This link has been bookmarked by 92 people . It was first bookmarked on 22 Mar 2006, by Melanie Jennings.
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30 Sep 15
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06 Sep 15
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How many faculty will we be needed in ten years? Will the notion of classrooms survive? Is the present structure of the institution viable? Will teachers and students need to meet on campus anymore? [and] Can the organization’s decision makers respond to new competitors?”
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While demographic and economic predictions are essential in planning distance learning, they alone are not sufficient. Other major influences complicate the issue, such as the rapid advancement of technology, shifts in higher education audiences and learner profiles, faculty members’ reactions, adapting campus cultures, and unsettled tensions between administrators, faculty members, and distance learning leaders.
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Online students are becoming an entirely new subpopulation of higher-education learners. They are “generally older, have completed more college credit hours and more degree programs, and have a higher all-college GPA than their traditional counterparts”
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Information-age learners
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Multitasking is a way of life
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Their
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demands include time and scheduling, money, and long-term commitment constraints
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Faculty members who participate in distance education courses develop better attitudes toward distance education and technology.
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Instructional approaches are becoming more learner-centered: “recursive and non-linear, engaging, self-directed, and meaningful from the learner’s perspective”
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Related to the shift toward accountability, there is a slight shift from “theoretical” and “seat-based time” to “outcomes-based” or “employer-based” competency. In many cases, “certification is becoming more preferable than a degree”
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more and more university systems are “spinning off” new “virtual” or “online” universities—for example, Penn State’s World Campus, Arizona Regents University, California Virtual Campus, and many others.
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Currently, 74% of distance learning institutions do not charge out-of-state distance students out-of-state tuition, 91% do not charge international students more, and 71% do not charge more for distance courses than they do for on-campus courses
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06 Oct 14
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hile demographic and economic predictions are essential in planning distance learning, they alone are not sufficient. Other major influences complicate the issue, such as the rapid advancement of technology,
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Online students are becoming an entirely new subpopulation of higher-education learners. They are “generally older, have completed more college credit hours and more degree programs, and have a higher all-college GPA than their traditional counterparts”
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” (Paulson, 2002, p. 126). Distance education teams include administrators, instructional designers, technologists, and instructors/facilitators (Miller, 2001; Williams, 2003). The functions of instructors and facilitators then include being a “facilitator, teacher, organizer, grader, mentor, role model, counselor, coach, supervisor, problem solver, and liaison” (Riffee, 2003, p. 1; see also Roberson, 2002; Scagnoli, 2001).
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“helping faculty integrate technology into their instruction” the single most important IT issue confronting their campuses over the next two or three years
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but start-up expenses for distance education programs are typically high.
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study from the Colorado Department of Education reported that “the cost per student of a high-quality online learning program is the same as or greater than the per-student cost of physical school [i.e., traditional] education” (Branigan, 2003, p. 1). The study also explained that most costs in education are for staffing.
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06 Jan 13
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24 Oct 12
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21 Oct 12
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19 Oct 12
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13 Jun 12
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One result of the highly competitive e-learning market will be institutions that specialize in meeting particular niches in the market (Gallagher, 2003). Morrison and Barone (2003, p. 4) observed, “We can see the beginnings of the trend toward the unbundling of courses, credits, services, and fee structures.” Dunn foresaw a similar trend, predicting that “courseware producers will sell courses and award credits directly to the end user and thus, through intermediation, bypass the institutional middleman” (Dunn, 2000, p. 37). The transition may also blur the distinction between two- and four-year colleges and universities (Carr, 1999). In this context of greater “portability,” more educational “brokers” (e.g., Western Governor’s University, Excelsior College, Charter Oak State College, etc.) will exist (Pond, 2003). Further, as de Alva has asserted, “Institutional success for any higher education enterprise will depend more on successful marketing, solid quality-assurance and control systems, and effective use of the new media than on production and communication of knowledge” (de Alva, 2000, p. 40).
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Online students are becoming an entirely new subpopulation of higher-education learners. They are “generally older, have completed more college credit hours and more degree programs, and have a higher all-college GPA than their traditional counterparts” (Diaz, 2002, pp. 1-2). For example, Diaz has noted that online students received twice as many A’s as traditional students and half as many D’s and F’s.
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“Rather than incorporating the responsibility for all technology- and competency-based functions into a single concept of ‘faculty member,’ universities are disaggregating faculty instructional activities and [assigning] them to distinct professionals” (Paulson, 2002, p. 124). Doing this involves a “deliberate division of labor among the faculty, creating new kinds of instructional staff, or deploying nontenure-track instructional staff (such as adjunct faculty, graduate teaching assistants, or undergraduate assistants) in new ways” (Paulson, 2002, p. 126
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Distance education teams include administrators, instructional designers, technologists, and instructors/facilitators (Miller, 2001; Williams, 2003). The functions of instructors and facilitators then include being a “facilitator, teacher, organizer, grader, mentor, role model, counselor, coach, supervisor, problem solver, and liaison” (Riffee, 2003, p. 1; see also Roberson, 2002; Scagnoli, 2001).
The role of faculty members in distance education requires “some specialized skills and strategies. Distance education instructors must plan ahead, be highly organized, and communicate with learners in new ways. They need to be accessible to students [and] work in teams when appropriate” (PSU, 1998, p. 4). Distance faculty members must be experts in maintaining communication, because there is increased demand for student interaction in distance learning (NEA, 2000). Finally, they may have to assume more administrative responsibilities than is true in a residential model (PSU, 1998). -
Faculty members tend initially to try to use their conventional classroom methods to teach at a distance and then become frustrated when attempts are unsuccessful (Dasher-Alston & Patton, p. 14). In Green’s (2002) survey of the role
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The results of de Alva’s 2000 survey support this trend: governors rated “maintaining traditional faculty roles and tenure” as the least desirable characteristic of a twenty-first century university (p. 34).
