barriers of online learning systems in us 2012

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May 1, 2012

Barriers to Adoption of

Online Learning Systemsin U.S. Higher Education

Lawrence S. Bacow

William G. Bowen

Kevin M. Guthrie

Kelly A. Lack

Matthew P. Long


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Barriers to Adoption of Online Learning Systems in U.S. Higher Education May 1, 2012 1

Ihaka S+R is a sraegic consuling and research service provided by IHAK,a no-or-pro organizaion dedicaed o helping he academic communiy usedigial echnologies o preserve he scholarly record and o advance research andeaching in susainable ways. Ihaka S+R ocuses on he ransormaion o schol-arship and eaching in an online environmen, wih he goal o ideniying hecriical issues acing our communiy and acing as a caalys or change. JSOR,a research and learning plaorm, and Porico, a digial preservaion service, arealso par o IHAK.

Copyrigh 2012 IHA K. Tis work is licensed under he Creaive CommonsAtribuion No Derivaive Works 3.0 Unied Saes License. o view a copy ohe license, please see htp://creaivecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us
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Preface Digial echnology has already changed he way colleges and universiies unc-ion, bu no mater how signican hose changes eel oday, real ransormaion

is jus beginning. Every day, a new program in onl ine learning is announced,and on he horizon is he promise o using new adapive learning echnologiesor wha we have come o call Ineracive Learning Onlineo educae moresudens han ever beore a lower cos and wih similar or even beter learningoucomes.

Tis Ihaka S+R repor is he rs in a ser ies ha will provide leaders in highereducaion insigh ino wha has been learned rom online learning eors odae and new research o help hem move orward wih he developmen anddeploymen o more advanced sysems in he uure.

Many o he lessons in his repor can readily be applied locally; ha is, hey

will help leaders make sound decisions or heir own insiuions. We have alsoidenied wo criical issues ha i addressed a a sysem-level, will lead o beteroucomes or all: he need or open, shared daa on suden learning and per-ormance racked hrough ineracive online learning sysems, and he need orinvesmen in he creaion o susainable and cusomizable plaorms or deliv-ering ineracive online learning insrucion. We hope his repor will help osimulae discussion and planning among leaders on hese imporan opics.

Te research and wriing o his repor was a collaboraive eor among IhakaS+R Senior Advisors Lawrence S. Bacow and William G. Bowen; evin M.Guhrie, presiden o IHA K; and research analyss elly A. Lack and

Mathew P. Long. Te work was generously unded by he Bill & Melinda GaesFoundaion.

We were also orunae o have worked closely wi h a eam o houghul,experienced advisors: Danielle S. Al len, Insiue or Advanced Sudy; Barbara

A. Bichelmeyer, Indiana Universiy; Daniel Greensein, Universiy o Cal ior-nia; William E. ir wan, Universiy o Maryland; Alexandra W. Logue, CUNY;

James McCarhy, Baruch College; Michael S. McPherson, Spencer Foundaion;R. Scot Ra lls, Norh Carolina Communiy College Sysem; aren A. Sou,Mongomery Couny Communiy College; and David Wilson, Morgan SaeUniversiy.

We hope you nd his work va luable, and look orward o collaboraion on uureresearch. I encourage you o conac me or my colleagues a Ihaka S+R wihcommens o any kind.

DEANNA MARCUM

[email protected]

Managing Director, Ithaka S+R
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Barriers to Adoption of Online Learning Systems in

U.S. Higher Education

1 Preface

4 Advisory Committee

5 Introduction

7 The Current State of Online Learning

9 Rationales for Offering Online Courses and Programs

14 Encouraging the Development of Online Courses

16 Observations from Interviews with Academic Leaders

19 Obstacles to the Widespread Adoption of Online Education

23 Strategies for Overcoming Obstacles to the Introduction of Online Courses

25 Issues to Consider for the Adoption of ILO

27 The Changing Market for Online Education

31 Appendix


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Tis repor has beneted om helpul commens om many people, includingmembers o a specially consiued Advisory Commitee (below) and saf members ohe Bill & Melinda Gaes Foundaion. Te auhors, however, are solely responsible or

he ideas presened here.

Advisory Committee

DANIELLE S. ALLENUPS Foundation Professor, School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study

BARBARA A. BICHELMEYERAssociate Vice President for University Academic Planning and Policy; Director, Office ofOnline Education; Professor of Instructional Systems Technology, Indiana University

DANIEL GREENSTEIN

Vice Provost for Academic Planning, Programs and Coordination, University of California

WILLIAM E. KIRWANChancellor, University System of Maryland

ALEXANDRA W. LOGUEExecutive Vice Chancellor and University Provost, City University of New York

JAMES McCARTHYPresident, Suffolk University; former Provost, Baruch College

MICHAEL S. McPHERSONPresident, Spencer Foundation; President Emeritus, Macalester College

R. SCOTT RALLSPresident, North Carolina Community College System

KAREN A. STOUTPresident, Montgomery County Community College

DAVID WILSONPresident, Morgan State University


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Barriers to Adoption of

Online Learning Systems inU.S. Higher EducationLawrence S. Bacow, William G. Bowen, Kevin M. Guthrie, Kelly A. Lack, Matthew P. Long

May 1, 2012

Introduction

Te purpose o his sudy is o explore he key obsacles ha sand in he wayo widespread adopion o highly ineracive, adapive, online learning sysemsa radiional colleges and universiies. Such sysems rely heavily on machine-guided insrucion o subsiue, bu usually only in par, or radiional aculy.

We believe such sysems have he poenial o improve aculy produciviyand lower insrucional coss wihou sacricing educaional qualiy. As noed

below, here are also many oher kinds o less sophisicaed online learningsysems, some more suiable or cerain setings han ohers. Barr iers o adop-ion vary grealy according o he ype o online learning sysem (especially iscomplexiy), he naure o he insiuion, and he var ied needs ha he sysem isinended o address. For many insiuions, increasing access o courses and evenenire degree programs is as imporan asor more imporan hanimprov-ing learning oucomes or cur ren sudens or reducing insrucional coss. Some

insiuions are also moivaed o provide online learning programs o generaeaddiional revenue. And a ll ins iuions are under pressure o serve a generaiono sudens brough up on he inerne.

We wan o emphasize ha our oc us in his sudy is on he impac o hese ech-nologies on ins iuions o higher educaion. Tere are also sysems being creaedha are designed o deliver educaion direcly o he user ouside he radiionalinsiuional conex, or o a -12 environmen. Tese iniiaives are ouside hescope o his sudy.


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Te Ihaka S+R eam conduced inerviews wih presidens, provoss, and ohersenior academic leaders a more han 25 dieren insiuions represening publicand privae research universiies, our-year colleges, and communiy colleges.(A complee lis o insiuions and individuals inerviewed is provided in he

Appendix.) We conduced more inensive deep dive analyses a ve o heseinsiuions: Baruch College, Indiana Universiy, Fayeteville echnical Com-muniy College, Mongomery Couny Communiy College, and he Universiyo Maryland, Balimore Couny.1 Te purpose o hese deep dives was o gain aner-grained undersanding o he specic chal lenges and opporuniies posed

by hese new educaional echnologies. More generally, we sough o under-sand how all he insiuions in he sudy (no jus he deep-dive insiuions)

were embracing one orm or anoher o online educaion, he obsacles leadersencounered in atemping o supplemen or even replace radiional mehods oinsrucion wih new, echnology-enabled insrucion, and he sraegies beingemployed o overcome hese obsacles.

Tis is an exciing ime in higher educaion. Lierally or he rs ime in cenu-ries, aculy and adminisraors are quesioning heir basic approach o educa-ing sudens. Te radiional model o lecures coupled wih smaller reciaion

secions (someimes characerized as he sage on he sage) is yielding o adizzying array o echnology-enabled pedagogical innovaions. Virually everyinsiuion we encounered is experimening wih online insrucion. Te raio-nale, orm, and sraegy dier rom insiuion o insiuion, bu change is occur-ring and, we believe, a an acceleraing rae. As wih any proound insiuionalchange, skepics abound and ourigh resisance exiss . Ta said, we believeha online educaional echnology will bring abou undamenal reorm in howeachers each and sudens learn in he years o come. Wheher hese reorms

will also signicanly lower he cos o educaion remains an open quesion.

As we began our research, he rs challenge we encounered was he lack o awidely acceped deniion o he erm online lear ning. Specically, he moresophisicaed orms o online learning ha we wish o sudy, made possible byrecen advances in echnology, have no ye been widely implemened. Meh-odologically, his poses a challenge o our sudy because i is dicul o assess

barr iers o adopion o a echnology ha remains una miliar o mos decisionmakers. No surprisingly, i was easier or people o ell us wha heir insiuionhad ried in he pas, raher han imagine wha migh happen when he nex waveo insrucional innovaions arrives.

o help clariy his siuaion, we invened a new erm o describe more preciselyhe orm o online learning we wish o invesigae: Ineracive Learning Onlineor ILO. By ILO we mean highly sophisicaed, ineracive echnologies in which

insrucion is delivered online and is largely machine-guided (alhough o coursesuch echnologies may be used in conjuncion wih more radiional modes oinsrucion). Te bes o hese sysems rely on increasingly sophisicaed orms oaricial inelligence, drawing on usage daa colleced rom hundreds o hou-sands o sudens, o deliver cusomized insrucion ai lored o an individual

1 The deep dive institutions were not chosen to represent a statistically valid sample of our institutional

populationbut we do believe they represent a reasonable cross-section of that population. The particular

institutions chosen were picked in part on opportunistic grounds; they were willing to participate on a tight

time schedule, they were known to be well led, and we had worked before with the leaders of several of them.

