Thirty-two Trends Affecting Distance Education: An Informed Foundation for Str... - The Diigo Meta page

• 07 Nov 09
  

  Allison Bingham
• 27 Oct 09
  

  alancwebb

  Education Facilitation

  • 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.

  • 5 more annotations...
  • • 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.
    • 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).

    • 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).

    • 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).
    • 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”
• 27 Jul 09
  

  Jodi Roberts
• 08 Jul 09
  

  Steve Ransom

  distance distancelearning elearning onlinelearning

• 30 Jun 09
  

  Patty Ball

  DL DistanceLearning elearning learning e-learning trends education distance_education distanceeducation

• 28 Jun 09
  

  Shane Brewer

  education elearning research

  • 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.
  • 1. The current higher
    education infrastructure cannot accommodate the growing college-aged population
    and enrollments, making more distance education programs necessary.
  • 4 more annotations...
  • • 2. Students are shopping
      for courses that meet their schedules and circumstances.
    • “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).
    • 3. Higher-education
      learner profiles, including online, information-age, and adult learners, are
      changing.
    • 4. The percentage
      of adult, female, and minority learners is increasing.
• 

  Kathleen N

  elearning stats research trends education

• 

  wolf hesse

  education research article trend

• 27 Jun 09
  

  Brenda Vogds

  32 trends that affect distance education--Research

  distance education hiring research technology

• 

  Gaby K. Slezák

  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

  elearning stats research trends education

• 19 Jun 09
  

  Javon-Demetrius Cogmon

  education trends distance Distance Education learning distance_education

  • 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
  • journals have established the
    need for administrators to be informed and prepared with strategic plans equal
    to foreseeable challenges
  • 14 more annotations...
  • • 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).
    • 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.
    • 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
    • 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.
    • 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).
    • Scalable
      distance-education models may provide a solution to capacity constraints growing
      enrollments place on the current higher education infrastructure
    • 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).
    • 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.
    • 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)
    • 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).
    • “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).
    • 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).
    • 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).
    • 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.
• 06 Mar 09
  

  Kristin Samp

  This 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.

  trends future

  • 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).

  • the percentage of women and minority learners is increasing
  • 10 more annotations...

  • • 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).

    • “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”
    • 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).
      

    • 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.

    • 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).

    • the home school movement will lead to a home-college movement
    • 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),
    • Undoubtedly, “the changing nature of the workforce in the Information Age …
      [will require] a continuous cycle of retraining and retooling”

    • 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.

    • 30. The distinction
      between distance and local education is disappearing.

• 15 Feb 09
  

  Mireille J

  distance education trends Distance Education openLearning openEducation strategy

• 26 Jan 09
  

  Jared Stein

  distance education trends compensation distance_education

  • 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
  • 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)
• 07 Jan 09
  

  Leanne Chun

  distance

• 22 Oct 08
  

  Melissa Lockhart

  Distance_Education

• 02 Oct 08
  

  Joy Ogami

  6705

  • 32 trends
  • ask fundamental questions
  • 28 more annotations...
  • • demographic and economic projections
    • rapid advancement of technology
    • 1. The current higher
      education infrastructure cannot accommodate the growing college-aged population
      and enrollments, making more distance education programs necessary.
    • 2. Students are shopping
      for courses that meet their schedules and circumstances.
    • generally
      older
    • online students received
      twice as many A’s as traditional students and half as many D’s
      and F’s.
    • 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.
    • 4. The percentage
      of adult, female, and minority learners is increasing.
    • higher
      rates of retention as their traditional classroom offering

    • Faculty Trends

      
      

      6. Traditional faculty
      roles are shifting or “unbundling.”

    • may have to assume more administrative responsibilities
    • ome have suggested the labor-intensive and time-consuming demands
      required to develop online modules as reasons for faculty resistance
    • 11. Instructors of
      distance courses can feel isolated.
    • faculty members do spend more time on their
      distance courses than they do on traditional courses
    • 13. Knowledge and
      information are growing exponentially.
    • 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.
    • 16. Instruction is
      becoming more learner-centered, non-linear, and self-directed.
    • modernist (bureaucratic
      or Fordist) form of education into a post-modernist phenomenon
    • 18. Academic emphasis
      is shifting from course-completion to competency.
    • shift from “theoretical”
      and “seat-based time” to “outcomes-based” or “employer-based”
    • “certification is becoming more preferable
      than a degree”
    • 20. Higher education
      outsourcing and partnerships are increasing.
    • 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
    • 22. Technological
      devices are becoming more versatile and ubiquitous
    • 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.
    • IT Funding Challenges has become the number-one
    • As universities digitally
      enhance more courses, the distinction between distance and local education
      is becoming blurred
    • is the lack of vision and the failure to use technology strategically
• 28 May 08
  

  wayne anderson

  Printed (7.1.08)