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As long as distance education contributions are not considered in tenure and promotion decisions, and as long as professors have their own, traditional ways of delivering their courses, many faculty members will be reluctant to participate in online courses (Oravec, 2003). Concerning this reluctance, Dunn has predicted that many faculty members will revolt against technological course delivery and the emerging expectations their institutions will have of faculty members. Dunn forecast that some of the resistance will even be manifest through unionization and strikes (Dunn, 2000). Some have suggested the labor-intensive and time-consuming demands required to develop online modules as reasons for faculty resistance (Brogden, 2002).
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An NEA survey reported that faculty members’ top concern about distance education was that they will do more work for the same amount of pay, apparently a merited concern.
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Knowledge proliferation may increase content-breadth demands on higher education, spreading distance education resources ever thinner and complicating development decisions.
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Changes in the institutional landscape may magnify competition among educational providers and allow new models and leaders to emerge.
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Much of distance education programs’ success or failure can be attributed to how it is organized.
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the academically decentralized/administratively centralized model
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Accreditation and program approval will be based more on educational outcomes. Testing programs will be put in place by discipline organizations, federal and state governments, corporations, and testing companies. Large corporations will develop their own approval systems. By 2025, there will not be one national accreditation system, although the U.S. Department of Education will provide a basic safety net for quality. (p. 37; see also Pond, 2003)
Distance educators must plan to accommodate this emphasis on accountability if they are to maintain accreditation and meet consumer demands. -
As universities shift toward competency and institutions cater more closely to learners’ specific needs, the distinctions between high school, undergraduate college, and graduate programs will dissolve. “Incentives will be given to students and institutions to move students through at a faster rate [and] the home school movement will lead to a home-college movement” (Dunn, 2000, p. 37). As leaders in the effort to cater to learners’ needs, distance education programs may be a dominant influence in this trend.
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According to Saba, “true” individualized learning is the future and strength in educational technology (Saba, 2003; see also Bates, 2003). Others have likewise noted the increasingly widespread standardization and reuse of content (Anderson, 2002; Gallagher, 2003).
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The networked world is dominating the economy, increasing the power of the individual, and changing business models—no one can afford to be without computer competence (Oblinger, 2000). Accordingly, universities are beginning to list the fluent use of technology as an outcome skill, encourage students to take online courses, and even requiring students to take at least one online course before they graduate (e.g., Fairleigh Dickinson, BYU-Idaho) (Young, 2003).
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recession will prompt all universities to seek additional external sources of funding
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Some institutions are beginning to consider distance learning as a possible solution to the dilemma (Jones, 2003), but start-up expenses for distance education programs are typically high.
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Undoubtedly, “the changing nature of the workforce in the Information Age … [will require] a continuous cycle of retraining and retooling” (Dasher-Alston & Patton, 1998, p. 12; see also Dunn, 2000; McIsaac, 1998). To add to the demands for a dynamic workforce, retirement will be delayed until late in life (Cetron, 2003; “Lifelong,” 2002). In such circumstances, “the opportunity for training is becoming one of the most desirable benefits any job can offer,” and employers are coming to “view employee training as a good investment” (Cetron, 2003, pp. 6, 22). Accordingly, an increasing number of employers (85% of Fortune 500 companies) are paying for their employees to go back to school to stay current with changes (Markel, 1999).
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Some reasons for this remarkable growth include efforts to expand access to more students, alleviate capacity constraints, capitalize on emerging market opportunities, and serve as a catalyst for institutional transformation (Oblinger & Kidwell, 2000). Another factor influencing growth may be competition with other institutions. “Universities offering distance education are often perceived as modern and [technologically] competent, thus creating a competitive advantage” (Bishop, 2003, p. 374).
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Web services is “a relatively new term used to describe new software standards that allow for integration of different applications as well as the secure exchange of data over the Internet” (Crawford et al., 2003, p. 24). Web services ranked number seven on the EDUCAUSE strategic IT concerns list, number six on the list of issues becoming more significant, and number three on list of highest resource expenditures.
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Instructional/course management systems were similarly ranked number nine on the IT issues most likely to become more significant in 2003-2004 (Crawford et al., 2003).
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Distance learning research should focus on delivery strategies that help solve the capacity constraints, economic concerns, and higher-education consumer needs outlined in this article.
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Joan McCabeTrends that affect distance education. The part that shows how different online students are now is very interesting.
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08 Jun 12
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23 Oct 11
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28 Sep 11
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16 Aug 11
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1. The current higher education infrastructure cannot accommodate the growing college-aged population and enrollments, making more distance education programs necessary
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2. Students are shopping for courses that meet their schedules and circumstances.
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One result of the highly competitive e-learning market will be institutions that specialize in meeting particular niches in the market
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“We can see the beginnings of the trend toward the unbundling of courses, credits, services, and fee structures.
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“Institutional success for any higher education enterprise will depend more on successful marketing, solid quality-assurance and control systems, and effective use of the new media than on production and communication of knowledge” (de Alva, 2000, p. 40).
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4. The percentage of adult, female, and minority learners is increasing.
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The role of faculty members in distance education requires “some specialized skills and strategies. Distance education instructors must plan ahead, be highly organized, and communicate with learners in new ways. They need to be accessible to students [and] work in teams when appropriate
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7. The need for faculty development, support, and training is growing.
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14. The institutional landscape of higher education is changing: traditional campuses are declining, for-profit institutions are growing, and public and private institutions are merging.
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The private sector will concentrate on those areas where profits are most easily made, such as business programs and information technology courses. However, it will leave those areas that cannot pay their way, such as many arts and social science programs, and possibly health science because of the high cost, to the public sector. With the loss of cross-subsidy, the higher education sector will be in even more financial trouble.
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16. Instruction is becoming more learner-centered, non-linear, and self-directed.
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18. Academic emphasis is shifting from course-completion to competency.
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19. Education is becoming more seamless between high school, college, and further studies.
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20. Higher education outsourcing and partnerships are increasing.
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21. Some advocate standardizing content in learning objects.
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25. With the economy in recession, there are fewer resources for higher education and higher education, initiatives, such as distance education.
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27. Lifelong learning is becoming a competitive necessity.
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The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can’t read and write. They will be those who can’t learn, unlearn, and relearn” (Pon
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Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Volume VI, NumberIII, Fall2003
State University of West Georgia, Distance Education Center
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09 Aug 11
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21 Jun 11
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31 May 11
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05 Apr 11
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25 Feb 11
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23 Dec 10
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02 Dec 10
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The need for faculty development, support, and training is growing.
