications Skills of Teaching and Students Who Participated in Computer-Based Distance Education in Higher Education Institutions," Ph.D. dissertation, Ball State University, 1996.
Newby, T. J., D. A. Stepich, J. D. Lehman, and J. D. Russell, Instructional Technology for Teaching and Learning. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill, 2000.
Olsen, Florence, "U.S. Army's Portal Is Up and Running," The Chronicle Of Higher Education, p. A49, August 10, 2001.
Phillips, Vicky, "Lansbridge University Canada's First Private E-University Gains Accreditation," Virtual University Gazette, pp. 1-13, January 5, 2002.
Roblyer, M. D., and J. Edwards, Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching, 2nd ed., Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill, 2000.
Saba, Farhad, "Why Distance Education Will Fail and Harm Higher Education," Available at www.Distance-Educator.com, 2001.
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