By Interactive Learning Online

we mean highly sophisticated,

interactive technologies in which

instruction is delivered online and

is largely machine-guided.


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sudens specic needsa echnology oen ermed adapive. Tese sysemsalso allow insrucors o rack sudens progress hrough a course o sudy a ane-grained level o deail, hereby enabling more argeed and eecive guid-ance. Such sysems are ar beyond he capabiliy o indiv idual insrucors ocreae on heir own, and are ypically developed by eams o cogniive scieniss,soware engineers, insr ucional designers, and user inerace expers. Relaivelyew ILO sysems currenly exis, and ul l implemenaion o any ha do exisremains quie rare.2 However, he echnology is currenly in a sae o rapid evo-luion, and we believe i is possible ha a wide variey o such sysems, o vary ingqualiy and sophisicaion, will prolierae in he nex hree o ve years.

Recognizing ha ull implemenaion o ILO remains ra re, we sough o learn asmuch as we could rom insiuions pas experiences wih oher orms o onlinelearning. We believe here is much o learn rom hese experiences, and ha wecan iner likely uure barriers o adopion o ILO sysems based on problemsencounered in he adopion o hese less sophisicaed orms o online educa-ion. Tus, hroughou his repor we exrapolae rom he presen-day experi-ences o insiuions in inroducing less sophisicaed orms o online insrucionas we assess he expeced barriers o implemenaion o ILO sysems.

Tis paper is organized as ollows. Firs, we briefy summarize he many var ieieso online learning ha exis oday and explain why radiional insiuions areembracing hem. Second, we describe he sraegies being pursued by academicleaders o encourage heir insiuions o adop more echnology-enabled educa-ion. Tird, we summar ize wha hese leaders believe hey have learned romheir experiences wih online educaion o dae. Fourh, we describe wha weperceive o be he primary obsacles o he adopion o online insrucion. Fih,

we discuss successul sraegies insiuions have used so ar o overcome heseobsacles. Finally, we conclude wih an analysis o poenial sraegies or helping omove insiuions in he direcion o adoping ILO orms o insrucion.

The Current State of Online Learning

Te diversiy o online courses oered or credi by various insiuions refecshe diversiy o higher educaion more broadly. Online learning is ak ing placea jus abou every college and universiy in he naion. Even radiionally aughcourses rouinely uilize he ools o online learning. For example, insiuionsare capuring lecures hrough video, archiving hem on he web, and makinghem available o sudens, and in some cases he public, in an asynchronousorma. Homework is rouinely being submited and evaluaed online. Sudensand aculy have embraced learning managemen sysems o disribue digial

conen, access mulimedia maerial rom ouside he insiuion, and acil iae

2 Carnegie Mellon Universitys Open Learning Initiative is a prominent example of this approach, albeit not fully

adaptive as described here. The evolution of this model, which took considerable time and a large investment

of philanthropic funds, is discussed at length in Taylor Walshs Unlocking the Gates (Princeton University

Press, 2011), chapter 4. Ithaka S+R is now completing a study of the learning effectiveness of a prototype

CMU statistics course on selected public university campuses.


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suden-o-suden and eacher-o-suden ineracion.3 Tis growh in digialdisribuion o course conen is rouine, organic, and largely aken or granedon mos campuses. Te wide variey o y pes o online learning can lead o adesire or ypologies, bu i is no easy o ideniy a se o muually exclusiveboxes ino which various approaches o online learning can be pu; here is oomuch variaion and oo much overlap. Bu here are disincions ha are helpulin characerizing he dieren ypes o sysems: (1) purely online versus hybridapproaches in which here is also ace-o-ace ineracion; (2) sel-paced sysems

versus sysems where all sudens are required o proceed hrough he course ahe same ime, on a dened schedule; (3) reliance on social gaming/peer-groupapproaches versus sysems ha are oriened oward individual learners; and (4)ILO-syle insrucion ha is largely machine-guided versus approaches harequire subsanial invesmens o ime and eor rom insrucors o engageonline wih heir sudens.

Beyond embracing echnology o enhance radiional courses, many insiuionshave also creaed a se o courses (and someimes enire degree programs) haare augh compleely online, wih litle or no ace-o-ace ineracion beweensudens and aculy or among sudens. However, he vas majoriy o hese

courses essenially replicae radiional modes o insrucion, wih archivedlecures sreamed over he web, and secions and eedback provided by aculy

via email and cha rooms. All ha diers is ha he eacher, raher ha n appearin a physical classroom, communicaes exclusively o sudens hrough he use oechnology. In his orm o online insrucion, suden-aculy raios do no diersignicanly rom hose encounered in radiional classroom setings.

Full implemenaion o sophisicaed ILO sysems where he insr ucion is eiherexclusively or largely machine guided remains quie rare.

While many insiuions are ex perimening wih online courses in he humani-ies and social sciences, iniial oerings end o concenrae in subjecs where

masery can be evaluaed in response o quesions wih demonsrably righ orwrong answers. Tus, we see in many (bu no all) cases a preerence or subjecsin business, mah, and science.4 We observed relaively ew atemps o eachlaboraory subjecs online. Similarly, many iniial invesmens in online educa-ion are ocused on proessional, as opposed o undergraduae, educaion.

3 For an excellent illustration of a traditional course that makes full utilization of digital con-

tent, see Professor Stephen Greenblat ts Harvard General Education Course entitled Imaginary

Journeys as described in Nannerl O. Keohanes articl e, The Liberal Ar ts as Guidepos ts in the

21st Century, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 29, 2012, http://chronicle.com/article/

The-Liberal-Arts-as-Guideposts/130475/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en .

4 Throughout this report we try to broadly characterize the state of online education at the institu-

tions described in Appendix A . However, there are exceptions to most of the generalizations. For

example, at a few institutions the humanities have led effort s to embrace online learning. That said,

we stand by the broader characterization that at most institut ions, early adopters tend to cluster in

the subjects described. One exception may be language instruction. For example, Rosetta St ones

digital offerings have been adopted on a number of traditional campuses. See Marc Perry, In

New Partnership, James Madison U. Offe rs Credit for Online Rosett a Stone Course, Chronicle of

Higher Education, Wired Campus Blog, Oc tober 13, 2011, http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/

in-new-partnership-james-madison-u-offers-credit-for-online-rosetta-stone-course/33653.

Full implementation of

sophisticated ILO systems where

the instruction is either exclusively

or largely machine guided remains

quite rare.
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Liberal-Arts-as-Guideposts/130475/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=enhttp://chronicle.com/article/The-Liberal-Arts-as-Guideposts/130475/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=enhttp://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/in-new-partnership-james-madison-u-offers-credit-for-online-rosetta-stone-course/33653http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/in-new-partnership-james-madison-u-offers-credit-for-online-rosetta-stone-course/33653http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/in-new-partnership-james-madison-u-offers-credit-for-online-rosetta-stone-course/33653http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/in-new-partnership-james-madison-u-offers-credit-for-online-rosetta-stone-course/33653http://chronicle.com/article/The-Liberal-Arts-as-Guideposts/130475/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=enhttp://chronicle.com/article/The-Liberal-Arts-as-Guideposts/130475/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en


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Rationales for Offering Online Courses and Programs

Revenue growh: Far and away he mos common raionale or he developmeno online degree programs among he insiuions we sudied is he desire o gen-erae new revenue sreams by reaching sudens who would no oherwise enrollin radiional degree programs. In imes o budgeary scarciy, many insiuions

view online educaion as an imporan new revenue source. A lhough no all

insiuions repored ha heir online learning programs generae ne revenue,he ones ha do ypically have esablished a separae program wih a di eren(lower) cos srucure, oen using less expensive space, adjuncs or oher lowercos aculy, and a separae adminisraive apparaus, whi le charging uiionequal o or even someimes greaer han he ui ion charged or radiionalcourses. A public insiuions, he incremenal revenue generaed rom onl ineeducaion is being used o ose declines in public appropriaions or o supple-men aculy compensaion. In privae insiuions, revenue generaed romonline educaion is being used o eiher address budgeary shoral ls or, in somecases, o direcly suppor radiional modes o insrucion.

Very ew insiuions are using eiher he savings rom online educaion or hene incremenal revenue o reduce he price o educaion o sudens.

