The Economic Advantage of Online Education

Susan Gilbert, Dean of the School of Business and Management at Thomas Edison State College, wrote this article for the Huffington Post. It discusses some of the advantages of online education. Here is an excerpt: 

When an economist refers to a "revolution", he/she means a dramatic change, not a battle; as in Industrial Revolution, Agricultural Revolution, Information Revolution. This change is often attributed to the introduction of a technology that changes the way things are done; e.g., a reaper, a steam engine, a personal computer. However, as Peter Drucker pointed out in 1999, the real revolution and resultant cost savings that occur in an industry do so as a result of industrial engineering and the teachings of Adam Smith, rather than the technology itself. (The Wealth of Nations, 1776). Yes, a sewing machine may increase the seamstress' productivity from 1 shirt to 5 shirts per day; but it is the assembly line and specialization of labor that can magnify those results. Can we apply these lessons of Adam Smith to higher education? Can colleges be compared to tee shirt factories? These are the burning questions of our times, at least for those of us in higher education.

Distance education has been around for nearly 30 years, if we go back to the first Computer Assisted Learning Center in 1982; and web-based services in the area of education
date back at least 15 years. Blackboard was founded in 1997. Around 2000, I began using Webex for Sunday night help sessions with my executive MBA students. I recall the freedom of "working" in my pajamas (no web camera, please) coupled with personal savings of time and gasoline for me and the students. There were no labor savings to the institution; the technology provided greater access.

Click on the link to read the full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-gilbert/online-education_b_1282646.html

University of Missouri Links Four Campuses Online Learning Through Single Portal

This article  is from Kansas City infoZine

The University of Missouri System has created and will soon be launching a single entry point for students to gain access to courses delivered online at any UM campus.

  

Columbia, MO - infoZine - The new e-portal allows new and existing students to search for online courses and programs at any campus and apply, register and gain access to all their courses and support services from one location.

“We know the demand for online course delivery is increasing, and the four campuses of the University of Missouri System are meeting that challenge,” said University of Missouri System Senior Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Steve Graham. “By having a single portal, new and current students can see the array of online course offerings from any one of our four campuses and then have the tools at their fingertips to enroll in those classes if they choose.”

The branding of the portal, including the colors and logos, will vary by campus depending on how a current or prospective student enters the site. The portal also provides the flexibility for each campus to address its unique elearning efforts while still using the same back-end software. The portal will be used by students who register for summer and fall 2012 online courses beginning in March.

“With a system as large as ours and four campuses that each have their own unique identities and strong brands, creating a unified entry point that provides students the breadth of online options available at all campuses is an important step in meeting the needs of online learners,” said UM Director of Distance Education and e-Learning Zac March. “We think students will benefit tremendously from the ease and convenience of this portal.”

March said the university’s elearning initiative was necessitated by students’ expectations as they increasingly turn to online offerings to supplement their on-campus classes to meet their educational needs. More than 12,000 UM students are taking at least one fully online class—an increase of 13 percent in just the past year. In addition, there has been a 72 percent increase in the number of UM students taking online courses only, and a nearly 200 percent increase in the number of courses that offer some online component.

The UM campuses have responded to this national growth trend in online learning and have been supported in part by the UM System, March said. The UM System has already provided resources to the campuses, which has resulted in the development of 120 new online courses that will be completed by the end of the 2012 calendar year. This includes eight online degree programs, seven online certificate programs and seven online course clusters, and involves 110 faculty members. The system will assist the campuses in developing fully online programs during the next two years.

“As a long-time faculty member, I have seen and come to appreciate the shift from traditional lecture-type teaching and learning to learning that is facilitated in some way by online learning tools,” said Wayne Vaught, Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Philosophy, Medicine and Bioethics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. “Thanks in part to the additional support of the UM System, we are now better meeting the needs of today’s students through the growth in online courses available and the development of this single portal. I also firmly believe that we are helping to increase the quality of the education we provide by continuing to expand the world of online learning tools and options available to help students learn through techniques that are best suited to them. As the state’s largest public university with a mission to provide top-notch education, I can’t think of a better way to spend our resources.”