At a meeting of the board of trustees recently, VC Andreea Serban—or maybe somebody else—explained that all of our growth in recent years has been in the area of distance ed—the online variety, I believe. We were led to believe that this is consistent with a general trend among community colleges.
Guess so. In this morning’s Inside Higher Ed, we find: Surge in Distance Ed at Community Colleges:
Community college enrollment growth is increasingly coming from online students, leading many institutions to create extensive online student service operations. Many of those institutions are also considering a shift in their course management systems — just as Blackboard’s purchase of WebCT would seem to have solidified its dominant position in that market.Those are some of the key findings from a new study on e-learning in community colleges, released Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association of Community Colleges. The study was conducted by the Instructional Technology Council, a group of nearly 500 colleges — almost all of them two-year institutions — with a strong interest in online education….
In the survey — completed by 320 institutions, a representative sample of community colleges nationally — the council found that online enrollments had increased by 15 percent on average over the last year, during a period when community colleges’ total enrollment was up by 2 percent…In addition, 70 percent of responding institutions reported that there was more student demand for distance learning than they could meet.
…Other findings in the survey reflect the continued growth of online education at community colleges and the sense that it is becoming normal, not exceptional. Sixty-four percent of those responding (the survey was completed by those who run distance education) report to either a vice president for academic affairs or a dean of students.
…A few years back, those organizing distance programs at community colleges would complain that faculty skepticism was a big obstacle, but [a presenter of the report] said that the survey found that is no longer the case. Relatively few distance education directors identified that as a problem (they were far more likely to identify as problems the need for more training for support staff, budget issues, and the need for student services for distance students).
“I think there has been real buy-in,” [he] said.
In selected areas, the survey did find that either faculty skepticism or pedagogical challenges were limiting the growth of distance education. These included: lab-based science, speech, fine arts, nursing, mathematics, industrial technology, foreign languages and computer hardware.
…In many categories of student services, all or nearly all colleges identified themselves as either having those services now or as planned for the next one-two years….
In my corner of the district, skepticism still prevails among most faculty, especially old-timers. Or maybe it’s just foot-dragging. Or a bit of both.
Since distance ed is not (necessarily) tied to any place—I mean, if you need an Anthro course, you don’t necessarily have to take it from the community college down the street—the rise of DE promises some big changes. Or so it seems to me. But whaddoo I know.