Some insiuions have compleely walled o online degree programs rom heirradiional sudens. Tese insiuions are concerned ha hey wil l devalueheir radiional, residenial educaion i hey move insrucion onl ine. o pui anoher way, hey are sensiive o criicism rom parens and sudens who

believe ha he high uiion and ees hey are currenly paying enile sudenso regular, requen, direc, ace-o-ace conac wih aculy. Online educaionin a residenial seting calls ino quesion his assumpion, especially a seleciveprivae insiuions.5

For example, Boson Universiy (BU) has developed a dozen online masers

and docoral degree programs, as wel l as an undergraduae degree-compleionprogram. However, i has only recenly begun o explore he use o echnology-aciliaed learning or is radiional undergraduae sudens. By conras, heUniversiy o Massachusets uilizes radiional aculy o each is exensiveonline programs (UMassOnline) and makes is online courses available o

5 Stanford has experimented in a few courses with replacing traditional lectures with streaming video of

facult y lecturing online. In these courses, faculty have tr ied to reser ve class time for more interactive forms

of engagement with students. While some members of the general public are excited about having access

to lectures by renowned professors (see, for example, Steven Leckart, The Stanford Education Experiment

Could Change Higher Learning Forever, Wired Magazine, Wired Science Blog, March 20, 2012, http://www.

wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/ff_aiclass/all/1), predictably, such experiments have provoked criticism

from Stanford students who have said tha t they did not c ome to Stanford to wa tch the ir professors perfo rm

via computer. (One example of such criticism, from computer science major Ben Rudolph, is described in the

Chronicle of Higher Educations Wired Campus blog in a January 5, 2012 post entitled Debating the Flipped

Classroom at Stanford, http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/debating-the-flipped-classroom-at-stan-

ford/34811.) See also The Pitfalls of Technology in Education,Stanford Daily, (http://www.stanforddaily.

com/2012/02/29/the-pitfalls-of-technology-in-education/).

Very few institutions are usingeither the savings from online

education or the net incremental

revenue to reduce the price of

education to students.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/ff_aiclass/all/1http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/ff_aiclass/all/1http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/debating-the-flipped-classroom-at-stanford/34811http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/debating-the-flipped-classroom-at-stanford/34811http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/02/29/the-pitfalls-of-technology-in-education/http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/02/29/the-pitfalls-of-technology-in-education/http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/02/29/the-pitfalls-of-technology-in-education/http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/02/29/the-pitfalls-of-technology-in-education/http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/debating-the-flipped-classroom-at-stanford/34811http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/debating-the-flipped-classroom-at-stanford/34811http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/ff_aiclass/all/1http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/ff_aiclass/all/1


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radiional sudens.6 However, i charges premium uiion o online sudens (inexchange or he convenience o aking courses online) and uses he surplus romhe online programs o help subsidize he radiional campus experience.

Insiuions are pursuing a var iey o sraegies or rolling ou online oeringso sudens enrolled in radiional degree programs. A some insiuions, heonline and radiional porions o a universiy do no share courses andcurr icula, and oen hey do no even share aculy members or echnology. For

example, a Souhern New Hampshire Universiy, he online campus is locaedve miles rom he radiional campus. I employs is own admissions sa, ech-nology plaorm, aculy, and adminisraion. Oher insiuions, however, arery ing o inegrae online and radiional educaion. For example, Arizona SaeUniversiy (ASU) oers he same courses o sudens enrolled in is online pro-grams and on is campus, where hey are called iCourses. Norhern VirginiaCommuniy College (NVCC) has made a simi lar decision. Raher han creainga new campus or is onl ine programs, i has inegraed hem ino he exis-ing curr iculum. Te school hopes ha pedagogical innovaions rom he onlinecourses will make heir way back ino he radiional classrooms.

Serving non-radiional populaions: Online educaion is seen as an eecivemeans o broaden access o insrucion by serving s udens who oherwise wouldno be able o mariculae in radiional programs. Tese non-radiional sudensinclude older sudens who are atending school while employed, sudens whoare locaed some disance rom campus, including hose in r ural areas, disabledsudens, acive miliary sudens, and sudens in urban setings wih high com-muing coss.7 (In some cases hese non-radiional populaions receive prioriyin enrolling in online classes; or insance, Pennsylvania Sae Universiys WorldCampus allows is arge audienceadul par-ime learnerso sign up or iscourses rs, beore allowing Penn Sae residenial sudens he opporuniy oll a ny remaining seas in World Campus courses.) Similarly, some insiuions

are developing online courses o mee he needs o radiional sudens who wisho ake courses in he summer. Faculy also bene rom he fexibiliy creaed byeaching online. Like heir sudens, hey are hen no ied o a specic scheduleor geographic locaion.8

Privae insiuions are a lso using online eaching o expand inernaionally. Forexample, Georgeown Universiy is using onl ine classes o esablish srong links

beween is main campus and is Qaar campus. BU has used online educaion asa way o explore opporuniies in India, where here is grea demand or English-language educaion.

6 UMass Online also uses the same curriculum, the same faculty, the same admissions standards and the

same degrees as traditional programs. Courses are also approved and developed under the same faculty

governance standards as for traditional programs.

7 Henry S. Bienen, chairman of the ITHAKA board, former president of Northwestern, and chairman of the board

of a for-profit provider of education, Rasmussen, notes that online education is quite literally the only option

for most of Rasmussens students; ot herwise they would have no way of enhancing their skil ls or seeking a

degree.

8 Southern New Hampshire University reports that its most popular math instructor is a full professor at a

university in Moscow. He lives and teaches from Moscow.


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Improving reenion: Some insiuions are using onl ine courses o improvereenion raes by mak ing courses available o sudens who would oherwise beclosed ou o radiional courses due o limiaions on course size or confics

wih oher required subjecs. A Morgan Sae Universiy, many o he 35 o 40courses ha are oered online or in a hybrid orma or radiional sudens werechosen specically because hey are required or graduaion and hereore arein high demand. Tese are also courses ha sudens oen sruggle o inoheir schedule. Improving reenion, shorening ime-o-degree, and raisingcompleion raes are highly desirable in a nd o hemselvesand hey are alsoan eecive way o reducing he coss o achieving higher levels o educaionalatainmen. Te endency o sudens o repea courses, and evenually o dropou alogeher, leads o wased resources or boh individuals and insiuions.Eecive sysems o online educaion can be argeed a curbing hese enden-cies. Insiuions are also using online learning o improve reenion by ocusingspecically on developmenal courses ha prepare sudens or college success.Tis problem is paricularly acue a large public insiuions ha enroll largenumbers o sudens wih uneven levels o high school preparaion. Tese insiu-ions oen mus oer hundreds o secions o developmenal classes (especiallyin mah and wr iing) a enormous expense.

Te Universiy o exas is working on a projec called On-Ramps o developechnology-rich hybrid courses in cooperaion wih oher insiuions o highereducaion in exas.9 Te sae legislaure is providing special unding or hisiniiaive. On-Ramps will oer courses in compuer science, preparaion orcalculus, physical science, and English composiion or boh high school and col-lege sudens wih he hope ha compleion o hese online courses wi ll ensure asmooh ransiion o college.

ASU is working wih an exernal parner, newona echnology companywhose adapive learning plaorm uses daa rom each sudens pas aciviies ocusomize his or her learning experienceo creae new online developmenaland reshman mah courses ha ASU believes are showing evidence o improvedpass raes and reduced insrucional coss. ASU aculy have assised in develop-ing he curriculum or hese courses, which draw upon boh locally-developedconen as well as digial conen rom newon and Pearson. Te online sysemused in he courses gives consan eedback o boh he suden and insrucor,goes ino ocus mode o give sudens exra pracice on key opics, and ensuresha he suden masers all o he individual conceps in he course.

9 For more information about On-Ramps, see the presentation by Uri Treisman, Executive Director of the

Charles A. Center and Professor of Mathematics and Public Affairs at the Universit y of Texas-Austin, at the

2009 Education Commission of the States National Forum on Education Policy: http://www.ecs.org/html/

meetingsEvents/NF2009/NF2009_resources.asp .

The tendency of students to repeat

courses, and eventually to drop

out altogether, leads to wasted

resources for both individuals and

institutions.
http://www.ecs.org/html/meetingsEvents/NF2009/NF2009_resources.asphttp://www.ecs.org/html/meetingsEvents/NF2009/NF2009_resources.asphttp://www.ecs.org/html/meetingsEvents/NF2009/NF2009_resources.asphttp://www.ecs.org/html/meetingsEvents/NF2009/NF2009_resources.asp


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Responding o space consrains: Online educaion is being used by someinsiuions o avoid consrucing new aciliies or, alernaively, o avoid hav-ing o oer classes or secions a imes ha are perceived o be unatracive osudens and aculy.10

Urban insiuions ace paricularly inense demands on space. Baruch Collegein New York Ciy has seen exraordinarily high usage o is acil iies, and hopeso reduce he srain on aciliies (and save sudens commuing ime) by moving

more classes online. George Washingon Universiy in Washingon, D.C. is ren-ing exra space or various universiy programs a grea expense, and also acesgovernmen-imposed enrollmen caps a is urban campuses. Online educaion isseen as an alernaive boh o new consrucion o campus and as a way o growis enrollmen wihin he enrollmen caps a he Foggy Botom campus.

