In class, off campus: ontine education offerings provide more than just tuition dollars to institutions

University Business, Oct, 2005 by Julie A. Varughese

FIFTY-YEARS-OLD MELISSA GRILL IS A PRIME EXample of today's distance learner. While working in the computer lab of a North Carolina community college, she earned a master's degree in information and telecommunications systems management from Capitol College, based in Laurel, Md.

Nowadays, many IHEs offer degrees online, but what attracted Grill to Capitol was the interactivity of its program. By using Centra One software, the school's distance learners are able to participate in real time with students sitting in a classroom. By clicking a button, a distance learner can "raise a hand" to ask a question or make a comment, and students in the classroom and the instructor can respond.

All of this makes the distance learning experience beneficial to students. But the numbers prove that there's value in offering these programs, too.

Online education is a $6 billion business, according to Eduventures, an independent research firm. Enrollment is expected to exceed one million students this year. Whether it is at a career-oriented school like Capitol. or a traditional four-year university, distance learning is a lucrative opportunity. Institutions of higher ed are jumping on it, and utilizing the latest technology in the process. Besides exponential enrollment increases brought on by distance education offerings, schools are seeing greater student satisfaction, the betterment of the surrounding communities, and more name recognition as international students enroll.

AN ENROLLMENT BOOSTER

"The first time you hear it, it sounds like the voice of God," quips Phil Knutel, speaking of the Centra Symposium system at work in several "hybrid" classrooms at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass. These special classrooms are equipped with technology to allow communication between an instructor, in-class students, and distance learners. With speakers in the ceiling and microphones at their desks, Bentley students in the master of science programs can discuss ideas with distance learners.

Before 1999, Bentley used videoconferencing to administer its distance education courses. But, as Ruth Horwitz, manager of online programs at Bentley, says, they had to find sites and partners and companies who were willing to let students use their facilities.

The question of distance ed had come up before, but, Horwitz says, the administration was not interested in asynchronous means of teaching like online chat, message boards, or PowerPoint presentations. "They felt they couldn't control quality, and the only way to control quality was for the student to be in absolute, direct contact with the faculty member in real time."

Knutel, director of Academic Technology, Library, and Research Services, had just come on board and decided to use a pilot version of Symposium. And it has turned out to be the only software they've used since 1999. Since making the investment six years ago, Horwitz says the school has been profiting substantially from the distance learning offerings, and in more than one way.

First, the effort expanded Bentley's universe of students, by reaching people throughout the country and the world. "Before it was just people from Boston who didn't want to drive, but now we have students from everywhere," Horwitz says. "We've really expanded, and that is a benefit because we're bringing in a new target market."

Convenience plays a role in bringing new students in, she says. "Students will not take a [traditional] class during tax season, or if they've just had a baby."

Knutel and Horwitz note that the Centra server has never failed them. "When you've got students who are paying $2,700 per class, and you're telling them they are going to be in every class, and they're going to have equal access to the materials and to the teachers as the students in class," Horwitz says, it's crucial to use reliable technology.

Leaders at Capitol College, which has seen its enrollment double as a result of its online offerings, are quick to tout the benefits of online learning programs, too. "It's really expanded our outreach to and access from different segments of the community. We can get out to more people, more regions, more countries, become more well known. And as a consequence of that, we get a lot more diversity in our programs, which I think is good for the student population," says Mike Wood, the school's president and CEO.

In the case of Boston University, however, going online was mainly a way of offering continuing education and graduate degree programs to its alumni. "We have a huge national and international group," says Susan Kryczka, director of the Office of Distance Education.

By using an asynchronous platform like WebCT Vista to administer their programs, students don't have to be at their computers at a particular time. "Increasingly, between home, family, and work obligations, students just can't do that. We only use live audio conferencing when the faculty member wants to have a live conference with the students, but, generally, we don't, because that's part of the appeal of the programs that we offer," Kryczka says.