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Some faculty members are resisting technological course delivery.
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top concern about distance education was that they will do more work for the same amount of pay
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07 Oct 10
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Today’s adult learners differ still from traditional college-age students. They tend to be practical problem solvers. Their life experiences make them autonomous, self-directed, and goal- and relevancy-oriented—they need to know the rationale for what they are learning.
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Distance education teams include administrators, instructional designers, technologists, and instructors/facilitators (Miller, 2001; Williams, 2003). The functions of instructors and facilitators then include being a “facilitator, teacher, organizer, grader, mentor, role model, counselor, coach, supervisor, problem solver, and liaison” (Riffee, 2003, p. 1; see also Roberson, 2002; Scagnoli, 2001).
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Distance education instructors must plan ahead, be highly organized, and communicate with learners in new ways. They need to be accessible to students [and] work in teams when appropriate” (PSU, 1998, p. 4). Distance faculty members must be experts in maintaining communication, because there is increased demand for student interaction in distance learning (NEA, 2000). Finally, they may have to assume more administrative responsibilities than is true in a residential model (PSU, 1998).
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06 Jul 10
Thomas MillerResearch based issues impacting Distance Education
online learning distance learning aps_Curriculum-and-Instruction content research
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9. Some faculty members are resisting technological course delivery.
As long as distance education contributions are not considered in tenure and promotion decisions, and as long as professors have their own, traditional ways of delivering their courses, many faculty members will be reluctant to participate in online courses (Oravec, 2003). Concerning this reluctance, Dunn has predicted that many faculty members will revolt against technological course delivery and the emerging expectations their institutions will have of faculty members. Dunn forecast that some of the resistance will even be manifest through unionization and strikes (Dunn, 2000). Some have suggested the labor-intensive and time-consuming demands required to develop online modules as reasons for faculty resistance (Brogden, 2002).
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10. Faculty members who participate in distance education courses develop better attitudes toward distance education and technology.
Despite some resistance, the results of a four-year study by McGraw-Hill showed a strong increase in overall faculty support for technology in education, with only 22% viewing it as important in 1999 and 57% in 2003. Instructors feel that Web-based technology is helping them achieve their teaching objectives (McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2003).
A 2002 study similarly showed that “most teachers (85%) were not philosophically opposed to distance education” (Lindner, 2002, p. 5). Further, teaching at a distance improves perceptions of distance education factors: “Faculty members who had not taught distance education courses perceived the level of support as lower than those who had” (Lindner, 2002, p. 5). Carr (2000) found similar results: 72% of those who had taught distance-learning courses were favorable, compared with 51% who had not taught at a distance.
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16. Instruction is becoming more learner-centered, non-linear, and self-directed.
Instructional approaches are becoming more learner-centered: “recursive and non-linear, engaging, self-directed, and meaningful from the learner’s perspective” (McCombs, 2000, p. 1). Whereas in the past, most instructors followed a “transmission” or lecture-style approach to teaching, more instructional diversity is occurring among teachers who are trying a larger variety of approaches (Eckert, 2003). A pedagogical shift is likewise occurring within distance education, moving from a transmission model to constructivist, sociocultural and metacognitive models. These models use computer-mediated communication and emphasize students’ responsibility for their own learning (Rumble, 2001; Miller, 2001).
Stated differently, “Distance education can be seen to be evolving from an essentially modernist (bureaucratic or Fordist) form of education into a post-modernist phenomenon with a focus on the student as consumer, on flexibility and global reach” (Rumble, 2001, p. 31). With this transition, there is also a shift toward increased accessibility for those who are disabled. “Many feel that eLearning holds great promise…for learners with physical and mental challenges” (Frydenberg, 2002, p. 7).
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26. Funding challenges are the top IT concern for many.
While distance learning is a potential solution to decreasing resources and rising demand, the issue is far from being resolved. A study from the Colorado Department of Education reported that “the cost per student of a high-quality online learning program is the same as or greater than the per-student cost of physical school [i.e., traditional] education” (Branigan, 2003, p. 1). The study also explained that most costs in education are for staffing. EDUCAUSE reported similar results: “IT Funding Challenges has become the number-one IT-related issue in terms of its strategic importance to the institution, its potential to become even more significant, and its capture of IT leaders’ time” (Crawford et al., 2003, p. 12).
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03 May 10
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19 Apr 10
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26 Feb 10
Bil OwenRecent issues in this journal and other prominent distance-learning journals have established the need for administrators to be informed and prepared with strategic plans equal to foreseeable challenges. This article provides decision makers with 32 trend
education trends elearning learning e-learning research distance distancelearning distanceeducation distance_education article Feb_2010
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01 Feb 10
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15. There is a shift in organizational structure toward decentralization.
Much of distance education programs’ success or failure can be attributed to how it is organized. Hickman (2003) observed a movement “from a highly centralized core of administrators, coordinators, [and] marketing and support staffs to a more ‘institutionalized’ approach in which continuing education personnel were assigned to academic units within a university” (p. 6). He noted that others with a semi-decentralized model in which continuing education personnel were assigned to academic units (decentralized), while the support and marketing infrastructure remained centralized to coordinate interdisciplinary work. Pointing to a series of UCEA managerial surveys, Donaldson (2003) affirms, “The organization of CE [continuing education] is tended to be related to issues of centralization/decentralization of both its administrative and academic functions” (p. 1). In the 2002 managerial survey, UCEA found “an increase in the academically/ administratively centralized model (28% for public and 44% for private institutions) [and] the academically decentralized/administratively centralized model (58% for public and 32% for private institutions).” But as Donaldson reminds, “There are strengths and weaknesses in all these models” (p. 1).
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15. There is a shift in organizational structure toward decentralization.