Suburban insiuions ace dieren challenges. A NVCC, heavy rac and longcommues o he various campuses make atending class a challenge or sudensand aculy alike. In such a seting, online insr ucion is atracive or everyone.Many suburban insiuions are also sruggling wih rapid enrollmen growh.For example, NVCC is experiencing 8 o 10 percen growh in enrollmen a hesame ime sae unding is declining by 25 percen. Te insiuion is under grea

pressure o serve is growing populaion more ecienly and lacks he resourceso expand is physical campuses as enough o do so.

Managing coss: Relaively ew insiuions view online educaion primarily asa way o reduce he cos o insrucion, especially or radiional sudens. In ac,many o hose inerviewed believe ha online courses are a leas as expensiveo each as radiional coursesand ha is no doub rue o online sysems hado no, in ac, subsiue machine guidance or some subsanial par o day-o-day aculy guidance.11 o he exen ha managing coss is a consideraion,he reducion in aciliies ex penses is generally seen as he principal bene.12 Iis also rue ha rs-ime coss end o be higher han recurr ing coss. Sar-up

coss include invesmens in echnology, insrucional design, and web design,as well as raining or insrucors in he ar o online insrucion. Mos insiu-ions hope o amorize hese coss and expec ha online insrucional coss willdecline over ime due o experience and scale economies.

10 At Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, some sections of popular courses are taught at midnight, in part

because that is the only time scarce classroom space is available and in part because that is the only time

some non-traditional students who hold multiple jobs can at tend (see The Chronicle of Higher Education, At

Bunker Hill Community College, Some Classes Will Start at 11:45 P.M, July 16, 2009, http://chronicle.com/article/At-Bunker-Hill-Community/47896/).

11 That is the lesson of some prior research. For instance, see Teaching at an Internet Distance, report of a

199899 University of Illinois faculty seminar, December 7, 1999, www.vpaa.uillinois.edu/tid/report, as well

as Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning, by I. Elaine Allen and Jef f Seaman, October 2007,

http://sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/online_nation.

12 While Austin Community College, for example, incurs some savings as a result of having to use less class-

room space for online courses, its practice of paying faculty member s the same and providing similar support

services for faculty, regardless of whether they are teaching online or traditional classes, minimizes the

extent of the institutions savings in other areas, such as faculty compensation.

Relatively few institutions view

online education primarily as a way

to reduce the cost of instruction,

especially for traditional students.
http://chronicle.com/article/At-Bunker-Hill-Community/47896/http://chronicle.com/article/At-Bunker-Hill-Community/47896/http://www.vpaa.uillinois.edu/tid/reporthttp://sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/online_nationhttp://sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/online_nationhttp://www.vpaa.uillinois.edu/tid/reporthttp://chronicle.com/article/At-Bunker-Hill-Community/47896/http://chronicle.com/article/At-Bunker-Hill-Community/47896/


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However, we noe ha very ew insiuions are atemping o do serious cosaccouning or eiher online or radiional educaion so, or now, hese assump-ions remain speculaive. Furhermore, hose ha have atemped o assessrelaive coss seem o have in mind only he more immediae near-erm coss oonline educaion given curren assumpions abou sang and aciliies; heyhave no imagined wha heir cos srucure migh look like on a long-erm basis,assuming ha insr ucion were o migrae o a machine-guided learning envi-ronmen. Such an environmen migh require ewer ul l-ime insrucors, ewerreciaion insrucors, and a reduced invesmen in plan and equipmen.

Improving Learning Oucomes: A some insiuions, improving learningoucomes and enhancing suden-aculy ineracion are moivaors in pursuingonline learning. Bryn Mawr College, or exa mple, is implemening selec mod-ules rom Carnegie Mellons Open Learning Iniiaive in an eor o improve hequaliy o is inroducory SEM courses. I is doing so hrough a very fexibleprocess deemed o be sensiive o he concerns o he aculy, in which individualproessors consul wih an insrucional designer o use blended echniques o

beter mee he learning goals o he insrucor, sudens and curr iculum. BrynMawr does no expec any savings rom is use o online learning modules (a

leas in he shor or medium erm), hough i has ose he coss o is experimen-aion wih a Nex Generaion Learning Challenges gran rom EDUCAUSE.

Bryn Mawrs experience is ypical o siuaions a highly selecive, elie insiu-ions. In his segmen o he marke, here are oen sronger compeiive pres-sures o increase suden-aculy ineracions, which also ypical ly increaseaculy coss, ha n here are pressures o reduce coss. Sudens and heir parensare ineresed in smaller classes, more direc aculy conac, more hands-onlearning, more diverse cur ricular oerings, and more opporuniies or sudenso engage in o-campus eld experiences. Tese are he dimensions along whichhese insiuions compee or he very bes sudens and he very bes aculy.

Te resul is relenless upward pressure on insrucional coss. A a recen sym-posium o he Harvard Iniiaive on Lear ning and eaching, one o he auhorso his repor commened ha virually every iniiaive discussed a he sympo-sium o improve suden learning implied higher aculy insr ucional coss.13

Ye, aside rom a ew insiuions reerences o improvemens in reenion or passraes, mos inerviewees did no explicily menion a desire or beter learningoucomes as a main acor behind heir decisions o increase heir onl ine oer-ings. Whi le a ew insiuions cied wha hey saw as preliminary evidence haheir online courses had similar, i no lower, wihdrawal raes as heir ace-o-ace courses, he belie ha sudens in online courses may learn he maerial

beter han heir radiiona l-orma counerpars did no appear o be widelyheld. Tis may be parly due o he scarciy o convincing evidence, produced byrigorous evaluaions, abou he eeciveness o hybrid or online learning com-pared wih ha o radiional modes o eaching.

13 See Mary Carmichael, At Harvard, teachers get a lesson, The Boston Globe, February 6, 2012, htt p://www.

boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2012/02/06/at_harvard_its_teachers_who_are_learning/.

... most interviewees did not

explicitly mention a desire for better

learning outcomes as a main factor

behind their decisions to increase

their online offerings.


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Encouraging the Development of Online Courses

Insiuions have pursued wo disinc approaches in developing online courses.Firs, many have simply empowered and encouraged individual aculy oconver exising courses o a n online orma argeed a he same sudens as heace-o-ace versions o hese courses. No surprisingly, his approach is relaivelyeasy o implemen, bu oen resuls in a less-han-hemaically-coheren se ooerings. Second, some presidens, provoss, and deans have creaed specialonline degree programs oen argeed a non-radiional sudens. Tese pro-grams a re commonly segregaed rom radiional oerings (reaed as side-cars,as one person pu i) and requenly employ insrucors recruied specically oeach in he online program. Segregaing he online presence rom radiionaloerings allows an insiuion o price discriminae beween programs. I mayalso reduce poenial opposiion o conversion o radiional modes o insruc-ion o a orm ha many aculy have ye o embrace, and separae any risksassociaed wih online oerings rom he res o he insiuion and he insiu-ions brand. Tere is a danger, however, ha (as one o our advisors suggesed)a bi-polar educaional sysem wil l develop, wih more personalized, higher-qualiy oerings or a privi leged subse o sudens.

A many insiuions, echnologically savv y individual proessors drive hecreaion o online conen. Adminisraors oen ry o build on he work o heseearly adopers o creae a larger online presence. For example, a he Universiy oMaryland, Balimore Couny, individual proessors have reedom o deliver heircourses in a hybrid or compleely online orma, and can ge suppor rom hecampus Cener or Insrucional echnology and New Media o do so.14 Once acriical mass o insrucors emerges, i is ar easier or deparmens and admin-israors o more acively plan uure course oerings.

Many insiuions make resources available o individual aculy who wish oeiher develop online courses rom scrach or conver radiional courses oonline oerings. ypically, insiuions will oer echnical assisance in he ormo insrucional design, web design, and someimes specic pedagogical assis-ance in online eaching. In some cases, such as a Pennsylvania Sae Universiy,he eam ha assiss aculy members in developing online course conen alsohelps specically wih markeing he course o prospecive sudens. (ASUOnline has a simi lar program.)

Developing an online course requires signican iniial invesmen o aculyime. o compensae aculy members or his invesmen, many insiuionsoer supplemenal nancial assisance ranging rom $500 o $5,000 per course.Indiana Universiys highly ranked online MBA program, which is oered

independenly by he elley School o Business, pays a course sipend as high as$15,000 or aculy who develop new courses. Tese incenive programs usuallycome wih condiions: courses mus usually mee minimum sandards or oh-erwise be approved hrough some ocial process. Moreover, mos insiuions

14 UMBC has also used a $1,500 summer course redesign grant program similar to what is available at other

institutions, but this program is aimed at teaching with technology, not necessarily teaching online. Another

example at UMBC is the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences Active Science Teaching and Learning

Environment, which started as a chemistry depar tment initiative to replace lectures with interact ive

technology sessions.


