2010 Distance Education Survey Results
Trends in eLearning: Tracking the Impact of eLearning at Community Colleges
In the fall of 2010, ITC invited its member institutions and the 1,200 members of the American Association of Community Colleges to provide valuable information about their programs to distance education practitioners. One hundred and thirty six community colleges completed (while 189 colleges responded to, but did not complete) the ITC Survey.
Distance education is new to most senior college administrators who are being asked to support new staffing, space, and budget requests—often with a fixed or shrinking budget. Frequently they have little, if any, direct experience managing distance education programs. College administrators want to ensure they are making decisions that will benefit their students, faculty, staff, and the greater community, and make the most of limited resources.
Here are some selected findings.
Distance Education Enrollment Growth. Respondents were asked to report comparative enrollment trends in distance education from fall 2009 to fall 2010 (the most recent full year of available data). Campuses reported a nine percent increase in distance education enrollments—which is higher than the seven percent increase in overall student enrollment at all higher education institutions, and the eight percent increase at community colleges, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, “Enrollment in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2009."
The ITC Survey asked respondents to identify factors which contributed to the increased eLearning enrollments: Downturn in the economy – 37 percent, Typical growth for distance education classes – 39 percent, New enrollment initiative – 12 percent, Don’t know – 5 percent, Other – 7 percent.
Course Enrollment Caps. Eighty-one percent of respondents indicated they cap online class enrollments—a figure that has not substantially changed during the previous four surveys. The typical enrollment cap by class type remained the same.
- 27 students for an introductory math class
- 25 students for an introductory English composition class
- 30 students for an introductory political science class
Type of Course Formats Offered. Respondents identified the types of technology-delivered credit courses offered by their institution by specific format. The percentages were essentially unchanged from 2008 (note that respondents could identify more than one format).
- 65 percent of respondents offer completely online classes—down from 75 percent last year.
- 21 percent offer blended/hybrid courses—up from 15 percent last year.
- One percent offer cable/telecourse courses—unchanged from last year.
- One percent offer other forms of telecourse classes—unchanged from last year.
- Four percent offer live interactive video courses—up one percent from last year.
Teaching Ratios for Online Instruction. Respondents reported that full-time faculty teach 64 percent of distance education classes, while part-time faculty teach 35 percent of these courses. This ratio has remained essentially unchanged for the past four surveys and aligns with the historic full-time/part-time faculty percentages for face-to-face classes at most community colleges. Comments focused on the increasing difficulty of finding qualified online faculty to teach—especially when recruiting from the local community.
Services and Technology Support. In addition to offering the same academic rigor and content in their online courses, regional accrediting agencies require that institutions offer equivalent student services and support to their distance learning students. With growing numbers of online students, campuses are recognizing the need to introduce or expand their virtual services and support. The 2010 Survey results confirmed data from previous years: colleges have consistently increased their efforts to offer online students a broad array of services. In spite of budget and staff reductions, campuses continued to expand their virtual student services—not only to support their online students, but also to help their face-to-face students. See Chart 2 for details.
Student Questions. The ITC Survey continues to affirm what seems to be obvious—students like online classes and they want more of them. Nearly all of the administrators who responded to the survey reported an endless supply of students who are interested in taking classes online—with a constant gap between student demand and what is offered. Recent budget cutbacks have exacerbated the situation by reducing, rather than increasing, the number of online class sections available.Online administrators increasingly report the need to better prepare students for online instruction through structured orientations and computer skills assessment. Administrators also emphasize the need to improve overall student course retention and student persistence rates. Assessment of online instruction and adequate technical support remain important.
 ITC 2009 Distance Education Survey Results | [Trends in eLearning: Tracking the Impact of eLearning at Community Colleges] | 679 Kb |
| ITC 2010 Distance Education Survey Results | [Trends in eLearning: Tracking the Impact of eLearning at Community Colleges] | 872 Kb |