Much of distance education programs’ success or failure can be attributed to how it is organized. Hickman (2003) observed a movement “from a highly centralized core of administrators, coordinators, [and] marketing and support staffs to a more ‘institutionalized’ approach in which continuing education personnel were assigned to academic units within a university” (p. 6). He noted that others with a semi-decentralized model in which continuing education personnel were assigned to academic units (decentralized), while the support and marketing infrastructure remained centralized to coordinate interdisciplinary work. Pointing to a series of UCEA managerial surveys, Donaldson (2003) affirms, “The organization of CE [continuing education] is tended to be related to issues of centralization/decentralization of both its administrative and academic functions” (p. 1). In the 2002 managerial survey, UCEA found “an increase in the academically/ administratively centralized model (28% for public and 44% for private institutions) [and] the academically decentralized/administratively centralized model (58% for public and 32% for private institutions).” But as Donaldson reminds, “There are strengths and weaknesses in all these models” (p. 1).
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16 Nov 09
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07 Nov 09
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27 Oct 09
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6. Traditional faculty roles are shifting or “unbundling.”
“Rather than incorporating the responsibility for all technology- and competency-based functions into a single concept of ‘faculty member,’ universities are disaggregating faculty instructional activities and [assigning] them to distinct professionals” (Paulson, 2002, p. 124). Doing this involves a “deliberate division of labor among the faculty, creating new kinds of instructional staff, or deploying nontenure-track instructional staff (such as adjunct faculty, graduate teaching assistants, or undergraduate assistants) in new ways” (Paulson, 2002, p. 126). Distance education teams include administrators, instructional designers, technologists, and instructors/facilitators (Miller, 2001; Williams, 2003). The functions of instructors and facilitators then include being a “facilitator, teacher, organizer, grader, mentor, role model, counselor, coach, supervisor, problem solver, and liaison” (Riffee, 2003, p. 1; see also Roberson, 2002; Scagnoli, 2001).
The role of faculty members in distance education requires “some specialized skills and strategies. Distance education instructors must plan ahead, be highly organized, and communicate with learners in new ways. They need to be accessible to students [and] work in teams when appropriate” (PSU, 1998, p. 4). Distance faculty members must be experts in maintaining communication, because there is increased demand for student interaction in distance learning (NEA, 2000). Finally, they may have to assume more administrative responsibilities than is true in a residential model (PSU, 1998). -
8. Faculty tenure is being challenged, allowing for more non-traditional faculty roles in distance education.
Faculty tenure status is coming under more fire as new state, private, and for-profit distance-learning universities are created. For example, Florida Gulf Coast University, a new distance-learning state university, and BYU-Idaho, a private four-year university, will not have tenured faculty members. The results of de Alva’s 2000 survey support this trend: governors rated “maintaining traditional faculty roles and tenure” as the least desirable characteristic of a twenty-first century university (p. 34). Since distance educators and administrators must secure instructors and course content experts, access to on-campus professors and their arrangements with the university become significant factors affecting distance education. Contributions to distance education rarely move faculty members toward tenure; therefore, dissolving tenure might make them more likely to participate in distance education efforts.
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Dunn (2000) projected changes in higher education’s landscape over the next 20 years. “The number of degree-granting institutions will continue to grow, while the number of traditional campuses will decline. By 2025, half of today’s existing independent colleges will be closed, merged, or significantly altered in mission” (p. 37). Another aspect changing in higher education is the blurring line between public and private universities, especially in the financial arena. Dunn also predicted that “the distinctions between and among public and private, for-profit and nonprofit institutions of higher education will largely disappear” (p. 37). White (2003) has observed this blurring already taking place.
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Stated differently, “Distance education can be seen to be evolving from an essentially modernist (bureaucratic or Fordist) form of education into a post-modernist phenomenon with a focus on the student as consumer, on flexibility and global reach” (Rumble, 2001, p. 31). With this transition, there is also a shift toward increased accessibility for those who are disabled. “Many feel that eLearning holds great promise…for learners with physical and mental challenges” (Frydenberg, 2002, p. 7).
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18. Academic emphasis is shifting from course-completion to competency.
Related to the shift toward accountability, there is a slight shift from “theoretical” and “seat-based time” to “outcomes-based” or “employer-based” competency. In many cases, “certification is becoming more preferable than a degree” (Gallagher, 2003). Diplomas are less meaningful to employers; knowledge, performance, and skills are what count to them (Callahan, 2003). De Alva (2000) also found this trend; 66% of governors identified “integrating applied or on-the-job experience into academic programs” as a critical characteristic of universities in the 21st century (p. 34, 36, 40; see also BYU DCE Unit Review, 2001). With an emphasis on competency, course content will be dictated more “by what learners need, [than] by what has been traditionally done” (de Alva, 2000, p. 38).
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It is predicted that higher education teaming will be successful: by 2005, partnerships and outsourcing will produce “courseware applications covering the 25 college courses that enroll 50% of all credits” (Dunn, 2000, p. 37; see also McIsaac, 1998; Paulson, 2002).
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Alvin Toffler wrote, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can’t read and write. They will be those who can’t learn, unlearn, and relearn”
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10 Sep 09
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16 Aug 09
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27 Jul 09
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08 Jul 09
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30 Jun 09
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28 Jun 09
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In a recent issue of Distance Learning Administration, Beaudoin (2003) stressed the importance for institutional leaders “to be informed and enlightened enough to ask fundamental questions that could well influence their institution’s future viability” (p. 1). Example questions included “How many faculty will we be needed in ten years? Will the notion of classrooms survive? Is the present structure of the institution viable? Will teachers and students need to meet on campus anymore? [and] Can the organization’s decision makers respond to new competitors?” Given these and other pressing questions, decision makers must clearly understand all influencing factors. Institutions need not only pose difficult questions, they must answer them from an informed perspective.
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1. The current higher education infrastructure cannot accommodate the growing college-aged population and enrollments, making more distance education programs necessary.
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2. Students are shopping for courses that meet their schedules and circumstances.
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“Institutional success for any higher education enterprise will depend more on successful marketing, solid quality-assurance and control systems, and effective use of the new media than on production and communication of knowledge” (de Alva, 2000, p. 40).
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3. Higher-education learner profiles, including online, information-age, and adult learners, are changing.
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4. The percentage of adult, female, and minority learners is increasing.
