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Online education isn’t going anywhere. If we establish that baseline expectation, the next steps should be to outline what we know about online education and propose how to get it right. My #ACADEMIXUpshot brief for @ThirdWayEDU does exactly that. (1/N) https://www.thirdway.org/report/what-we-know-about-the-cost-and-quality-of-online-education">https://www.thirdway.org/report/wh...
In response to COVID-19, colleges throughout the U.S. have increased their reliance on online education. But the proliferation of online courses didn& #39;t happen overnight. The % of college students who enrolled in online courses increased from 5.9% in 2000 to 42.9% in 2016. (2/N)
Online education has been sold as a golden ticket that institutions can present to introduce cost efficiencies and expand access to non-traditional students. The problem with that rosy narrative is the widespread skepticism of the quality of online courses. (3/N)
Despite the growth of online education in higher education, colleges continue to struggle with how to offer online courses in ways that can reduce costs and increase net revenues without unduly harming quality. (4/N)
Although online courses are expensive to develop, the cost structure of online education (economies of scale) suggests that the financial advantage of online education occurs when online courses have extremely large enrollment levels. What does that look like in practice? (5/N)
Colleges can leverage online offerings (and the absence of classroom limitations) to remove enrollment caps and reduce the number of class sections made available to students. Such decisions harm the quality of faculty-student interactions and the educational experience. (6/N)
Prior quasi-experimental work has shown that online students, particularly Black, Hispanic, and academically underprepared students, typically earn lower exam scores and course grades relative to their face-to-face peers. (7/N)
Online education can also remove barriers for time-constrained students who may not be able to complete college otherwise. My own work has shown that enrolling in some online courses during the first year can decrease community college students’ likelihood of dropping out. (8/N)
The problem with prior research on online education is that the design of the online course is rarely considered. In my brief, I note the issue of prior work operationalizing online education as a weekly recording of the face-to-face lecture that& #39;s posted online. (9/N)
I offer several guiding characteristics for high-quality online courses, including the use of instructional designers, shorter videos (10-12 minutes), ongoing and varied feedback, interactive activities, manageable enrollment numbers, and more. (10/N)
Why does online course design matter? Because online courses without built-in, personalized, and consistent interaction between the faculty member and the student require students to rely on self-directed learning, which disproportionately harms vulnerable students. (11/N)
Given these dynamics, I offer three recommendations for federal policymakers to ensure that colleges center quality and protect vulnerable students when considering the costs and benefits of online education. (12/N)
1. Consider widespread distribution of established (and evaluated) best practices for high-quality online instruction. (13/N)
2. Require transparent reporting of costs and revenues associated with online courses and online degree programs. (14/N)
3. Reinstate regulations designed to restrict federal aid to colleges providing high-price, low-quality online degree programs. (15/15)
