Factors Influencing Postsecondary Institution Involvement in Distance Education

1
Factors Influencing Postsecondary Institution
Involvement in Distance Education
Final Defense Examination
Miriam E. Guthrie March, 2003
2
Framing the Problem
Current EnvironmentThere are significant
demographic, technological and economic forces
acting upon institutions of higher education.
Altbach (2000)Boettcher Sherron
(1997)Brinkman (2000)Carr (2001)Denning
(1996)Ehrmann Milam (1996)Gallick
(1998)Gladiuex Hauptman (1995)Goldstein
(2000)Hanna (1998)Jones (2000)Karelis
(1999)Milam (2000)Morgan (2000)Moore
(2001)Rowley, Lujan Dolence (1998)Standing
Stones Consulting (2000)Wirt (2000)
Institutional ResponseMany traditional
postsecondary institutions have turned to
Distance Education as a means of leveraging
current resources, and meeting new learner needs
and market demands.
Foundational ConcernTraditional institutions are
uncertain of whether or not distance education is
institutionally and economically beneficial.
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Four Factor Areas Emerge
Core Values Assumptions
Readiness Barriers

• Organizational Barriers (17 identified)
• Operational Barriers (35 identified)
• Infrastructure Barriers (10 identified)
• Faculty Barriers (20 identified)
• Student Barriers (12 identified)
• Economic Factors (35 Identified)

• Mission congruence and institutional support
  critical
• There are specific factors considered when
  creating successful DE programming
• The more mature the institution regarding DE
  integration, the less intense the barriers
• Administrative structure, organizational change,
  technical support, funding are critical barrier
  areas
• Significance differences between faculty and
  administrators perspective about factors that
  inhibit participation of faculty in DE
• Lack of communication of DE priorities and goals
  is problematic
• Need for fiscal planning
• Policies are major area of need

4
Five Economic Factor Areas

• Cost (includes cost effectiveness, return on
  investment)
• Cost for students (i.e., tuition, fees, financial
  aid)
• Cost of labor (i.e., faculty salary,
  compensation, training, support)
• Infrastructure (i.e., purchasing, maintenance,
  life-cycle, facilities)
• Program and course development and support
• Policies and regulations
• State, local, federal, institution
• Organizational engagement
• Competition, business models and strategies,
  alliances, outsourcing, contracts, partnerships
• Resources
• Availability/distribution of funding, revenue
  sharing, revenue strategies, adequate funding for
  support units
• Planning
• Viable economic planning and strategies

5
Conclusions from Literature Review

• Changes are occurring in the demography,
  technology, and economy
• Appropriate decision-making is both complex and
  critical
• Many institutions turning to distance education
  when findings are not conclusive about its
  institutional and economic benefit
• Why are institutions becoming involved in
  distance education?
• Factor areas include core values, assumptions,
  readiness, barriers
• Economic factors include cost, policies and
  regulations, organizational engagement, resources
  and planning
• What relationships exist and do demographic
  differences exist?
• Question What decision-making factors play a
  role in institutional involvement in distance
  education and what is critical to be
  strategically successful?

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Research Questions

• What factors (other than economic) influence
  institutional decision(s) to implement, grow,
  narrow, maintain, not start, or eliminate
  distance education programming?
• What economic factors influence institutional
  decision(s) to implement, grow, narrow, maintain,
  not start, or eliminate distance education
  programming?
• What components of a business plan are considered
  important factors to institutions deciding to
  implement, grow, narrow, maintain, not start, or
  eliminate distance learning programming?

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Conducting the Study
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Purpose of the Study

• This study investigated the perceptions of
  selected Chief Financial Officers and Distance
  Education Administrators about economic and other
  decision-making factors influencing institutional
  involvement in distance education, and the
  economic readiness criteria and business plan
  components necessary for institutions to be
  strategically successful in distance education.

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Research Questions

• What factors (other than economic) influence
  institutional decision(s) to implement, grow,
  narrow, maintain, not start, or eliminate
  distance education programming?
• What economic factors influence institutional
  decision(s) to implement, grow, narrow, maintain,
  not start, or eliminate distance education
  programming?
• What components of a business plan are considered
  important factors to institutions deciding to
  implement, grow, narrow, maintain, not start, or
  eliminate distance learning programming?