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27 Jun 09
Brenda Vogds32 trends that affect distance education--Research
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Gaby K. SlezákRecent issues in this journal and other prominent distance-learning journals have established the need for administrators to be informed and prepared with strategic plans equal to foreseeable challenges. This article provides decision makers with 32 trends that affect distance learning and thus enable them to plan accordingly. The trends are organized into categories as they pertain to students and enrollment, faculty members, academics, technology, the economy, and distance learning. All the trends were identified during an extensive review of current literature in the field
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26 Jun 09
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19 Jun 09
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Recent issues in this journal and other prominent distance-learning journals have established the need for administrators to be informed and prepared with strategic plans equal to foreseeable challenges. This article provides decision makers with 32 trends that affect distance learning and thus enable them to plan accordingly. The trends are organized into categories as they pertain to students and enrollment, faculty members, academics, technology, the economy, and distance learning. All the trends were identified during an extensive review of current literature in the field
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journals have established the need for administrators to be informed and prepared with strategic plans equal to foreseeable challenges
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Beaudoin (2003) stressed the importance for institutional leaders “to be informed and enlightened enough to ask fundamental questions that could well influence their institution’s future viability” (p. 1).
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Given these and other pressing questions, decision makers must clearly understand all influencing factors. Institutions need not only pose difficult questions, they must answer them from an informed perspective.
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While demographic and economic predictions are essential in planning distance learning, they alone are not sufficient. Other major influences complicate the issue, such as the rapid advancement of technology, shifts in higher education audiences and learner profiles, faculty members’ reactions, adapting campus cultures, and unsettled tensions between administrators, faculty members, and distance learning leaders
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The trends presented in this article were identified during an integrative literature review, conducted to summarize the current state and future directions of distance education.
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a survey conducted by the US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics predicted that college enrollment will grow 16% over the next ten years (Jones, 2003). Reeve and Perlich, in projecting similar growth rates for the state of Utah, added this insight: “Because college and university attendance are not restricted to this ‘traditional’ age group, this presents only a partial measurement of the projected demand for higher education” (Reeve & Perlich, 2002, p. 3).
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Scalable distance-education models may provide a solution to capacity constraints growing enrollments place on the current higher education infrastructure
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More and more learners are requiring flexibility in program structure to accommodate their other responsibilities, such as full-time jobs or family needs (PSU, 1998).
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Johnstone et al. (2002) refer to this notion of acquiring and exchanging credit at different institutions than the one they receive their degree from as “academic currency” and note that it is growing—as of 1999, 77% of all students graduating with a baccalaureate degree had “attended” two or more institutions.
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allowing students to obtain education anytime and anyplace via technology” as a critical characteristic of universities in the twenty-first century (de Alva, 2000 pp. 34, 38)
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Given the demand and response, education is becoming a commodity, making consumers of students and putting them in a position to shop for the best deal (Johnstone et al., 2002; Pond, 2003; West, 1999; Dubois, 1996).
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“We can see the beginnings of the trend toward the unbundling of courses, credits, services, and fee structures.” Dunn foresaw a similar trend, predicting that “courseware producers will sell courses and award credits directly to the end user and thus, through intermediation, bypass the institutional middleman” (Dunn, 2000, p. 37). The transition may also blur the distinction between two- and four-year colleges and universities (Carr, 1999). In this context of greater “portability,” more educational “brokers” (e.g., Western Governor’s University, Excelsior College, Charter Oak State College, etc.) will exist (Pond, 2003).
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Online students are becoming an entirely new subpopulation of higher-education learners. They are “generally older, have completed more college credit hours and more degree programs, and have a higher all-college GPA than their traditional counterparts” (Diaz, 2002, pp. 1-2).
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Information-age learners prefer doing to knowing, trial-and-error to logic, and typing to handwriting. Multitasking is a way of life for them, staying connected is essential, and there is zero tolerance for delays. Further, modern literacy includes not only text but also image and screen literacy—it involves navigating information and assembling knowledge from fragments (Oblinger et al., 2001; Jones & Pritchard, 2000).
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Today’s adult learners differ still from traditional college-age students. They tend to be practical problem solvers. Their life experiences make them autonomous, self-directed, and goal- and relevancy-oriented—they need to know the rationale for what they are learning. They are motivated by professional advancement, external expectations, the need to better serve others, social relationships, escape or stimulation, and pure interest in the subject.
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12 May 09
David GoodrichThirty-two Trends Affecting Distance Education: An Informed Foundation for Strategic Plannning
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29 Mar 09
Chris EllerRecent issues in this journal and other prominent distance-learning journals have established the need for administrators to be informed and prepared with strategic plans equal to foreseeable challenges. This article provides decision makers with 32 trend
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06 Mar 09
Kristin SampThis article speaks to the stragetic planning of future needs of their institution. \nWith consideration of many current factors and predicting the future.\nFrom infrastructure, to number of faculty, type of resources-texts and student \ndemands. This article does a nice job of showing how education is becoming \nmuch more fluid a lot fewer lines.
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Today’s adult learners differ still from traditional college-age students. They tend to be practical problem solvers. Their life experiences make them autonomous, self-directed, and goal- and relevancy-oriented—they need to know the rationale for what they are learning. They are motivated by professional advancement, external expectations, the need to better serve others, social relationships, escape or stimulation, and pure interest in the subject. Their demands include time and scheduling, money, and long-term commitment constraints. They also tend to feel insecure about their ability to succeed in distance learning, find instruction that matches their learning style, and have sufficient instructor contact, support services, and technology training (Dortch, 2003; Diaz, 2002; Dubois, 1996).
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the percentage of women and minority learners is increasing
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Studies comparing online course retention rates with traditional courses are inconclusive. This may be due to “the newness of online education, but individual schools and organizations are reporting that their online programs have as high or higher rates of retention as their traditional classroom offerings” (Roach, 2002, p. 23). Some claim that distance education attrition is high. A Chronicle of Higher Education article in 2000 reported that “no national statistics exist yet about how many students complete distance programs or courses, but anecdotal evidence and studies by individual institutions suggest that course-completion and program-retention rates are generally lower in distance-education courses than in their face-to-face counterparts” (Brady, 2001, p. 352).