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will only pay or he developmen o courses ha are no already online. Someradiional insiuions approach he decision o oer a course or a degree onlineas a business decision, careully calculaing he necessary iniial invesmen,he poenial marke or he course or degree, likely incremenal revenue, andhe impac o he online oering on radiional degree programs. Te NaionalCener or Academic ransormaion similarly considers many o hese variablesin he course redesign projecs i underakes, in he conexs o selecing hecourses on which o ocus is projecs, choosing which o several redesign modelso use or a paricular course on a par icular campus, and assessing he coss sav-ings rom implemening he redesigns.

Tose presidens, provoss, and deans who have developed specic sraegieso creae a signican insiuional online presence (who employ he second ohe wo approaches oulined above) ypically arge graduae and proessionalsudens or non-radiional undergraduaes. In mos cases, he goal o hese pro-grams is eiher o generae new revenue or he insiuion or o reach oherwiseunderserved populaions. Some sae sysems are also developing sysem-wideonline programs and courses wih cenralized reposiories or online conen.

A some insiuions, maser courses are creaed cenrally by proessiona l sa or

disribuion online. Rio Salado College has only 23 residenial aculy membersin he enire college. Tese aculy members are responsible or overseeing hecurriculum and course developmen process, hough hey oen bring in subjec-mater expers o work wih insrucional designers o creae new online courses,and hen hire and rain adjunc aculy specical ly or he purpose o eachinghese courses. Tese maser courses are placed in a digial reposiory o encour-age broader use. In Norh Carolina, he saewide Virua l Learning Communiy(VLC) develops courses using saewide aculy as well as aggregaing approvedexising courses rom Fayeteville echnical Communiy College (FCC)and he saes oher 57 communiy colleges. I provides a cenral reposiory ordigial maerials and enire online courses ha can hen be adaped and reusedelsewhere.

Tose courses ha are no enirely repurposed rom previous curriculum devel-opmen are someimes creaed wih conen rom a commercial publisher or a

var iey o ouside providers. For example, in is inroducory mah courses, ASUhas relied on boh a course design parner (newon) and a major publisher(Pearson). For boh publisher- and vendor-creaed conen and conen placedin ree reposiories, reusabiliy a nd echnological compaibiliy have become keyissues in an environmen where ools like learning managemen sysems are con-sanly changing. Sill oher companies like aplan Global Soluions, 2or, andEmbane are oering a diverse array o services o colleges and universiies ha

wan o ousource insrucional design, markeing , hosing, and managemen oheir digial oerings.

Al l insiuions are dependen on learning managemen sysems or conenmanagemen and disribuion. Blackboard remains he mos commonly usedcourse managemen sysem. Moodle and Sakai are he bes-known open-sourceopions. We also see inroads being made by newer course managemen and deliv-ery sysems ha promise greaer opporuni ies o capure nework eecs rommining daa generaed by suden learners. We are impressed by he innovaion


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aking place in he privae secor as new companies compee o develop so-ware ha acil iaes online learning and insrucion. Tis marke coninues oevolve a a very rapid pace wih new companies and producs being announcedalmos weekly. However, we have ye o encouner a generic soware plaormha would permi aculy o develop and cusomize heir own online conencomplee wih eedback loops and a high degree o ineracive, machine-guidedlearning.

In sum, vir ually every insiuion seems o be expanding online oerings eiheras a resul o an explici, cenrally-developed sraegy or hrough aculy-drivenorganic growh. A s a resul, online educaion is no going away. I will only growover ime. Te privae secor is simulaing some o his growh by developingnew producs ha aciliae curriculum developmen, conen managemen,grading, and delivery o online courses. Tese producs wil l only become morepowerul wih online eaching and learning, and as sudens become increas-ingly accusomed o incorporaing sophisicaed echnology ino more and moreaspecs o heir daily l ives, more courses wil l migrae o he digial classroom andhe pace o change is likely o accelerae. However, wheher hese changes wil laec he overall sr ucure and cos o higher educaion remains unknown.

Observations from Interviews with Academic Leaders

In he course o our inerviews, we learned much abou how presidens, provoss,deans, and aculy hink abou he new world o online educaion. We also gained

valuable insighs ino processes or approving and evaluaing online oerings,as well as some undersanding o common percepions abou who succeeds and

who is challenged by learning in an online environmen. Tis secion summa-rizes some o hese insighs.

Tradiional processes coninue o govern approval o online oerings.

Regardless o wheher online courses are developed hrough aculy iniiaive orcenrally by high-level adminisraors, he ormal course approval process is sil lquie radiional. Very ew insiuions have creaed parallel approval processesor online courses ha use di eren merics or evaluaing hose courses. Inoher words, everyhing mus pass hrough he eye o he same needle, refecinghe view ha learning processes and work perormed in a virua l environmenshould essenially replicae comparable processes in a radiional ace-o-aceclassroom. Similarly, very ew insiuions have atemped sysemaically oassess he ime required by aculy o develop or each online versus radiionally.

Litle daa exis o compare learning oucomes or online versus radiionalinsrucion.While many insiuions have creaed merics o monior he deliv-

ery o heir online oerings, hese end o be limied o measures o uilizaionand response. For example, Souhern New Hampshire Universiy moniors howlong i akes insrucors o respond o suden quesions, as well as how long bohsudens and aculy are logged in. Few insiuions atemp o rigorously assesslearning oucomeswhich is, o be sure, very dicul research o carr y ou.

In sum, virtually every institution

seems to be expanding online

offerings either as a result of

an explicit, centrally-developed

strategy or through faculty-driven

organic growth.


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Assessmens o online courses end o mirror hose o radiional courses andare based primari ly on suden evaluaions. Tese evaluaions ypically providesubjecive assessmens o suden saisacion raher han objecive daa aboulearning oucomes.

Some insiuions poin o comparable grade disribuions or online andradiional versions o he same course o sugges ha learning oucomes arealso comparable. However, his mehodology is fawed or a number o reasons.

Sudens end o sel-selec versions o a course ha hey hink bes mach heirabiliies, learning syles, and schedules. Wihou randomized assignmen osudens o dieren versions o he same subjec, one canno be conden hadierences in learning oucomes (or a nding ha here are no dierences) aremeaningul . Similarly, exams and conen are rarely sandardized across onlineand radiional versions o he same course.

A number o insi uions have compared onl ine and radiional ormas basedon suden wihdrawal raes. Some insiuions repor higher wihdrawal raesor online courses (such as he enucky Communiy and echnical CollegeSysem); oher insiuions repor no dierence or else higher online wihdrawalraes in some disciplines bu no in ohers. For insance, a Ausin Communiy

College, sudens in he healh sciences are abou as likely o wihdrawal romonline courses as hey are rom radiional courses, bu in some areas o English,he online courses have higher raes o wihdrawal. While comparisons o wih-drawal raes may be ineresing, hey ail o accoun or dierences in he sudenpopulaions ha enroll in he dieren ormas, much less wheher he reason or

wihdrawal is relaed o he course or ma.

Many sudens are said o preer online o radiional insrucion bu oherrepors sugges he opposie. Some insiuions ha oer boh online andradiional versions o he same course (such as Ulser Couny CommuniyCollege) repor ha he online versions oen ll up aser, suggesing a suden

preerence or online educaion. Evidence or his proposiion is, however, moslyanecdoal, and here are many examples o siuaions in which sudens sronglypreer ace-o-ace insrucion.

Maure, highly moivaed sudens seem o ouperorm ohers(disproporionaely) in online courses. Faculy perceive ha highly moi-

vaed, independen, organized sudens excel dispropor ionaely in online


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courses.15 Oen hese are he mos maure sudens. For example, leaders a heUniversiy o Massachusets believe ha graduae sudens perorm slighly

beter in heir online programs han undergraduaes simply because graduaesudens end o be more highly moivaed han undergraduaes. Some insiu-ions, in ac, discourage sudens who may be less academically accomplishedrom enrolling in onl ine courses. Advisers a U lser, or example, recommendonline courses only or sudens who have GPAs in excess o 2.5.

Cheaing remains a problem in boh online and radiional courses. Faculyhave developed sraegies or addressing cheaing in radiional setings buare si ll developing proocols o address his problem in onl ine environmens.

A common problem is simply veri ying ha he person a he keyboard is heacual suden regisered or an online course. o avoid rampan cheaing inonline exams, many insiuions require online sudens o come o campus or oan approved esing cener o ake procored exams. Some insiuions are alsoexperimening wih v ideo procoring o exams.

Many online courses have moved away rom high-sakes esing owards morerequen, inormal assessmens coupled wih longer-erm projecs. Tese are seenas less suscepible o cheaing.

Experienced online aculy welcome he addiional inormaion generaedby learning managemen sysems on inermediae suden learning ou-comes. Many online insr ucors have he capaciy o more closely observe heprogress o individual sudens as hey make heir way hrough maerial. Teycan ell which sudens have repeaedly atemped o maser maerial and whichhave no. Tey can also deermine how much ime sudens have pu ino specicassignmens. Tis inormaion is useul in counseling sudens.16 Insrucors aFCC and oher insiuions noed ha online eaching is pedagogically di-eren rom ace-o-ace insrucion because, in online courses, aculy havemore requen opporuniies o evaluae suden progress over he course o he

semeser. Tus, i is easier o inervene when sudens are no perorming well.

