Why Distance Education Enrollment is Growing 

May 19, 2007 

I recently came across an article by the Sloan Consortium which estimated that there were about 3.2 million students enrolled in at least one online course during the fall semester of 2005.   What prompted these 3.2 million people to choose the courses that they enrolled in?  For most working professionals, time is a commodity and being able to take online courses at their convenience is very appealing.  The convenience and flexibility offered by online education is a major deciding factor for most consumers of online education.   But how do online schools decide what courses to offer?  Do they base their decisions on market trends?  If so, what kind of market research were they looking at?  Are they only interested in just offering online versions of traditional courses or are they look to improve student learning as a way of gaining a competitive advantage?   

For starters, it seems that technological advancements are influencing job trends and in turn influences which courses a school decides to offer.  In the corporate world, advances and expansions in internet and software applications are creating rapid changes in job descriptions and preferred skill sets.  People are changing jobs at a faster pace as the demand for new skill sets increases faster than traditional schools can produce qualified graduates within the standard two-to-four-year timeframe.   

Online course certificates are proving to be the preferred way for working adults to boost their credentials and remain competitive in the job marketplace. The flexibility and convenience makes it easier to pursue professional development on their own time, rather than having to take time off from work to attend an on-campus course.   

In addition, financial and business considerations are influencing college administrators’ decision to expand their online course selections.  Several schools are increasingly facing budget cuts which are forcing them to consolidate their resources and come up with cost-saving strategies for providing quality education.   

One such strategy is to expand their online course selection and offer them to their entire student population, both traditional and online students.  Research conducted by the National Center for Academic Transformation shows that online courses cost about 37% less than traditional courses offered at the same institution.  Online courses are no longer just a means of accommodating a few distance learners.  According to American Education Services, online students now make up about 20-25% of the total student body nationwide in postsecondary institutions.  Enrollment growth in online education industry is expected to increase by 30% annually.   

Market research is another deciding factor for many colleges and universities, both online and on-campus.  Administrators are refocusing their enrollment efforts on finding out what students and their potential employers need and creating new strategies to meet that demand.  Students are becoming more computer-savvy than previous generations and are more open to incorporating online tools into their traditional studies.  Many undergraduate students take online courses to speed up their graduation.   

Several schools are adopting the “hybrid” method of online education by incorporating online tools into traditional courses.  In 2001, Fairfield University in Connecticut received a $200K grant from the Pew Grant Program in Course Redesign to incorporate sophisticated wireless technology into its introductory General Biology course.   This hybrid approach to online education has many benefits: it creates an interactive learning environment where students play a more active role in the course; and according to Shelly Phelan, project co-director for the Pew Foundation, the use of video and animation within the lecture “greatly enhances the understanding of the material”.  In addition to video and animation, the course offers online class forums, lecture notes, presentations, and online library access.