10
Expert Panel and Pilot Study

• Five expert panelists
• Validity of constructs
• Appropriateness for meeting goals and objectives
• Clarity and accurate word use
• Appropriate sequence
• Pilot Study
• Carnegie Foundation classified Research II
  institutions (N 30)
• Similar criteria as expert panel members, in
  addition to qualitative feedback and time on
  tasks records
• Modifications to correspondence and instrument
• From 59 to 46 items, organized into six sections
• 27 Likert scale items (Cronbachs alpha, .88)
• New technologies utilized for improved
  functionality and validation

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Main Study - Subjects Participation

• Targeted Participants
• Carnegie Foundation classified Research I
  institutions
• 151 Institutions
• Data Gathering Procedures
• Pre-contacted Letter of Invitation to Participate
  (Appendix E)
• Electronic duplicate Letter of Invitation to
  Participate
• Two follow-ups contacts (1 email, 2 telephone)
• Data Gathering Instrument
• Online questionnaire (Appendix D)
• Chief Financial Officer/Distance Education
  Administrator
• Developed using HTML, ASP, Javascript
• Raw data captured in flat files
• Six individual web pages, one per section

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Data Gathering Instrument

• Six Sections
• User Information
• Institutional characteristics (9 items)
• Institutional factors influencing involvement (11
  items)
• Institutional involvement (9 items)
• Economic factors influencing involvement (16
  items)
• Optional contact information
• Items on institutional characteristics were
  filtered by respondent position - Chief Financial
  Officers did not provide information

13
Data Analysis Treatment

• Reviewed for inconsistencies, data slides,
  missing data patterns, appropriate filtering of
  questions
• Raw data analyzed using SPSS
• Privacy preserved through unique identification
  number client-side generated for each respondent
• ASP programming and client-side response
  validation resulted in extremely high completion
  rates
• Data predominantly nominal or ordinal in scale
• Likert items analyzed on interval scale (Rea
  Parker, 1997)
• Statistical procedures included central tendency
  measures, frequencies, percentages, contingency
  tables, t-tests, chi-square tests, and Cramers V

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Results of StudySummary of Responses
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Participation Results

• 107 Institutional Responses (70.9)
• 80 participated (53.0)
• 27 demurred (17.9)
• Against institutional policy (3.3)
• Resource constraints (2.0)
• Goodness of fit (4.0)
• No distance education as defined (4.6)
• No reason given (4.0)
• 103 Subject Responses
• 31 Chief Financial Officers (30.1)
• 72 Distance Education Administrators (69.9)

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Institutional Profiles

• Average participating institution (N72)
• Public institution
• Fall 2002 enrollment of 20,001 to 30,000 students
  (FTE)
• Offered distance education 6-10 years / over 20
  years
• Fall 2002 DE enrollment of under 1,000 students
  (FTE)
• Average Public institution same profile
• Average Private institution
• Fall 2002 enrollment of fewer than 10,000
• Offered distance education 1-5 years

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Institutional and DE Demographics

• Control Public (87.5), Private (12.5)
• Fulltime enrollments, Fall 2002
• 26.4 enrolled 10,001 20,000
• 43.1 enrolled 20,001 30,000
• 12.5 enrolled 30,001 40,000
• Years offering DE
• 20.8 offered 1-5 years
• 25.0 offered 6-10 years
• 25.0 offered over 20 years
• Fulltime DE enrollments, Fall 2002
• 58.3 enrolled fewer than 1,000
• 22.2 enrolled 1,001 3,000

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Demographics (continued)

• Delivery technologies
• Asynchronous courses (35.6)
• Two-way video with two-way audio (21.6)
• Synchronous courses (13.6)
• Target audiences
• Graduate students (43.1)
• Undergraduate Students (27.3)
• Reasons for targeting audiences
• Coincided with mission (23.0)
• Address specific niche market (19.0)
• Support institutions strategic plan (14.5)
• Increase enrollment (13.0)
• Increase institutional revenue (11.0)

19
Institutional Engagement

• Mission congruence
• Congruent (90.3)
• Not congruent (3.9)
• Not sure (5.8)
• Integration with strategic plan
• Significantly integrated (26.2)
• Somewhat integrated (55.3)
• Not integrated (18.4)
• Institutions pace for involvement
• Too fast (0.0)
• Too slow (24.3)
• Appropriate pace (75.7)