15 Although, once again, much of the evidence is anecdotal, the longitudinal study conducted by Xu and Jaggars

(2011) at the Community College Research Center is relevant. The researchers followed 18,896 students

who lived in Washington State, who were enrolled in t he Washington State Community and Technical College

system in fall 2004, with the intent to transfer to a four-year college, through the summer of 2009. After col-

lecting information about 126,317 course enrollments, over a five-year period, they found that students with

GPAs below 3.0 were significantly more likely to drop out, and earned significantly lower grades, as compared

to students with GPAs of 3.0 or higher. However, this study, while large, was not randomized and employed

a definition of online courses that was very broad, without indicating how much variation existed among

those courses (which accounted for 28,000 of the enrollments examined in the study). Without this informa-tion, it is difficult to know the kinds of online courses to which the studys findings are most applicable, and

at most the study shows that the average online course in the sample tends to be correlated with higher

drop-out rates and lower grades than the average face-to-face course in the sample. See Di Xu and Shanna

Smith Jaggars, Online and Hybrid Course Enrollment and Per formance in Washington State Community and

Technical Colleges, Community College Research Center, Working Paper No. 31, March 2011.

16 One instructor, who formerly taught in a traditional format and has more recently begun teaching online,

noted that, in the past, students would claim to have spent hours trying to master a par ticular assignment

without success. Now she has the capacit y to verify such claims by examining the log to determine how much

time a student spent at tempting to master a given module.


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We expec ha , over ime, insrucors wi ll learn how o make beter use o hisinormaion o improve he learning process by incorporaing real-ime assess-men ino heir eaching.

Learning analyics is an imporan emerging eld or boh online and radi-ional educaion, and many colleges and universiies are sar ing o mine he daageneraed by learning managemen sysems (LMSs) o beter undersand whosucceeds, who ails, and why. Te Universiy o Mar yland, Balimore Couny,

or example, examines Blackboard usage saisics o predic suden success inradiional courses. Major LMS providers such as Blackboard are inegraingincreasingly advanced usage analyics ino heir sysems. In he uure, such sys-ems should be able o predic, or example, he marginal conribuion o a pre-requisie course or success in a more advanced subjec. Similarly, by gaheringdaa on how housands o sudens progress hrough a common body o maerial,hese sysems should be able o help uure c urriculum planners opimize hesequence and design o courses and modules. Poenial advancemens such ashese could cause universiies o rehink he way hey oer academic advisingand oher wrap-around services.

We believe ha hese daa, i widely available, will ulimaely prove o be exraor-

dinari ly valuable o individual aculy members, curriculum designers, heacademy, and sociey w ri large. Tis approach has he poenial o unlock howsudens learn based upon he experience o l ierally hundreds o housandso sudens. Daa o his kind can be used o coninuously improve he qualiyo insrucion provided by hese sysems and nework eecs can be powerul.(Consider how Google uses behavioral daa generaed by searchers o improve isproduc and increase search marke share.) o dae, educaional daa o his kindhave no been available o researchers, policy-makers, and ohers ineresed inimproving learning oucomes. Accordingly, we believe i absoluely essenial hasuch daa be broadly available o all hose ineresed in how sudens learn. Teyshould no be privaized.

Obstacles to the Widespread Adoption of Online Education

While online insrucion is growing rapidly a mos insiuions, skepics andcriics abound. No everyone is enhusiasic abou he growh o echnology-mediaed eaching. Tis secion reviews he basis or his skepicism, especiallyamong he ranks o some aculy, drawing on he experiences insiuions havehad o dae wih deploying var ious orms o online learning.

Online insrucion is alien o mos aculy and calls ino quesion he very

reason ha many pursued an academic career in he rs place. Mos ac-uly each as hey were augh. Tey became aculy in large par because hey


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enjoyed being sudens, and valued he relaionships ha hey enjoyed wih heirproessors or menors. In deciding o pursue academic careers, mos seek o rep-licae hese close relaionships wih heir own sudens.17 No surprisingly, manyo hese aculy view online insrucion skepically boh because i diers romhow hey learned and how hey were augh, and because hey ear i wil l disancehem rom heir sudens.18 In he absence o good daa on learning oucomes,hese same aculy members are oen skepical ha a s uden can learn as muchrom paricipaing in he educaional process remoely hrough echnology hanhey can by being physically presen wih he aculy member in a classroom.19

Faculy ear ha online insrucion will be used o diminish aculy ranks.A common heme heard on vir ual ly all ca mpuses was ha online insr ucionshould no be used o reduce aculy employmen. Leaders a privae insiuionsare concerned ha sudens and heir amilies no perceive he increasing use oonline educaion as a way o reduce suden-aculy conac. Tese leaders alsoare mindul ha ohers (specically hose ha rank insiuions) closely wachsuden-aculy raios, and ha i will work o heir disadvanage i online educa-ion drives hese raios up. Tus, a leas some o hese ins iuions are embracingonline educaion as a means o deliver heir conen o new markesespecially

overseaswhere here are ewer expecaions o direc or requen suden-aculy conac. A public insiuions ha are experiencing severe nancialpressure, he ear by aculy o poenial loss o aculy jobs is ar more immedi-ae. Leaders o insiuions wih unionized aculies cie union rules governingsang o courses as consrains on heir abiliy o uilize ineracive learningonline o reduce insrucional coss.20

17 Robert Kanigel,Apprentice to Genius: The Making of a Scienti fic Dynasty, (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins

University Press, 1993) documents how mentors pass along to their students not only styles of teaching, butadvising, organization of laboratories, and approaches to conducting scholarly research.

18 Some proponents of online teaching report that they actually have greater contact with their students

because some students are reluctant to par ticipate in class discussions, raise questions in class, or attend

office hours, but fee l no such inhibitions in asking questions of faculty online. But, of course, greater contact

implies higher costs.

19 No less an authority than Professor William Baumol of Princeton notes, in the second chapter of his new

book, The Cost Disease, Yale University Press [forthcoming], that faculty, like physicians, might have an

inflated view of their own worth in the classroom: This is not to deny that the personal attention of a doctor

or a live instructor has important benefits. Live contact permits questions to be asked and answered by

doctors and teachers, which is surely important and beneficial. Still, professors and medical doctors often

have an inflated view of the benefits of their personal attendance in the lecture hall and the operating

room. These attitudes are widely shared by medical patients, students, and others who bene fit from suchperson-to-person interactions. This creates yet another obstacle to labor-saving modifications in stagnant-

sector activities, even as labor-saving efforts are constantly under way throughout the progressive sector.

Psychological resistance to labor-saving change in the personal services increases the lag in productivity

growth that characterizes these serv ices.

20 Some faculty expressed preferences for hybrid courses that employ both online and face-to-face instruc-

tion simply because the need to bring students together on campus periodically places physical limitations

on the size of sect ions. By contrast, there are no natural constraints on the size of online sections, as has

been demonstrated dramatically by the development of massively open online courses such as those offered

through MITx and Udacity.


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Preparing a course online requires a much higher iniial invesmen oime by a aculy member han eaching he same course in a radiionalorma. In addiion o he normal process o developing a course (deermininghe sequence o maerial, speciying required readings and assignmens, prepar-ing exams, ec.), odays online insrucor also mus migrae al l he maerial odigial orm, creae or adap a websie, provide or online eedback, and so on.In addiion, online insrucion requires no jus he iniial echnical raining oaculy, bu also a much higher level o ongoing echnical suppor. As echnology

becomes more sophisicaed, aculy oen need o be rerained in is use. Simi-larly, insiuions need o inves more heavily in heir echnology inrasrucureas hey move more o heir eaching online, especial ly given he rae o changeand he cos o new echnology. A robus echnical inrasrucure is essenial osuppor online educaion.

Online insrucors incur much higher coordinaion coss han do aculyeaching in radiional setings. Mos insiuions pay more atenion o howheir online oerings are acual ly presened precisely because hey are some-imes more visible o he world han radiional courses. As a resul, here are armore levels o review. For example, a ASU Online, he online arm o Arizona

Sae Universiy, he echnology sa reviews mos courses ever y semeser oensure ha hey mee minimum requiremens or presenaion and orma. AFCC, all online subjecs mus mee qualiy and accessibiliy sandards devel-oped by a commitee o aculy members. And, as noed earlier, while mosinsiuions provide assisance o aculy oering online subjecs, or aculy newo online eaching, he process can be dauning. Similarly, many insiuionsrequire aculy o ake raining classes beore hey can each online. By conras,no such raining is normally required or radiional insrucion.

Many insrucors and insiuions have sared o embrace he need or rain-ing as online courses have become more common on heir campuses. FCC,

Rio Salado College, and NVCC all have well-esablished (and required) onlineraining programs or heir insrucors. Raher han resis hese programs, someaculy members have embraced hem as a way o enhance heir own eachingskills . Many communiy colleges (as well as one large public insiuion, ASU)repored ha hey have begun o consider will ingness o each online in heirhiring processes.

