Project Eagle Research Capsules (PERC) #15
June 2004

Selected Findings from Two Recent Surveys of E-Learning Administrators

Sizing the Opportunity: The Quality and Extent of
Online Education in the United States, 2002 and 2003

(The Sloan Consortium Survey of Online Learning)
I. Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman
September 2003

An email with a Web-based survey attached was sent to chief academic officers at 3,033 U. S. higher education institutions. The statistics that follow reflect the opinions of the 32.8% (994 individuals) who responded.

• More than 1.6 million students took at least one online course during Fall 2002.
  
  
• More than one-third of these students (578,000) took all of their courses online.
  
  
• Among all U.S. higher education students in Fall 2002, 11% took at least one online course.
  
  
• Among those students at institutions where online courses were offered, 13% took at least one online course.
  
  
• The online population expanded from roughly 86 million in March 2000 to 126 million in August 2003.
  
  
• The number of students taking at least one online course was projected to increase by 19.8% over the one-year period from Fall 2002 to Fall 2003, to include a total of 1.9 million students.
  
  
• 81% of all institutions of higher education offer at least one fully online or blended course.*
  
  
• Among public institutions, 97% offer at least one online or blended course.
  
  
• 34% of all institutions offer complete online degree programs.
  
  
• Almost half of all schools (48.9%) in the public sector offer an online degree, compared to slightly more than one fifth (22.1%) in private institutions.
  
  
• Of all schools responding, 55.6% offer both online and blended courses; 16% offer online only; 9.6% offer blended only; and 18.8% offer neither. The results were approximately the same for both public and private institutions.
  
  
• When asked about the role of online education for the future of their institution, 67% of administrators answered that it is critical to the long-term strategy for their institutions.
  
  
• Academic leaders at 59.6% of institutions agree that their faculty accept the value and legitimacy of online education; however, more than 40% of institutions are neutral or disagree with this statement.
  
  
• 57% of academic leaders already believe that the learning outcomes for online education are equal to or superior to those of face-to-face instruction. However, one fifth of all administrators viewed online courses as presently inferior to traditional offerings.
  
  
• Nearly one-third expect that learning outcomes for online education will be superior to face-to-face instruction in three years, and nearly three-quarters expect them to be equal to or better than face-to-face instruction.
  
  
• Both public and private institutions expect the same relative improvement in the learning outcomes of online compared to face-to-face instruction over the next three years. This holds true both for institutions that offer online education and those that do not.
  
  
• The larger the institution, the more favorable the response to online learning.
  
  
• *An online course was defined as having at least 80% of the course content delivered online. A blended/hybrid course was defined as having between 30% and 80% delivered online; a Web-facilitated course as having 1% to 29% delivered online; and a traditional course as having 0% delivered online.
  
  

"Current IT Issues: 2004"

Donald Z. Spicer, Peter B. DeBlois, and the EDUCAUSE Current Issues Committee
EDUCAUSE Review (39:3) May/June 2004: 12-26.

The survey gathered responses from 35% (571) of the 1,638 primary representatives of EDUCAUSE member institutions. It then identified the top current Instructional Technology (IT) issues that leaders in higher education see as their most critical challenges. These follow in order of importance.

1. Funding IT. For the second year in a row, this was the number-one issue. Reductions in state appropriations and private giving were identified as the prime reasons. Total costs for information technology are increasing at a rate that exceeds the ability of colleges and universities to pay. The challenge is to distribute flat or shrinking resources creatively, manage more complex infrastructures efficiently, and prioritize various needs effectively.
   
   
2. Administrative / ERP / Information Systems. Of the 645 institutions that completed a survey for the EDUCAUSE Core Data Service in 2003, only 23% had no plans for implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system: 37% had already completed such an implementation, 26% were in the process of doing so, and 13% were considering it.
   
   
3. Security and Identity Management. This issue rose from eighth place in 2003 to third in 2004. The threat of terrorism and the "many viruses and denial of services attacks that make networks vulnerable to costly downtime" that occurred this past year are the major reasons for this jump.
   
   
4. Strategic Planning for IT.  The second most time-consuming issue for leaders, this rose from tenth to fourth place overall, "likely the result of needing to better align IT activities with the institution's priorities."
   
   The article suggests that successful IT planning "must be based on three fundamental tenets: (1) information technology is a strategic institutional asset; (2) information technology is an essential resource for learning, teaching, research, and community partnerships; and (3)information technology is vital to the effective operation of the institution."
   
   
5. Faculty Development, Support, and Training. Institutions commonly provide faculty with easily accessible resources through faculty development programs. With the rapid creation of new technologies and changes in existing ones, this remains an important IT training/support issue.
   
   
6. Infrastructure Management for IT.  Because of the "ever-expanding use of academic and administrative technology applications on campus," the need to keep the infrastructure up-to-date, as well as monitor and manage the network effectively, reduces overall operating costs and avoids disruptive downtime.
   
   
7. E-learning / Distributed Teaching and Learning. The growth of e-learning as both enhancement of and alternative to classroom teaching keeps this a significant IT issue.
   
   
8. Tie: Web Services / Web-Based Systems and Enterprise-Level Portals. The term Web-based services refers to "software standards that allow for integration of different applications as well as the secure exchange of data over the Internet."
   
   Enterprise-level portals "are now a prominent part of the Web architecture on which campus information sits and where the integration of data, information, and applications takes place."
   
   
9. Tie: Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery and Governance, Organization, and Leadership for IT.  First time on the list for both, their appearance suggests "a growing realization of the strategic importance of information technology and of the close relationship of leadership and governance for this critical resource."
   
   

www.spjc.edu/eagle/research/perc/perc15.htm
For a list of previous Project Eagle Research Capsules, go to www.spcollege.edu/eagle/research/perc/index.htm
For more information, contact the project manager: lechnerj@spcollege.edu

The contents of PERC were developed under a grant from the U. S. Department of Education (DOE). However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the DOE, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.