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Institutional Engagement (continued)

• Levels of maturity/engagement
• Institution/college-level planning and specialist
  teams supporting DE (22.3)
• DE policies established, processes in place
  (43.7)
• Mature enterprise, normal day to day (20.4)
• Academic plans for involvement
• Not offer (1.9)
• Maintain current level (19.4)
• Increase current level (78.6)

21
Core Values

• Overall influence (N1030)
• Negatively influenced (3.6)
• Not influenced (44.7)
• Positively influenced (51.7)
• Individual values positively influenced 50.0
• Learning community development (70.9)
• Offering of a degree (67.0)
• Intellectual/academic responsibility of faculty
  (65.0)
• Academic quality (59.2)
• Campus-based education (54.4)
• Intellectual/academic freedom of faculty (52.4)
• Individual values not influenced 50.0
• Research quality (70.9)
• Institutional autonomy (68.0)
• Collegiality and shared governance (53.4)

22
Economic Criteria for Readiness

• Top four economic criteria
• Viable business plan created and communicated
  (18.4)
• Viable infrastructure plans created and
  communicated (12.8)
• Institutional funding to support a designated
  unit(s) for DE management (11.1)
• Policies in place for labor management (9.8)
• Lowest four economic criteria
• Special tuition in place (2.0)
• Financial accountability metrics (1.6)
• Terms of revenue-related organization changes
  (1.3)
• Special technology fee for student in place (0.7)

23
Institutional Assumptions/Barriers

• Increases accessibility for lifelong learning
  (95.1)
• Unique needs of students (90.2)
• Higher quality educational experiences (86.4)
• Positive mechanism for change (85.5)
• Can start and still be successful (82.5)
• Peer recognition important (78.7)
• Equivalent quality to campus-based (77.6)
• Increase enrollments (76.7)
• Not adversely affect geographic monopoly (76.2)
• Higher quality educational services (70.9)
• Participate only if provide all services (69.9)

24
Economic Assumptions/Barriers

• Used to reach new audiences (94.2)
• Business plan critical to becoming involved
  (85.4)
• Economically viable option for institution
  (77.7)
• Not too much competition for positive ROI (77.7)
• Teach more students with same infrastructure
  (77.7)
• Not allow decrease of tuition (73.8)
• Not able to respond to the market as quickly
  (73.8)
• Stable source of revenue for institution (68.0)
• Offers greater ROO than ROI (67.0)
• Cannot reduce cost of instruction (64.1)
• Enrollments used to justify infrastructure
  increases (62.1)
• Can not alleviate fiscal constraints (60.2)
• Never enroll more DE than campus-based students
  (58.3)
• Can not allow for quick easy solutions (58.3)
• Increase faculty productivity (52.4)
• Market will continue to support current
  involvement (48.6)

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Results of Study Question 1 What factors
(other than economic) influence institutional
decisions to implement, grow, narrow, maintain,
not start, or eliminate distance education
programming?
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Institutional Involvement

• institutional decisions to implement, grow,
  narrow, maintain, not start, not start or
  eliminate
• Academic plans of the 103 respondents
• 1.9 not offer
• 19.4 plan to maintain current level
• 78.6 plan to increase current level

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Demographics Academic Plans

• Moderate association (.398) with
  respondent position
• Moderation association (.267) with
  institutional controlInterpretations for
  Cramers VModerate .20 - .39Moderately Strong
  .40 - .59Strong .60 - .79Very Strong .80 -
  1.00(Rea Parker, 1997)

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Institutional Engagement Academic Plans
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Core Values Academic Plans
30
Readiness Academic Plans
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Assumptions/Barriers Academic Plans

• Seven statistically significant differences of
  perception between maintain and grow
• DE students have unique needs
• Institution provide higher quality educational
  experiences than corporate/for-profit
• Serve as a positive mechanism for cultural change
• Quality is equivalent to campus-based learning
• Anticipated enrollments can justify increased
  infrastructure
• Not too much competition to have a positive ROI
• Economically viable option for institution

