Online Education May Transform Higher Ed

Online Education May Transform Higher Ed Can online education be the rock thatdisturbs the placid waters of Americanhigher education? Several industry expertsbelieve it will have a significant ripple effecton colleges and universities of all sizes incoming years—but only if it's subject toregulation, governed by a common set ofaccreditation standards, and widelyaccepted by institutions who have long clungto the traditional face-to-face model ofinstruction.Citing the vast online enrollment gains madeby for-profit institutions like the Universityof Phoenix and Kaplan University, LouisSoares, director of postsecondary educationat the Center for American Progress,recently dubbed online education apotential "disruptive innovator" in the highered landscape. Much in the way cell phonesdisrupted the traditional landline-basedmodel or discount retailers like Wal-Martrevolutionized the nation's retail market, thefor-profit sector—though a subject ofintense scrutiny in recent years—has drivenchanges that could greatly affect the worldof higher education, Soares argues."A disruptive innovation always starts out ata lower quality," he says. "[But], if you takethat for-profit energy out of highereducation, online [education] wouldn't havegrown the way it has in the last 10 years."[Read about the partisan battle over for-profit education.]In the coming decade, experts say, collegestudents should expect an increasedpresence of online classes at traditionalnonprofit schools. Already, about 30percent of American college students take atleast one course online, says Elaine Allen,statistical director of the Sloan Survey onOnline Education, which monitors studentinvolvement in online higher education.Though wholly online programs generallytarget nontraditional students, establishedinstitutions that are populated bytraditional, high-achieving students arestarting to embrace the technology. TheUniversity of North Carolina—Chapel Hilland the University of Southern California areamong the highly regarded schools thathave recently adopted online-centricprograms.Efforts made by such schools are not theculmination of a movement online, butrather a hint of inroads into a new market,experts say. "We're at the beginning of eliteschools starting to take online seriously,"says Richard Garrett, managing director atresearch firm Eduventures. "They're tryingto marry the online experience with thebrand of the institution."As technological capabilities expand andmore traditional schools embrace onlineeducation in the coming years, schools mayopt to replace many of their massive, entry-level courses that are traditionally taught invast lecture halls and are characterized bylittle to no individual interaction betweenstudents and professors, experts say. "Isthere a secret sauce to a professor sitting infront of 400 students and lecturing thatcouldn't be [replicated] online?" asksSoares, of the Center for AmericanProgress.[Learn about the effectiveness of blendedlearning.]Standardized methods for trainingprofessors to teach online is anotherpotential change on the horizon, and onethat is essential to online education's futureviability, experts claim. Currently, there is nostandard for training professors to teachonline courses. That need could be met byan association of online schools introducinga pedagogy or could be regulated by anaccrediting body, says the Sloan Survey'sAllen.It's a void that will need to be filled for thequality of online education to increase andfor online instruction to be widely acceptedat mainstream universities, she says."Training is all over the map," Allen adds."We need to do something about that toaddress quality." Online Education May Transform Higher Ed