Distributed Learning

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Distributed Learning
Brian Hawkins Diana Oblinger October 12, 2000
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Consider a few facts.

• The US currently spends 740 billion per year on
  education...
• ... more than is spent on national defense
• more than the GDPs of Spain, Canada or Brazil
• Moe, 1999

3
Consider a few facts.

• Distance education is expected to grow at a
  compound annual growth rate of 33 (IDC)
• Demand for distance education will grow to 15 of
  all students by 2002
• The e-learning market is expected to reach 46
  billion by 2005

4
Consider a few facts.

• Over 5,000 competitors offer all types of
  e-learning no single competitor has more than a
  5 market share
• Last year, over 100 e-learning portals entered
  the market
• Partnerships between non-traditional providers
  and universities are increasing

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Distributed Learning

• Thinking about whether
• and/or
• how to enter this area
• www.northcarolina.edu/educause/de/

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Hype or Reality?

• How large is this market?
• What will be the impact on residential education?
• What role should my campus play?

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Concerns to be Examined

• Definition of distributed learning
• Realistic estimates of the market
• Institutional motivations
• Assumptions
• Matrix of responsibilities
• Institutional readiness

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Definitions

• Distributed learning is the delivery of
  education via electronic media, including
  intranets, extranets, satellite broadcast, etc.
  It uses technology to deliver learning that is
  independent of time and place.

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The Marketplace

• Higher education is not a single marketplace.
• It is a host of markets and distributed learning
  adds even more market segments.

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Traditional Students

• 18-22 year olds
• 16 million students

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New Traditional Students

• 18-22 year olds
• 4 million more

• Many campuses are out of space
• Might need 130 new campuses
• New campus costs
• 350 M to build
• 323 M to operate
• Is this a realistic solution?

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Adult Learners in the US

• 28 million
• Workforce should spend 20 of time engaged in
  learning
• Equivalent to 30 credits every 7 years

• Do we have the space?
• Will they even come to campus?

13
International Learners

• Possibly 100 million
• Results in potentially huge market

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How Realistic are the Projections for US
Providers?

• What effect do the following have on the size and
  complexity of the market?
• Language
• Culture
• Cost
• Connectivity

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Other Potential Market-Limiting Factors

• Ability to pay
• Willingness to pay
• Role of accreditation
• Transferrability

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Who is the Competition?
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Focused Market Players

• Professional Advancement
• Business Health
  Teacher training
• Apollo, DeVry, ITT

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Higher Ed Consortia

• Shared risk
• Leverage
• WGU, KVU
• Unext

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Remediation Enrichment

• K-12 arena?
• Charter role
• Sylvan
• Alumni
• Community

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Corporate Training

• Mass scale
• Internal conflicts
• Provant, Ziff

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Individual Campus Strategy

• Viability?
• Leverage?
• Infrastructure cost?
• Marketing cost?

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Institutional Motivations

• To increase access to education and to serve the
  public good
• To increase capacity
• To improve teaching and learning
• To make money

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Assumptions

• The course is the unit of measure for learning
• Traditional institutional models will be
  successful
• Quality from for-profit providers is inferior
• Distributed learning is a viable option for all
  institutions

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Topics

• Rationale/Need for DE
• Definition
• Market
• Academic Issues
• Technical Issues
• Support/Services
• Organization
• Policies
• Financing
• Institutional Self-Assessment

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Technical Issues

• Hardware/software
• Network
• Support
• Course management systems
• Content conversion
• Security

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Academic Issues

• Articulation
• Program selection
• Student readiness
• Quality
• Residency
• Workload
• Rewards

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Policies

• Intellectual property
• Conflict of interest
• Conflict of commitment
• Accessibility
• Appropriate use
• Privacy

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Support Structures

• Application
• Registration
• Counseling
• Library
• Career services

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Integration

• Does your distributed learning plan integrate
  with
• institutional plan
• academic plan
• financial plan
• technology plan?
• Can your campus effectively collaborate?

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Risk

• Is your campus prepared for the risk
• external forces
• internal forces
• market risk
• economic risk

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Summary

• Is distributed learning right for us? Today? In
  the future?
• Have we analyzed the market correctly?
• How do we divide the responsibilities to ensure
  success?
• Are we ready to move forward?