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“deliberate division of labor among the faculty, creating new kinds of instructional staff, or deploying nontenure-track instructional staff (such as adjunct faculty, graduate teaching assistants, or undergraduate assistants) in new ways”
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The functions of instructors and facilitators then include being a “facilitator, teacher, organizer, grader, mentor, role model, counselor, coach, supervisor, problem solver, and liaison” (Riffee, 2003, p. 1; see also Roberson, 2002; Scagnoli, 2001).
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One cannot dispute that there is proliferation of new information: “In the past, information doubled every 10 years; now it doubles every four years” (Aslanian, 2001, p. 5; see also Finkelstein, 1996). This growth in information will certainly continue to dramatically impact higher education and learning in general. Knowledge proliferation may increase content-breadth demands on higher education, spreading distance education resources ever thinner and complicating development decisions.
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Stated differently, “Distance education can be seen to be evolving from an essentially modernist (bureaucratic or Fordist) form of education into a post-modernist phenomenon with a focus on the student as consumer, on flexibility and global reach” (Rumble, 2001, p. 31). With this transition, there is also a shift toward increased accessibility for those who are disabled. “Many feel that eLearning holds great promise…for learners with physical and mental challenges” (Frydenberg, 2002, p. 7).
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the home school movement will lead to a home-college movement
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Further, IT functionalities not imagined ten years ago are being realized. By 2018, computers will be able to “routinely translate languages in real-time with the accuracy and speed necessary for effective communications” (“Emerging,” 2003, p. 8; see also Cetron, 2003). “New technology will transform higher education as we know it today” (Oblinger et al., 2001, p. 2),
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Undoubtedly, “the changing nature of the workforce in the Information Age … [will require] a continuous cycle of retraining and retooling”
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Organizations from within and outside higher education are adapting to accommodate the growth in distance learning. For example, “human resource professionals and hiring managers are becoming more accepting of online degree credentials” (“Lifelong,” 2002, p. 77). Further, more and more university systems are “spinning off” new “virtual” or “online” universities—for example, Penn State’s World Campus, Arizona Regents University, California Virtual Campus, and many others.
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30. The distinction between distance and local education is disappearing.
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15 Feb 09
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11 Feb 09
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26 Jan 09
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NEA (2000) found that most faculty members do spend more time on their distance courses than they do on traditional courses, and 84% of them do not get a reduced workload. Similarly, 63% of distance faculty members receive no extra compensation for their distance courses
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UCEA survey of four-year institutions found that 64% of faculty members were compensated for distance courses with normal, on-campus salary; 74% were additionally given development stipends. However, 82% of respondents added a qualifier about how compensation for distance learning depended on the type of course, the rank of the faculty member, and other factors (Hickman, 2003)
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07 Jan 09
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22 Oct 08
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02 Oct 08
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32 trends
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ask fundamental questions
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demographic and economic projections
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rapid advancement of technology
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1. The current higher education infrastructure cannot accommodate the growing college-aged population and enrollments, making more distance education programs necessary.
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2. Students are shopping for courses that meet their schedules and circumstances.
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generally older
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online students received twice as many A’s as traditional students and half as many D’s and F’s.
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They are motivated by professional advancement, external expectations, the need to better serve others, social relationships, escape or stimulation, and pure interest in the subject.
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4. The percentage of adult, female, and minority learners is increasing.
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higher rates of retention as their traditional classroom offering
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Faculty Trends
6. Traditional faculty roles are shifting or “unbundling.”
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may have to assume more administrative responsibilities
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ome have suggested the labor-intensive and time-consuming demands required to develop online modules as reasons for faculty resistance
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11. Instructors of distance courses can feel isolated.
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faculty members do spend more time on their distance courses than they do on traditional courses
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13. Knowledge and information are growing exponentially.
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Berge (2000) describes for-profits’ practice as “picking the low hanging fruit” by offering the more marketable courses, e.g., business, computer science, etc., and leaving the “heavy lifting” type of courses to traditional academe.
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16. Instruction is becoming more learner-centered, non-linear, and self-directed.
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modernist (bureaucratic or Fordist) form of education into a post-modernist phenomenon
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18. Academic emphasis is shifting from course-completion to competency.
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“certification is becoming more preferable than a degree”
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shift from “theoretical” and “seat-based time” to “outcomes-based” or “employer-based”
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20. Higher education outsourcing and partnerships are increasing.
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Winning accreditation, providing student services, setting tuition, figuring out finances, and transferring course credits are among the thorny issues that administrators find themselves struggling to face collectively
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22. Technological devices are becoming more versatile and ubiquitous
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Some institutions are beginning to consider distance learning as a possible solution to the dilemma (Jones, 2003), but start-up expenses for distance education programs are typically high.
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IT Funding Challenges has become the number-one
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As universities digitally enhance more courses, the distinction between distance and local education is becoming blurred
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is the lack of vision and the failure to use technology strategically
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12 Jul 08
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28 May 08
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25 Apr 08
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15 Apr 08
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22 Dec 07
Britt WatwoodAn Informed Foundation for Strategic Plannning
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28 Nov 07
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19 Nov 07
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27 Oct 07
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Thirty-two Trends Affecting Distance Education: An Informed Foundation for Strategic Planning
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the need for administrators to be informed and prepared with strategic plans equal to foreseeable challenges
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. This article provides decision makers with 32 trends that affect distance learning and thus enable them to plan accordingly.
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The trends are organized into categories as they pertain to students and enrollment, faculty members, academics, technology, the economy, and distance learning.
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Informed Planning
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Example questions included “How many faculty will we be needed in ten years? Will the notion of classrooms survive? Is the present structure of the institution viable? Will teachers and students need to meet on campus anymore?
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While demographic and economic predictions are essential in planning distance learning, they alone are not sufficient
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Other major influences complicate the issue, such as the rapid advancement of technology, shifts in higher education audiences and learner profiles, faculty members’ reactions, adapting campus cultures, and unsettled tensions between administrators, faculty members, and distance learning leaders.
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decision makers will benefit by carefully considering each trend as it affects institution and goals.