Faculy are exremely relucan o each courses ha hey do no own.Excep or some aculy hired specical ly o each online, mos aculy ex pressedlitle ineres in eaching online courses ha are developed by hird paries.Faculy members generally a ke grea pride in deermining he conen or a

paricular course and he sequence and mehod by which he conen will beaugh. While hey are wi lling o borrow rom ohers (and o share conen oheir own creaion), hey do no wish o relinquish conrol over he process ocourse design. Tey do no like o each somehing ha is pre-packaged andin which hey have litle say. As one commenaor said, nobody wans o givesomeone elses speech. Nor is relucance o each conen prepared by someoneelse solely a mater o wishing o exer conrol; aculy may undersandably eelha hey are no sucienly amil iar wih someone elses maerial o presen iadequaely. Tis preerence or ownership o conen is weaker in communiy


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colleges (bu si ll prevalen). By conras, many aculy seem more willing oembrace pre-packaged online courses aimed a delivering remedial educaion.Remedial educaion is oen seen as a burden by aculy. o he exen ha heycan ousource i o an online provider, hey seem more willing o do so han oroher elemens o he curr iculum.

Faculy may be relucan o embrace a course ha does no allow or ahigh degree o cusomizaion in how, wha, and when relevan maerial is

presened o heir sudens. Tere was a uniorm asserion a all ypes o insi-uions ha aculy eel much beter abou eaching repurposed courses or reus-ing course maerials creaed elsewhere i hey are able o do some cusomizaion.Tere are a number o reasons ha cusomizaion is valued so highly. Firs, su-den populaions dier across ins iuions, even or enry-level courses. Sudenscome o courses wih dieren levels o preparaion, dieren raionales or ak-ing he course, and dieren expecaions abou how he course wil l conribueo heir overall educaion. For example, an inroducory sais ics course aken osaisy a disribuion requiremen in a liberal ar s college is likely o be augh di-erenly rom he same inroducory sais ics course inended or social scienceor engineering majors. Second, inroducory courses are augh wih dieren

levels o rigor based upon who is eaching and who is aking he course. Tird,boh aculy and sudens wan examples drawn rom elds relevan o he iner-es o sudens aking he course. Examples in an inroducory saisics courseinended or psychology majors will dier rom hose in he sa me subjec augho business sudens. Fourh, aculy like o emphasize dieren subopics wihinhe same eld. Some will ocus on heory; ohers on applicaions. Fih, aculyhave dieren ideas abou he righ sequence o opics based upon heir ownexperiences in he classroom. And sixh, aculy like o supplemen maerials cre-aed elsewhere wih examples and readings drawn rom heir own research.

o beter undersand he desire o cusomize, one need only examine he marke

or exbooks or inroducory subjecs, as well as how aculy use such exs.While some sandard exs enjoy signican marke sha re, he exbook markeis ragmened precisely because dieren auhors and publishers are consanlyry ing o devise beter ways o each o specic populaions. Furhermore,insrucors are consanly supplemening exs wih addiional readings (as wellas eaching some chapers ou o sequence), all in an eor o coninue o nd he

bes way o presen maeria l o heir sudens.

An uncerain inellecual propery landscape or conen developed ordelivery online may also discourage wider developmen and adopion osophisicaed online courses. Te amilia r exbook model in which aculy

auhors reain copyrigh does no always ranslae well or online courses devel-oped wih insiuional suppor ha may r un ino he hundreds o housandso dollars. Te Universiy o exas is experimening wih a model where aculycourse developers reain IP r ighs o conen bu he Universiy is al lowed oreuse and modiy courses developed wih insiuional suppor. U has con-sidered using some kind o royaly model, bu decided agains i because i was


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deemed unlikely o generae much revenue or he aculy members involved. Upu a placeholder in is agreemens wih aculy members ha provides or uurerevenue sharing or courses ha generae signican revenues. Oher insiu-ions, such as FCC, have reained he righs o any work ha aculy membersdo in creaing online courses. Tis arrangemen is no popular wih he aculy,

bu hey have litle leverage in opposing i. Inellecual propery r ighs will l ikelybe a complicaed issue or onl ine eaching in he uure, especially in he case ocourses ha are developed wih signican suppor rom he sponsoring insiu-ion and/or rom oundaions or oher donors wih srong views on his subjec.21

Accrediing bodies do no seem o be inhibiing he growh o online

learning. While accrediaion is someimes cied as an obsacle o online educa-ion, and can creae some diculies when dieren regulaory bodies deneonline courses and programs dierenly, we did no encouner specic exam-ples where accrediing bodies prevened insiuions rom expanding heir onlineoerings. We suspec ha worries abou accrediaion are oen proxies or oherconcerns.

Strategies for Overcoming Obstacles to the Introduction of Online Courses

Te sraegies described below include hose being currenly pursued by indi-vidual insiuions in his sudy. We noe ha here is no magic bulle. Srae-gies mus be adaped o address he unique circumsances encounered a eachinsiuion. Cenralized insiuions are likely o pursue dieren sraegies handecenralized insiuions. Similarly, hose wih unionized aculy work wihindieren consrains han non-unionized insiuions. Insiuions ha largelyserve radiional sudens in residenial setings ace dieren challenges haninsiuions ha ser ve non-radiional populaions. Finally, sraegies or increas-ing he number o individual online courses or sudens in a primari ly residen-

ial seting may no direcly ranslae ono eors o creae new online degreeprograms or sudens who wish o earn heir enire degrees wihou ever beingon a campus.

Provide generous echnical suppor or aculy adoping online eaching.Tose who seek o each online incur signican iniial coss. Tey mus con-cepualize heir courses in ways ha are dieren rom eaching in a radiionalseting. Tey mus pre-plan he enire course a a level o speciciy ha oen isno required or radiional courses. Tey mus maser echnology ha may bealien o hem. Insiuions ha seem o be mos successul in encouraging aculyo each online make i easy or aculy o do so. Some provide explici raining

or aculy in online pedagogy and oer ongoing echnical suppor. Insrucionaldesign conceps are oreign o mos aculy, and insrucional design services arecommonly provided cenrally. Some insiuions assign aculy menorsexpe-rienced online eachersas coaches. Some insiuions provide course relieo recognize he iniial up-ron invesmen a aculy member mus make in

21 See, for example, the controversy involving Arizona State University over ownership of course materials

(Kaustuv Basu, Loss of Control,Inside Higher Ed, March 14, 2012, http://www.insidehighered.com/

news/2012/03/14/former-asu-professors-threatens-litigation-over-online-course-ownership).
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/03/14/former-asu-professors-threatens-litigation-over-online-course-ownershiphttp://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/03/14/former-asu-professors-threatens-litigation-over-online-course-ownershiphttp://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/03/14/former-asu-professors-threatens-litigation-over-online-course-ownershiphttp://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/03/14/former-asu-professors-threatens-litigation-over-online-course-ownership


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developing a new online course. Regardless o which specic sraegy is pursued,universiy leaders mus help aculy o maser he echnology and processes nec-essary o develop curriculum and each successully onl ine.

Provide incenives or aculy. As we have noed previously, eaching online,especially he rs ime, involves a signican incremenal expendiure o imeor mos aculy. Recognizing hese coss explicily and compensaing aculy

who develop online courses can make a big dierence. Sipends should refec he

magniude o he invesmen by he aculy member and will dier rom insiu-ion o insiuion, and also may dier by eld. However, nancial incenivesalone may no be sucien. Faculy ime is he scarces resource on any collegeor universiy campus. For already overburdened aculy, a salary supplemen may

be ar less atracive han released ime o develop a new online course. Tus, imay be worh considering reducing he aculy members compeing responsibili-ies in oher areas o make sure he or she has su cien ime o develop or learn ouse he resources available o each online.

Make aculy pioneers heroes. On each campus, here exiss a handul oaculy who are wil ling o embrace new pedagogical echnologies. Oen hey

are he rs o encouner (and he rs o break down) adminisraive barrierso doing hings dierenly. Adminisraors who seek o encourage hese aculymus nd a way o call atenion o hem and o reward hem. A ew insiuionshave creaed special awards o recognize especial ly innovaive online eaching.

Tackle subjecs ha seem mos easily adapable o ineracive online

ormas rs. Tese ypically include he SEM elds, business and proessionaleducaion, and some inroducory social science subjecs. In cer ain setings,however, relaively simple online approaches may be adoped mos readily insubjecs in he humaniies and social sciencesassuming ha aculy leadershipis in avor o online experimenaion. Also, some insiuions have also success-

ully moved inroducory language insr ucion online; on many campuses, hesecourses are already being augh almos exclusively by non-enure rack aculy. Forexample, ASU has moved many o is inroducory Spanish secions online. Faculyseem especially willing o embrace online insrucion or remedial subjecs.

Share any incremenal revenue wih he adminisraive uni ha is oeringonline insrucion. Alhough some online eaching does no generae nerevenue, many insiuions, as noed earlier, are pursuing online educaion as ameans o explicily generaing new revenue sources. Some adminisraors aresharing his incremenal revenue wih hose deparmens or schools oeringhe new programs. Absen revenue sharing, leaders o individual academic unis

(wheher hey be schools or deparmens) have litle nancial incenive o acklehe challenges raised by moving rom radiional o online insrucion.

