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eCampusAlberta and BC Campus 2012 Managing Online Learning Survey. Project Goal. Identify institutional practices that support online education Create a benchmark for a national annual survey Generate regional data for comparison against WCET and other North American surveys.
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eCampusAlberta and BC Campus 2012 Managing Online Learning Survey
Project Goal • Identify institutional practices that support online education • Create a benchmark for a national annual survey • Generate regional data for comparison against WCET and other North American surveys
Methodology • Identify senior online education manager • Distributed to all public PSIs in Alberta and British Columbia • 64% return rate
Themes Explored • Importance on online learning to institutional strategy • Organization or reorganization to take advantage of online learning • Tuition/Revenue and tech support from online learning • Most important issues facing online learning • Barriers to successful online learning programs • Size of online learning right now • Student demand for online courses and online growth
Management of Online Education (BC & AB, 2012) 40% reporting to President and CEO – 60% reporting to VPA/Provost
Dominant Themes Changes in Leadership Personnel Instructional Concerns
Interpretation What’s in it for the academic unit that launches an Online initiative? Not a lot, evidently. If one were to ask the same question of units that are aggressive in recruiting and retaining International students, the results would likely be different. If Online is treated the same as on-campus, then 0% of the revenues makes sense, especially if no additional fees are charged. And, on the whole, that’s the case.
Interpretation Focus of Online learning is on increasing Access Not on generating revenues Nor is it being widely offered for less, let alone for free (à la Coursera).
Interpretation As the slide that follows demonstrates, tech support availability is not as generous in BC/AB as it is in the WCET institutions. For the most part, it is less available than Library hours.
Interpretation One in three WCET institutions has 24/7 coverage; another one in three has generous coverage. The AB/BC institutions are generally providing support during on-campus hours of operation.
Interpretation 3 Areas of Greatest Importance Quality Assurance Organizational Challenges Technological Challenges .
Interpretation Mobile apps leap to the forefront, followed closely by tablets. Thereafter, it’s a close heat, suggesting that there’s a sense that much is happening and that some practices/policies, etc., need to catch up. The fact that Open Ed policies and resources ranks in the tie for third ought to be underlined.
V E R Y
Interpretation Online courses are essentially stand-alone and not duplicates of existing on-campus courses. They compliment and do not replicate what is offered F2F.
Interpretation Tracking FTEs is clearly the biggest issue here. Nearly one-in-five respondents simply don’t know what contribution Online makes to their FTE count. For the vast majority, moreover, it is fractional. And yet they all see this as the direction of the future.