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Methodology
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The trends presented in this article were identified during an integrative literature review
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Student/Enrollment Trends
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1. The current higher education infrastructure cannot accommodate the growing college-aged population and enrollments, making more distance education programs necessary.
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many institutions acknowledge that within the decade there will be more students than their facilities can accommodate
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Scalable distance-education models may provide a solution to capacity constraints growing enrollments place on the current higher education infrastructure.
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2. Students are shopping for courses that meet their schedules and circumstances.
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students shop for courses that best accommodate their schedules and learning styles, and then transfer the credit to the university where they will earn their degrees
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“academic currency”
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education is becoming a commodity, making consumers of students and putting them in a position to shop for the best deal
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One result of the highly competitive e-learning market will be institutions that specialize in meeting particular niches in the market (
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courseware producers will sell courses and award credits directly to the end user and thus, through intermediation, bypass the institutional middleman
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“Institutional success for any higher education enterprise will depend more on successful marketing, solid quality-assurance and control systems, and effective use of the new media than on production and communication of knowledge”
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3. Higher-education learner profiles, including online, information-age, and adult learners, are changing.
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Online students are becoming an entirely new subpopulation of higher-education learners. They are “generally older, have completed more college credit hours and more degree programs, and have a higher all-college GPA than their traditional counterparts
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They are “interested in [qualifications from] small modules and short programs … and in learning that can be done at home and fitted around work, family, and social obligations”
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Information-age learners prefer doing to knowing, trial-and-error to logic, and typing to handwriting. Multitasking is a way of life for them, staying connected is essential, and there is zero tolerance for delays. Further, modern literacy includes not only text but also image and screen literacy—it involves navigating information and assembling knowledge from fragments
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Today’s adult learners differ still from traditional college-age students. They tend to be practical problem solvers. Their life experiences make them autonomous, self-directed, and goal- and relevancy-oriented—they need to know the rationale for what they are learning. They are motivated by professional advancement, external expectations, the need to better serve others, social relationships, escape or stimulation, and pure interest in the subject.
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They also tend to feel insecure about their ability to succeed in distance learning, find instruction that matches their learning style, and have sufficient instructor contact, support services, and technology training
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Their demands include time and scheduling, money, and long-term commitment constraints.
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4. The percentage of adult, female, and minority learners is increasing.
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the number of adult students increased 170%
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between 1970 and 2000,
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5. Retention rates concern administrators and faculty members.
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individual schools and organizations are reporting that their online programs have as high or higher rates of retention as their traditional classroom offerings”
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Some claim that distance education attrition is high
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In other words, because of the requirements of school, work, and/or family life in general, students can benefit more from a class if they take it when they have enough time to apply themselves to the class work … they may be making a mature, well-informed decision.”
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6. Traditional faculty roles are shifting or “unbundling.”
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“Rather than incorporating the responsibility for all technology- and competency-based functions into a single concept of ‘faculty member,’ universities are disaggregating faculty instructional activities and [assigning] them to distinct professionals”
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Distance education teams include administrators, instructional designers, technologists, and instructors/facilitators
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The functions of instructors and facilitators then include being a “facilitator, teacher, organizer, grader, mentor, role model, counselor, coach, supervisor, problem solver, and liaison
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Distance education instructors must plan ahead, be highly organized, and communicate with learners in new ways.
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Distance faculty members must be experts in maintaining communication, because there is increased demand for student interaction in distance learning
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“helping faculty integrate technology into their instruction”
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the single most important IT issue confronting their campuses over the next two or three years
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“faculty development, support, and training” were rated the fifth overall strategic concern
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8. Faculty tenure is being challenged, allowing for more non-traditional faculty roles in distance education.
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Faculty tenure status is coming under more fire
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governors rated “maintaining traditional faculty roles and tenure” as the least desirable characteristic of a twenty-first century university
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Contributions to distance education rarely move faculty members toward tenure; therefore, dissolving tenure might make them more likely to participate in distance education efforts.
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9. Some faculty members are resisting technological course delivery.
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As long as distance education contributions are not considered in tenure and promotion decisions, and as long as professors have their own, traditional ways of delivering their courses, many faculty members will be reluctant to participate in online courses
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Some have suggested the labor-intensive and time-consuming demands required to develop online modules as reasons for faculty resistance
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10. Faculty members who participate in distance education courses develop better attitudes toward distance education and technology
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Instructors feel that Web-based technology is helping them achieve their teaching objectives
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11. Instructors of distance courses can feel isolated.
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“Design teams and instructors must anticipate isolation that can be felt by instructors who are separated from their students. This isolation may affect instructor satisfaction, motivation, and potential long-term involvement in distance learning”
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feelings of isolation may be offset by the instructor’s ability to work with peers in other institutions or with students across the globe”
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12. Faculty members demand reduced workload and increased compensation for distance courses.
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Academic Trends
13. Knowledge and information are growing exponentially.
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“In the past, information doubled every 10 years; now it doubles every four years”
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Knowledge proliferation may increase content-breadth demands on higher education, spreading distance education resources ever thinner and complicating development decisions
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14. The institutional landscape of higher education is changing: traditional campuses are declining, for-profit institutions are growing, and public and private institutions are merging.
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“For-profit institutions are the fastest-growing sector in education”
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33% of all online students are enrolled with these same providers
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The private sector will concentrate on those areas where profits are most easily made, such as business programs and information technology courses.
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and leaving the “heavy lifting” type of courses to traditional academe.
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By 2025, half of today’s existing independent colleges will be closed, merged, or significantly altered in mission”
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Dunn also predicted that “the distinctions between and among public and private, for-profit and nonprofit institutions of higher education will largely disappear”
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15. There is a shift in organizational structure toward decentralization.
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The organization of CE [continuing education] is tended to be related to issues of centralization/decentralization of both its administrative and academic functions”
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16. Instruction is becoming more learner-centered, non-linear, and self-directed.
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Whereas in the past, most instructors followed a “transmission” or lecture-style approach to teaching, more instructional diversity is occurring among teachers who are trying a larger variety of approaches
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A pedagogical shift is likewise occurring within distance education, moving from a transmission model to constructivist, sociocultural and metacognitive models.