Creae separae eniies wihin he insiuion or experimening wihonline educaion. A number o insiuions have se up separae adminisra-ive eniies o house new online programs. Tese seem o allow adminisraorsgreaer fexibiliy o creae adminisraive r ules and srucures uniquely adapedo governance o online insrucion. However, we noe ha while such separaeeniies may aciliae fexibiliy iniia lly o experimen, he real reurn o inves-


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men in online educaion will come when i is ully inegraed ino he main-sream o academic lie. o pu i anoher way, o harves ully improvemens inlearning oucomes and poenial cos savings rom online educaion will necessi-ae ackling he insiuional obsacles o online insrucion posed by radiionalacademic organizaions.22

Issues to Consider for the Adoption of ILO

For many insiuions, ILO represens he nex ronier in heir adopion oonline learning. We see ILO as par o a naural evoluion o online educaion.

As echnology improves and as aculy and adminisraors become more expe-rienced and comorable wih online educaion generally, insiuions are morelikely o experimen wih and embrace ILO.

We believe ha ILO has he capaci y o grealy ex pand he reach o he naionscolleges and universiies o populaions currenly no served, while a he sameime helping o bend he cos curve in higher educaion. Highly ineracive,machine-guided online learning requires ewer acil iies, ewer aculy, ewereaching assisans, and may be easily scaled o accommodae large numbers

o sudens. I also has he poenial o bene sudens by allowing hem ohave more argeed and personalized learning experiences and o save ime andmoney (or example, by reducing he need o ravel o classes and lowering bohransporaion expenses and exbook coss).

Alhough we believe ILO can bring hese signican and poenially ransorma-ive benes, i is l ikely o encouner he same chal lenges and obsacles universi-ies and colleges have already aced as hey have adoped various oher orms oonline learning. o one degree or anoher, all o he sraegies described aboveoering incenives, providing echnical suppor, rewarding early adopers,sharing incremenal revenue, experimening wih new adminisraive srucures,

and so onwill be needed, and should be used as appropriae or each insiu-ional conex. In addiion, insiuions should make every eor o learn romone anoher as hey ener his new erriory. Ye we also believe ILO diers inimporan ways, and ha he broader insiuional change we believe is neededmay require new approaches and ways o hinking. On he one hand, becauseILO acually subsiues echnology or some human insrucion, i is he moshreaening o aculy who value close conac wih sudens. Ye, on he oherhand, ILO can ree aculy rom he drudgery o cerain aspecs o radiionalinsrucion (grading, course adminisraion, ec.) and allow hem o use heirime ineracing wih sudens in more rewarding ways, while generaing produc-iviy gains or he insiuion as a whole. In his secion we highl igh he issues

we believe are mos criical as insiuions move in he direcion o adopingILO-syle insrucion.

Explicily conron concerns abou aculy size. In he absence o any atempo manage he conversaion, aculy are likely o view any iniiaive o move radi-ional courses o an online orma as a sraegy or reducing aculy size. Admin-israors need o conron hese concerns direcly. One poenial sraegy is o

22 ASU is noteworthy for its efforts to fully integrate online education into the mainstream of its academic

organization.

We believe that ILO has the

capacity to greatly expand the

reach of the nations colleges

and universities to populations

currently not served, while at the

same time helping to bend the

cost curve in higher education.


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commi o using par o any produciviy gains generaed by online insruciono suppor aculy (hrough improved aculy salaries, increased ime or scholar-ship, reduced aculy eaching loads, ec.), wih he balance being used o reducehe overall price o insrucion o sudens. Depending on he uure availabiliyo dramaically improved plaorms ha will have o be licensed, some par o hesavings may also need o be assigned o pay such ees.

Provide a way or aculy o easily cusomize and exer conrol over online

conen developed elsewhere. One o he major obsacles o widespread adop-ion o highly sophisicaed orms o ineracive online learning is he desire oaculy o conrol wha hey eachand he presen-day lack o cenrally-avail-able plaorms ha could address his problem. As noed earlier, some aculyare relucan o oer machine-guided insrucion ha has no been cusom-ized o sui heir sudens, or, alernaively, heir view o how conen should bepresened. In our inerviews, we encounered litle enhusiasm or prepackagedonline courses ha did no permi cusomizaion regardless o he ins iuionsponsoring he course, is qualiy, or he degree o ineraciviy. Even senioracademic leaders expressed doubs abou heir desire o oer ully prepackagedcourses o heir sudens, ciing a desire o brand courses as heir own in order

o preserve insiuional ideniy. o dae, no susainable plaorm exiss haallows ineresed aculy eiher o creae a ully ineracive, machine-guidedlearning environmen or o cusomize a course ha has been creaed by some-one else (and hus claim i as heir own). Tis is perhaps he larges obsacle o

widespread adopion o ILO-syle courses. While some groups are atempingo creae such sysems in boh he or-pro and non-pro secor, o dae no onehas succeeded. Open-source eors, like LON-CAPA, suer rom susainabil-iy problems. I is no clear where he resources will come rom in he uure osusain he invesmens necessary o keep such sysems curren. And or-proalernaives like newon, 2or, Dreambox, ec. essenially privaize he poenial

benes rom creaing large neworks o eachers and learners. Higher educa ionas a sysem has no as ye ound a soluion o his problemand i may no beable o nd a soluion on is own, absen up-ron invesmens by philanhropiesor governmenal eniies.

Generae good daa on learning oucomes. Faculy who have no augh onlineare skepical ha online eaching is as sais ying (or ha online learning is aseecive) as radiional ace-o-ace insr ucion. Only by careully documeninglearning oucomes can adminisraors persuade hem oherwise (i his does, inac, prove o be he case). Rigorous learning assessmen mus be a core compo-nen o an eecive sraegy o promoe online educaion.

Do careul cos accouning in order o documen he poenial nancial con-sequences o shifing o an online environmen. Online educaion requiressignican up-ron invesmen. I also requires ongoing expendiures. I has hepoenial in some setings o increase revenue and also o reduce insrucionalcoss. A mos insiuions, however, hese saemens remain hypoheses. Tenon-pro secor can learn rom he or-pro secor when i comes o under-

Too much discussion of online

learning is of the all or nothing

variety. We do not advocate

teaching all content to all students

in an online mode. Not at all.


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sanding boh rs-ime and ongoing coss o onl ine insr ucion. Moreover,absen good cos accouning, mos insiuions will no know i hey are under-invesing or over-invesing in online educaion.

Adop a porolio approach o cu rricular developmen ha will address

concerns abou de-personalizaion o educaion. oo much discussion oonline learning is o he all or nohing va riey. We do no advocae eaching al lconen o all sudens in an online mode. No a all. Apar rom purely peda-

gogic objecions, which are real, sudens atending he grea majoriy o ourcolleges and universiies deserve opporuniies o experience dieren syles oeaching and learning. Tere are real advanages o gaining some compeencein learning in online environmens, bu here is also grea value in discussiongroups, seminars, and direced sudy. Ideally, sudens will be exposed o a care-ully designed mix o learning models, in par so ha hey can coninue o benerom he socializaion values o higher educaion ha have been so imporanhisorically. Some o he poenial savings rom he use o OLI in large basicinroducory courses should be used o suppor hese oher modes o learning.Tis is imporan in and o isel, and i would also help deuse concerns ha al k-ing abou online learning ineviably depersonalizes educaion. Even he wealhi-

es, mos elie colleges and universiies ha believe hey can aord o say pretymuch as hey are should ask hemselves i ai ling o par icipae a leas o somedegree in he evoluion o online learning models is o heir advanage in helong run. Teir sudens, along wih ohers o heir generaion, will expec o usedigial resourcesand o be rained in heir use.

The Changing Market for Online Education

Everyhing abou online educaion is changing rapidly. odays sudens havelargely grown up in a digial world. Tey know nohing else. By conras, mos

aculy have learned heir cra in a very dieren environmen. Over ime, ac-uly will cach up wih heir sudens, bu or now, we are in a period o enormousransiion.

ILO sands he radiional model o insrucion on is head. I is suden-drivenand suden-cenric. I requires a aculy member o sep ouside o his or her ra-diional role as he communicaor o ideas and he evaluaor o conen masery.Rare is he aculy member who will do so willingly, in par because aculy are

being asked o urn heir backs on a amiliar sysem and process ha have servedhem well. We should never orge ha aculy are he mos successul producso our radiional educaional sysem. Jus as hey have been augh and men-ored, hey coninue o wan o each and menor.

I is ascinaing o wach as he educaional process is being reconsiued inreal ime. Exciing experimens are going on a many colleges and universiiesand in he privae secor as well. People are experimening wih disaggregainghe developmen o conen, he delivery o conen, he evaluaion o conenmasery, and he cericaion o achievemen. radiionally, he rs hree ohese uncions have oen been perormed by a single individual a nd he las by

We should never forget that

faculty are the most successful

products of our traditional

educational system. Just as they

have been taught and mentored,

they continue to want to teach

and mentor.

barriers of online learning systems in us 2012

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