  Distance Education Distance Education DL needs education

• 25 Apr 08
  

  Cengiz Hakan Aydin

  Trends in ODL

• 15 Apr 08
  

  Sam Bachert

  trends distance education

• 22 Dec 07
  

  Britt Watwood

  An Informed Foundation for Strategic Plannning

  distancelearning elearning research trends

• 28 Nov 07
  

  Lisa Burkhalter

  distancelearning article

• 27 Oct 07
  

  Mabel Quiroga
  • 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.”
  • 6. Traditional faculty
    roles are shifting or “unbundling.”
  • 96 more annotations...
  • • “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”
    • Distance education teams include administrators, instructional
      designers, technologists, and instructors/facilitators
    • The functions of instructors and facilitators then include being a
      “facilitator, teacher, organizer, grader, mentor, role model, counselor,
      coach, supervisor, problem solver, and liaison
    • Distance education instructors must plan ahead, be
      highly organized, and communicate with learners in new ways.
    • Distance faculty members must be experts in maintaining communication,
      because there is increased demand for student interaction in distance learning
    • “helping faculty integrate technology into
      their instruction”
    • the single most important IT issue confronting their
      campuses over the next two or three years
    • “faculty development, support, and training”
      were rated the fifth overall strategic concern
    • 8. Faculty tenure
      is being challenged, allowing for more non-traditional faculty roles in distance
      education.
    • Faculty tenure status
      is coming under more fire
    • governors rated “maintaining traditional
      faculty roles and tenure” as the least desirable characteristic of a
      twenty-first century university
    • Contributions to distance education rarely move faculty
      members toward tenure; therefore, dissolving tenure might make them more likely
      to participate in distance education efforts.
    • 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
    • Some have suggested the labor-intensive and time-consuming demands
      required to develop online modules as reasons for faculty resistance
    • 10. Faculty members who
      participate in distance education courses develop better attitudes toward
      distance education and technology
    • Instructors feel that Web-based technology
      is helping them achieve their teaching objectives
    • 11. Instructors of
      distance courses can feel isolated.
    • “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”
    • feelings of isolation may be offset by the instructor’s
      ability to work with peers in other institutions or with students across the
      globe”
    • 12. Faculty members
      demand reduced workload and increased compensation for distance courses.

    • Academic Trends

      
      

      13. Knowledge and
      information are growing exponentially.

    • “In the past, information
      doubled every 10 years; now it doubles every four years”
    • Knowledge proliferation may increase content-breadth demands on higher education,
      spreading distance education resources ever thinner and complicating development
      decisions
    • 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.
    • “For-profit institutions are the fastest-growing
      sector in education”
    • 33% of all online students are enrolled with these same providers
    • The private sector will
      concentrate on those areas where profits are most easily made, such as business
      programs and information technology courses.
    • and leaving the “heavy lifting” type of courses to traditional
      academe.
    • By 2025, half of today’s existing
      independent colleges will be closed, merged, or significantly altered in mission”
    • Dunn also predicted that “the distinctions between and among public
      and private, for-profit and nonprofit institutions of higher education will
      largely disappear”
    • 15. There is a shift
      in organizational structure toward decentralization.
    • The organization of CE [continuing education] is tended to be related
      to issues of centralization/decentralization of both its administrative and
      academic functions”
    • 16. Instruction is
      becoming more learner-centered, non-linear, and self-directed.
    • 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
    • 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
    • 17. There is a growing
      emphasis on academic accountability.
    • Distance educators must plan to accommodate this emphasis on accountability
      if they are to maintain accreditation and meet consumer demands.
    • 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
    • “certification is becoming more preferable
      than a degree”
    • Diplomas are less meaningful to employers;
      knowledge, performance, and skills are what count to them
    • With an emphasis on competency, course content
      will be dictated more “by what learners need, [than] by what has been
      traditionally done”
    • 19. Education is
      becoming more seamless between high school, college, and further studies.
    • the home school movement will
      lead to a home-college movement”
    • 20. Higher education
      outsourcing and partnerships are increasing.
    • On the other
      hand, distance learning institutions have been more cooperative and accommodating
      with partner institutions.
    • “traditional
      universities are becoming more like distance learning universities and not
      the opposite”
    • to share technology and to produce and deliver courses (
    • 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
    • 21. Some advocate
      standardizing content in learning objects
    • “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”
    • traditional academe is still in the “industrial”
      or mass-production and standardized testing culture.
    • “true”
      individualized learning is the future and strength in educational technology
    • “post-industrial”
      culture,