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Results of Study Question 2 What
economic factors influence institutional
decisions to implement, grow, narrow, maintain,
not start, or eliminate distance education
programming? Cost, Policies/Regulations,
Organizational Engagement, Resources, Planning
Results of Study Question 1 What factors
(other than economic) influence institutional
decision(s) to implement, grow, narrow, maintain,
not start, or eliminate distance education
programming?
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Economic Factors Demographics

• Reasons for targeting markets
• Organizational Engagement
• A special niche market (very high)
• Cost
• Increase enrollment (high)
• Demands for space (low)
• Resources
• Increase revenue (middle)

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Economic Factors Readiness

• Criteria considered critical
• Planning
• Viable business and infrastructure plans
• Viable technology strategies
• Planning/Resources
• Administrative support of DE funds distribution
• Mechanisms for DE funds distribution
• Unit for DE management funded and supported
• Policies and Regulations/Cost
• Labor management policies
• Criteria not considered as critical
• Tuition e-rates, technology fees, accountability
  metrics

35
Economic Factors Assumptions/Barriers

• Statistically significant differences
• Cost
• Distance education students have unique needs
• Not too much competition to have positive ROI
• Organizational Engagement
• Institution can provide higher quality
  educational experiences than corporate
  universities or for-profit educational
  institutions
• Peer-recognition is important
• Resources
• Economically viable option for institution
• Anticipated enrollments used to justify increase
  in infrastructure

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Results of Study Question 3 What
components of a business plan are considered
important factors to institutions deciding to
implement, grow, narrow, maintain, not start, or
eliminate distance learning programming?
(Research Question 3)Results of Study Role of
DE Business Plan
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Role of DE Business Plans

• No plan present (25.2)
• Plan present for each DE initiative (28.2)
• Plan present only for DE university-wide (6.8)
• Plan is present for both university-wide and
  individual initiatives (20.4)
• Not sure if plans are present (19.4)

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Business Plan Components

• Highest ranked components
• Purpose or rationale (8.7)
• Designation of responsibilities (8.0)
• Relation to mission (7.8)
• Marketing plan (6.8)
• Program delivery description (6.8)
• Lowest ranked components
• Product type (4.6)
• Reporting schedule for financials (4.2)
• Marketing research results (3.0)
• Industrial partner criteria (1.0)

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Business Plans Academic Plans

• Statistically significant relationships with
• Academic Plans for institutions enrolling 20,001
  30,000 students (.555, moderately strong)
• Perceptions of academic plans by Distance
  Education Administrators (.412, moderately
  strong)
• Academic plans for public institutions (.454,
  moderately strong)
• Institutions seeking to maintain or increase
  current level of involvement selected top three
  components rationale, mission congruence,
  designation of responsible unit

40
Business Plans Economic Factors

• Highest Ranked
• Planning
• Marketing plan
• Relation to mission
• Purpose/rationale
• Justification of need
• Program description
• Policies/Regulations
• Policies
• Resources
• Designation of unit responsible
• Predictive models for revenue streams

• Lowest Ranked
• Planning
• Environmental analysis
• Marketing Research Results
• Schedule for financials
• Measures of success
• Organizational Engagement
• Industrial partner criteria
• Cost
• Pricing of education
• Infrastructure description
• Product type(s)
• Non-recurring or fixed costs
• Recurring or variable costs

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Results of Study Summary ofMajor Findings
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Summary of Major Findings

• Many statistically significant relationships
  exist with respect to an institutions decisions
  to not offer, maintain or grow their distance
  education involvement
• Economic factors are related to an institutions
  decisions about distance education involvement
• Nearly half of all institutions do not have, or
  are uncertain about, their institutions business
  plans for distance education, which contributes
  to poor institutional preparation and successful
  economic involvement in distance education

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Summary of Major Findings (continued)

• No institutions are planning to start offering,
  decrease or eliminate their DE involvement. The
  majority of institutions are planning to increase
  institutional involvement in distance education,
  despite the reported lack of business plans,
  strategic plan integration, and maturity
• Core values are not negatively influenced or
  threatened by distance education
• Traditional economic behavior is evident in
  institutions assumptions of affordability,
  accessibility, revenue, and reported unimportance
  of educational pricing
• Incongruity exists between literature assertions
  and institutional perceptions of competition and
  organizational engagement, evidenced in markets
  selected for mission congruence