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These models use computer-mediated communication and emphasize students’ responsibility for their own learning
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17. There is a growing emphasis on academic accountability.
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Distance educators must plan to accommodate this emphasis on accountability if they are to maintain accreditation and meet consumer demands.
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18. Academic emphasis is shifting from course-completion to competency.
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Related to the shift toward accountability, there is a slight shift from “theoretical” and “seat-based time” to “outcomes-based” or “employer-based” competency
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Diplomas are less meaningful to employers; knowledge, performance, and skills are what count to them
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“certification is becoming more preferable than a degree”
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With an emphasis on competency, course content will be dictated more “by what learners need, [than] by what has been traditionally done”
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19. Education is becoming more seamless between high school, college, and further studies.
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the home school movement will lead to a home-college movement”
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20. Higher education outsourcing and partnerships are increasing.
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On the other hand, distance learning institutions have been more cooperative and accommodating with partner institutions.
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“traditional universities are becoming more like distance learning universities and not the opposite”
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to share technology and to produce and deliver courses (
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However, partnerships present “obstacles as well as benefits. Winning accreditation, providing student services, setting tuition, figuring out finances, and transferring course credits are among the thorny issues that administrators find themselves struggling to face collectively
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21. Some advocate standardizing content in learning objects
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“The central issue in courseware development at the moment is the potential for developing reusable learning objects, tagging them in a systemic way, storing them in well-designed databases, and retrieving and recombining them with other objects to create customized learning experiences for specific needs”
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“true” individualized learning is the future and strength in educational technology
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“post-industrial” culture,
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traditional academe is still in the “industrial” or mass-production and standardized testing culture.
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Technology Trends
22. Technological devices are becoming more versatile and ubiquitous
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By the year 2012, schools and colleges will routinely use “computerized teaching programs and interactive television lectures and seminars, as well as traditional methods”
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23. There is a huge growth in Internet usage.
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Not only is technology becoming more ubiquitous, it is being used more competently by more people from all nationalities, age groups, and socioeconomic levels (
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current Internet users is approximately 500 million worldwide and will almost double by 2005.
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24. Technological fluency is becoming a graduation requirement.
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Ubiquitous technology may continue to increase the options available for distributing distance education to more people in a scalable fashion, especially if it is accompanied by technological fluency.
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Accordingly, universities are beginning to list the fluent use of technology as an outcome skill, encourage students to take online courses, and even requiring students to take at least one online course before they graduate
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Economic Trends
25. With the economy in recession, there are fewer resources for higher education and higher education, initiatives, such as distance education.
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This recession will prompt all universities to seek additional external sources of funding.
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Some institutions are beginning to consider distance learning as a possible solution to the dilemma (Jones, 2003), but start-up expenses for distance education programs are typically high.
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26. Funding challenges are the top IT concern for many.
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“the cost per student of a high-quality online learning program is the same as or greater than the per-student cost of physical school [i.e., traditional] education”
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27. Lifelong learning is becoming a competitive necessity.
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Some have estimated that people change careers, on average, every 10 years
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the changing nature of the workforce in the Information Age … [will require] a continuous cycle of retraining and retooling”
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“the opportunity for training is becoming one of the most desirable benefits any job can offer,”
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The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can’t read and write. They will be those who can’t learn, unlearn, and relearn”
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Some of the changes accompanying the growing demand for lifelong learning, will demand short accelerated programs, well-suited for online delivery, and portfolio credentials
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Distance Learning Trends
28. More courses, degrees, and universities are becoming available through distance-education programs.
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The annual market for distance learning is currently $4.5 billion, and it is “expected to grow to $11 billion by 2005”
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Others have asserted that up one-half of traditional campus programs will soon be available (alternatively or exclusively) online
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Organizations from within and outside higher education are adapting to accommodate the growth in distance learning
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Some reasons for this remarkable growth include efforts to expand access to more students, alleviate capacity constraints, capitalize on emerging market opportunities, and serve as a catalyst for institutional transformation
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Universities offering distance education are often perceived as modern and [technologically] competent, thus creating a competitive advantage”
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29. The Internet is becoming dominant among other distance-education media.
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“today’s distance education focus has dramatically shifted toward network-based technologies (in general) and Internet-based delivery (more specifically)
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Not only is online learning more common now, but it increases 40% annually (Gallagher, 2002)
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30. The distinction between distance and local education is disappearing
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Digitally enhanced courses provide students in traditional classrooms with more opportunities for independent study: “Even in a conventional ‘face-to-face’ system, students spend much of their time working on their own.
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As a result of online courses, many institutions struggle to define Internet students (
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the corresponding fee structures for the respective groups are breaking down
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91% do not charge international students more, and 71% do not charge more for distance courses than they do for on-campus courses
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31. The need for effective course-management systems and Web services is growing.
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With all the growth in online education, student- and course-managing systems are becoming ever more crucial.
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32. There is an increasing need for learning and teaching strategies that exploit the capabilities of technology.
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Technological advancements have naturally caused distance educators to ask how “new technologies such as wireless, mobile laptop computing, personal digital assistants (PDAs), videoconferencing, videostreaming, virtual reality, and gaming environments enhance distributed learning” (
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Appropriately, then, developing distributed learning and teaching strategies for online education was ranked number eight on the EDUCAUSE list of IT strategic concerns
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"Clearly, each institution needs to understand where on-line distance education fits in its vision of the institution's future and in its mission"
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Further, institutions will strengthen their distance-learning strategic plans by identifying and understanding distance-education trends for student enrollments, faculty support, and larger academic, technological and economic issues.
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22 Jun 07
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Thirty-two Trends Affecting Distance Education: An Informed Foundation for Strategic Planning
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Thirty-two Trends Affecting Distance Education: An Informed Foundation for Strategic Planning
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21 Jun 07
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Steven VerjansInteressante paper over trends die op afstandsleren afkomen.
distanceEducation distance_education learning trends internet for:henryhermans for:maartencannaerts elo2b vle elo
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08 May 07
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07 Apr 07
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31 Jul 06
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22 Mar 06
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04 Feb 05
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16 Sep 04
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