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Utilizing the 2013 Fall IPEDS Enrollment numbers, WCET has gathered a quick overview of distance education enrollment patterns that might not be what popular opinion thinks they are.
Myth: Only a small number of students enroll in distance courses.
Reality: One-in-eight students is took ALL their courses at a distance.
Reality: One in-four students took AT LEAST 1 distance course.
Myth: Students in distance courses are primarily at for-profit colleges.
Reality: More than two-thirds of fully distance students enroll in public or non-profit colleges.
Myth: Distance Education growth has slowed.
Reality: Distance education growth from 2012 to 2013 varied greatly by higher education sector. And the growth occurred despite overall higher education enrollments decreasing by 4%.
Myth: Institutional location does not matter for distance education.
Reality: Public Students Primarily Attend Distance Education Institutions in Their Home State.
Reality: For-profit Students primarily attend distance education institutions in other states.
Myth: Only a few institutions enroll students from outside their state in distance education.
Reality: The number of institutions serving students outside their state & outside the U.S. is growing.
The Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS) defines Distance Education as:
Education that uses one or more technologies to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the instructor and to support regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor sychronously or asynchronously. http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/glossary/
SOURCES:
Poulin, Russ & Straut, Terri. 2015, March 5. IPEDS Fall 2013: Higher Ed Sectors Vary Greatly in Distance Ed Enrollments. Retrieved from: https://wcetblog.wordpress.com/2015/03/05/ipedssectors/
Poulin, Russ & Straut, Terri. 2015, March 10. IPEDS Fall 2013: Distance Education Data Reveals More than Overall Flat Growth. Retrieved from: https://wcetblog.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/ipedsenrollments/
Poulin, Russ & Straut, Terri. 2015, March 12. IPEDS Fall 2013: Less than Half of Fully Distant Students Come from Other States. Retrieved from: https://wcetblog.wordpress.com/2015/03/12/ipedsstateenrollments/
National Center for Education Statistics. Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS). http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution – Non-Commercial – Share Alike 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Full Infographic:
2014 Survey (May 2014) – Conducted by UPCEA, WCET, and M-SARA
2013 Survey (March 2013) – Conducted by UPCEA, WCET, and Sloan-C
2011 Survey (August 2011) – Conducted by UPCEA and WCET
Beginning in 2020, WCET created a series of curated pages highlighting various resources for institutions to help them adequately respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Although we have retired these initial response pages, below is a list of resources that may be helpful to institutions as we continue to face challenges during the ongoing pandemic.
Please contact us if you have any questions or should you need any assistance retrieving previous resources.
Important Updates
- WCET, in partnership with the WCET State Authorization Network (SAN) and Every Learner Everywhere, has created resources to assist institutions in understanding the federal regulatory impact of COVID-19. Please review Pursuing Regulatory Compliance for Digital Instruction in Response to COVID-19: Policy Playbook to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on federal higher education regulations.
- WCET has created 1:1 video interviews about institutional/organizational responses to COVID-19.
- OLC, QM, UPCEA, and WCET’s Joint Responses Regarding the Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic and Advice on Transition Face-to-Face Courses Online
General COVID-19 Resources
- U.S. Department of Education, COVID-19 Information and Resources for Schools and School Personnel
- Federal Student Aid, Coronavirus and Forbearance Info for Students, Borrowers, and Parents
- Federal Communications Commission, Keep Americans Connected
- Weekly Situation Reports from the World Health Organization (WHO)
- COVID-19 – Center for Disease Control (CDC)
- How Coronavirus Spreads – CDC
- Information for Travelers – CDC
This paper from WCET’s Academic Collaboration Common Interest Group, WCET, and the WICHE Policy Analysis and Research unit surveyed academic collaborations to gain insight on effective models used to finance their activities. This work was also undertaken in partnership with Kansas State University’s Institute for Academic Alliances, which seeks to create a website for the purpose of sharing academic collaboration policies and procedures.
Guidelines for Creating Student Services Online Lessons Learned
Additional and related documents:
- Overview
- Project Phases
- Cross-Phase Issues
- Inventory (a form to inventory student services software)
- Matrix (an exercise to explore technical components)
- Quadrant (an exercise to help establish work priorities)
- Scenario (a form to capture the elements of a scenario)
These guidelines were the result of the U.S. Department of Education’s FIPSE-funded project “Beyond the Administrative Core”. This, and subsequent, work resulted in the now-retired Center for Transforming Student Services (CENTSS). The guidelines assist colleges and universities in planning and implementing online student services.
Additional and related documents:
- Project Phases
- Cross-Phase Issues
- Lessons Learned
- Inventory (a form to inventory student services software)
- Matrix (an exercise to explore technical components)
- Quadrant (an exercise to help establish work priorities)
- Scenario (a form to capture the elements of a scenario)
This brief is part of a broad landscape analysis focused on policy and practice issues related to the recognition of prior learning and is published by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, with funding from Lumina Foundation and Strada Education Network. The landscape analysis focuses on issues arising in the practice of the recognition of prior learning, policies that encourage or limit its adoption, and key research needs and future directions for the field.