    • Technology Trends
      

      
      

      22. Technological
      devices are becoming more versatile and ubiquitous

    • By
      the year 2012, schools and colleges will routinely use “computerized
      teaching programs and interactive television lectures and seminars, as well
      as traditional methods”
    • 23. There is a huge
      growth in Internet usage.
    • Not only is technology
      becoming more ubiquitous, it is being used more competently by more people
      from all nationalities, age groups, and socioeconomic levels (
    • current
      Internet users is approximately 500 million worldwide and will almost double
      by 2005.
    • 24. Technological
      fluency is becoming a graduation requirement.
    • 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.
    • 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

    • Economic Trends
      

      
      

      25. With the economy
      in recession, there are fewer resources for higher education and higher education,
      initiatives, such as distance education.

    • This recession will prompt all universities to seek additional
      external sources of funding.
    • 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.
    • 26. Funding challenges
      are the top IT concern for many.
    • “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”
    • 27. Lifelong learning
      is becoming a competitive necessity.
    • Some have estimated that
      people change careers, on average, every 10 years
    • the changing nature of the workforce
      in the Information Age … [will require] a continuous cycle of retraining
      and retooling”
    • “the opportunity for training is becoming
      one of the most desirable benefits any job can offer,”
    • 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”
    • Some of the changes accompanying the growing demand for lifelong learning,
      will demand short accelerated programs, well-suited for online delivery, and
      portfolio credentials

    • Distance Learning
      Trends

      
      

      28. More courses,
      degrees, and universities are becoming available through distance-education
      programs.

    • The annual market
      for distance learning is currently $4.5 billion, and it is “expected
      to grow to $11 billion by 2005”
    • Others have asserted that up one-half of traditional campus programs will
      soon be available (alternatively or exclusively) online
    • Organizations from within
      and outside higher education are adapting to accommodate the growth in distance
      learning
    • 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
    • Universities offering distance education are often perceived as modern
      and [technologically] competent, thus creating a competitive advantage”
    • 29. The Internet
      is becoming dominant among other distance-education media.
    • “today’s distance education
      focus has dramatically shifted toward network-based technologies (in general)
      and Internet-based delivery (more specifically)
    • Not only is online learning more common
      now, but it increases 40% annually (Gallagher, 2002)
    • 30. The distinction
      between distance and local education is disappearing
    • 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.
    • As a result of online courses, many institutions struggle to define Internet
      students (
    • the corresponding fee structures
      for the respective groups are breaking down
    • 91% do not charge international students
      more, and 71% do not charge more for distance courses than they do for on-campus
      courses
    • 31. The need for
      effective course-management systems and Web services is growing.
    • With all the growth in
      online education, student- and course-managing systems are becoming ever more
      crucial.
    • 32. There is an increasing
      need for learning and teaching strategies that exploit the capabilities of
      technology.
    • 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” (
    • Appropriately, then,
      developing distributed learning and teaching strategies for online education
      was ranked number eight on the EDUCAUSE list of IT strategic concerns
    • "Clearly, each institution needs to understand where on-line
      distance education fits in its vision of the institution's future and in its
      mission"
    • 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.
• 22 Jun 07
  

  maarten cannaerts
  • Thirty-two Trends Affecting Distance Education: An Informed Foundation for Strategic Planning
  • Thirty-two Trends Affecting Distance Education: An Informed Foundation for Strategic Planning
• 08 May 07
  

  Steve Garwood

  education learning

• 31 Jul 06
  

  Jerry Johnson

  distance_education

• 22 Mar 06
  

  Melanie Jennings

  distance education journal learning

• 16 Sep 04
  

  ashleytan

  Classes Quals DE General

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