RISING ABOVE THE GATHERING STORM

1
RISING ABOVE THE GATHERING STORM CHALLENGES
FACING HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE ROLE OF DISTANCE
EDUCATION

• Bruce Chaloux
• Southern Regional Education Board

2
Access and Regulation

• Fueled by broader acceptance of lifelong
  learning and continuing need to refresh
• Increasing value (perceived or real) of
  credential/certification
• Shift to more consumer friendly model
  (time-free, space-free, just-in-time learning)
• Technology availability and adaptability
• Evolving global market
• Students
• Providers

3
Student Issues/Challenges

• Acceptability/portability of credential
• Credit transfer/articulation
• Access to technology (the digital divide is a
  problem)
• Equity of access
• Ethnic/minority populations
• Non-industrialized countries
• Cost

4
Provider Issues/Challenges

• Scalability
• Particular problem in U.S. where the
  mega-university model has not been adopted
• Reputation (prestige)
• Acceptance by academic community
• Cost
• Politics of serving distant markets
• Local/state/national

5
Regulatory Challenges

• Uneven, indeed incompatible quality control
  mechanisms (state to state, country to country)
• Unclear lines of authority
• Lack of accepted common framework for what
  constitutes quality
• Is this really about quality? Basic question of
  why regulate

6
Access/Regulatory Swirl

• Creates new opportunities for diploma mills and
  fraudulent practices
• Costly to students
• Costly to legitimate institutions
• Force some action to address fraud
• Typically this will catch some of the good with
  the bad
• Safe havens will emerge

7
Sloan Semester as a Case Study

• What would happen if regulatory schemes and rules
  were suspended?
• This essentially happened with the Sloan Semester
  initiative
• Students encouraged (and did) enroll in multiple
  courses from multiple institutions simultaneously
• State approval/licensure requirements were never
  questioned

8
Questions for Discussion

• What is the appropriate balance between
  regulation and the market?
• Who should determine this?
• Can e-learning bridge cross-border differences or
  does it muddy already unclear waters?
• Will demand simply outrun regulation?