Online and Digital Education - Enhancing Access to Higher Education in the 21st Century - Vistasp Karbhari

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Online and Digital Education Enhancing Access
to Higher Education in the 21st Century
FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 2017
DISTANCE AND ONLINE LEARNING
VISTASP KARBHARI PRESIDENT, THE UNIVERSITY OF
TEXAS AT ARLINGTON
We shall have done something to enable the
farmer to raise two blades of grass instead of
one something for every owner of land something
for all who desire to own land something for
cheap scientific education something for every
man who loves intelligence and not ignorance
- J. S. Morrill (US Representative 1855-1867, US
Senator 1867-1898)
While there is no doubt that higher education is
accessible to a larger number of individuals
today than was possible in 1862 or even 1965, it
is perhaps an opportune time to ask, among
others, two critical questions
1. Are we reaching the maximum possible number of
students?
The 1862 Morrill Land Grant Act is often
considered the landmark in the democratization
of higher education, assuring postsecondary access
to more than the privileged few and ensuring,
simultaneously, the education of scholars and
the training of a highly skilled workforce. Over
150 years later we need to re-envision the
implementation of the concepts put forward
through the grand purpose of that step and the
series of Acts that followed (Hatch Act of 1887,
Morrill Act of 1890, Smith-Lever Act of 1914) in
light of todays technology and needs.
2. Should we be re-envisioning the continuum of
higher education?
A recent report from the Lumina Foundation
highlights the realities of changing
demographics and student trends. They note that
38 percent of our undergraduates are older than
25, 58 percent balance responsibilities of work
with their studies, and 26 percent
are simultaneously raising children. Alarmingly,
38 percent of students are reported to leave
school in the first year itself, not because of
academic reasons, but due to financial
obligations and family responsibilities.
In 1965, when the Higher Education Act was signed
by President Lyndon Johnson to strengthen the
educational resources of our colleges and
universities and to provide financial assistance
for students in postsecondary and higher
education, there were less than 6 million
students enrolled in public, private and
for-profit postsecondary institutionsrepresentin
g about 3 percent of the nations population. 50
years later, in 2015, a little more than 20
million students were enrolled in these
institutions representing about 6.3 percent of
the nations population.
Anecdotal evidence and personal experience with
students clearly indicate that the traditional
norms of education being provided exclusively
through a location (within the four walls of a
university), fixed time periods (as defined by
classes fixed in time and the traditional starts
of semesters), and based on time-in-seat (through
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the antiquated concept of a credit hour which in
itself was not developed for the purposes of
ensuring a consistent level of knowledge
provided to students nor the assessment of
student performance) are restricting access and
decreasing the probability of student success.
both intellectual knowledge as learned citizens
and the skills needed to succeed as part of the
workforce (either through employment or through
their own entrepreneurial activity).
work, and public administration have been
structured to meet the needs of an ever-
enlarging population and their success can be
measured by the growing number of students
enrolled, increasing number of degrees awarded,
national rankings, and most of all, increasing
demand from employers. While our number of
students being served through online modalities
are high, even the highest in the nation for a
public university in a field such as nursing,
for example, there is still much to be done and
our faculty are working tirelessly to enable
opportunities for the maximum possible number of
students, also re- envisioning the continuum of
higher education from traditional degrees to
certifications and credentialing in the future
while ensuring that the level of preparation and
excellence continues to increase.
The focus on talent development will become even
more critical in the years ahead as institutions
of higher education, especially those supported
by states, need to sharpen their value
proposition in terms of economic development.
Online delivery of knowledge/ instruction
enables this segment of the population to
continue their education while meeting the full
extent of other responsibilities, choosing
appropriate times of study that maximize
opportunity. The desire to gain a degree and the
necessity of meeting family obligations do not
have to be in conflict! The ability to take
courses that start multiple times a year, such
as afforded by the University of Texas at
Arlington, rather than just through the
traditional fall and spring starts further
enables flexibility and opportunity.
Advances in technology have made it possible for
us to augment traditional forms of access
through digital means using online education to
not only reach a larger percentage of those
desiring an education but to also address the
constraints that make our current system fall
short. Just as correspondence courses made it
possible for some students to gain knowledge,
online education, in large part, now ensures
that the attainment of higher education is
unconstrained by the barriers of time, space and
location. By adding to the modalities of delivery
and interaction we can enable a greater
percentage of the population to access higher
education and build a better future.
At the end of the day we in higher education
need to perhaps re-envision the scope of higher
education. Is it just for the elite few or for
the largest possible segment of our population?
Enabling knowledge to be accessed anytime,
anywhere, and by anyone who is committed to
working towards enabling a better future for
themselves and their familyisnt that a logical
extension of the Morrill Act? We need to shift
from the 19th century concept of land-grant
universities to the 21st-century analog
that builds on the opportunities and necessities
of the information and knowledge age.
Although the number of colleges and universities
has increased over the years the necessity of
proximity in location makes it difficult for a
segment of the population to access a
high-quality education. Online delivery enables
these students to join synchronously and
asynchronously with other students attending in
person. Future advances in virtual and augmented
reality could well enable these students to even
feel as though they were in class themselves
taking part in discussions simultaneously.
The exponential increase in information has led
to significant changes in specialization needed
for success in the workforce. No longer can we
expect that knowledge gained through a degree
will last through ones career. Additionally,
economic realities have made it very difficult
for people in the workforce to take time off to
come back to school full-time for a degree while
the pace of part-time progression almost
guarantees knowledge becoming obsolete before
the degree is completed. Online learning
provides a means for the workforce to continue
gaining knowledge while being employed. The
previous distance between academic offerings and
those classified as continuing education needs
to be bridged providing a continuum that best
meets the needs of the populations we serve.
To facilitate that shift, digital delivery of an
education provides us the ability to continue
meeting the big ideas of the pastassurance of
higher education to all, sharing of knowledge to
the widest level, and teaching of both the
liberal arts and the practical sciences. We have
the means and the wherewithal to ensure that the
attainment of higher education is unconstrained
by time, space and location.
For those students who have to balance work and
family responsibilities the constraints of
location and time result in either very slow
progress towards a degree or having to drop out.
Online offerings provide the flexibility of
melding study schedules into the realities of
life, enabling them to pace progression towards
the attainment of skills needed for bettering
their futures through education. While the
acquisition of knowledge for its own sake is an
important aspect of higher education the
development of talent that meets workforce needs
is critical to gainful employment today.
Institutions of higher education need to ensure
that all students gain
At the University of Texas at Arlington academic
excellence and access are bridged through
innovations in delivery of knowledge enabling
all those who desire an education and are
willing to work for it to acquire the degree
and/or certifications necessary to succeed in
the workforce and in life. Our fully online
programs in nursing, education, social
All we have to do is acknowledge that the
barriers have been lifted.
The EvoLLLution is an online newspaper dedicated
to non-traditional higher education. It is the
brainchild of Destiny Solutions, a company that
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