Sloan reveals further growth in e-learning

Publish date	2008-04-08
Available Articles	Full articles without membership

New research shows that learning online is proving an attractive option for more students than ever.

The study by the Sloan Foundation, titled Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning, is based on responses from more than 2,500 colleges and universities and aims to answer fundamental questions about the popularity of the online education sector and the challenges it faces.

Sloan is a consortium of institutions and organisations whose focus is on helping educational institutions to improve the quality, scale, and breadth of their online programmes and improve access. Its wide-ranging annual reports provide a respected snapshot of the sector.

The latest study found that online enrolments have continued to grow at rates far in excess of the total higher education student population, albeit at slower rates than in previous years. This is a result of the fact growth in the sector over the last five years has come from new institutions offering learning courses. Sloan predicts that this phase is reaching a plateau, and that most institutions that plan to offer online education are already doing so.

Almost 3.5 million students were taking at least one online course during the autumn 2006 term, representing an increase of almost 10 per cent on the previous year. This figure far exceeds the 1.5 per cent growth of the overall higher education student population.

The Sloan study found that almost 20 per cent of all US higher education students were taking at least one online course.

Although all types of institutions of higher education have shown substantial growth, there are clear leaders. Schools offering two-year associate’s degrees (the equivalent of a foundation degree in the UK) are enjoying the highest growth rates and account for more than one-half of all online enrolments for the last five years.

Baccalaureate institutions began the period with the fewest online enrolments and have had the lowest rates of growth.

The Sloan report also looked into the reasons why institutions provide online programmes. It found that the main driver was to improve access for students – one of the most attractive aspects of distance learning. A desire to reduce educational costs was one of the least cited reasons, which overturns the myth that online programmes are growing in popularity because they are less expensive to run than face-to-face courses.

Schools that are the most engaged in online education said increasing the rate of degree completion was a very important objective, while institutions that are not as engaged in online learning saw this as unimportant.

The appeal of online instruction to non-traditional students – older people returning to academia and professionals seeking to advance their careers – was indicated by the high number of institutions that said growth in continuing and professional education was a major objective for their online offerings.

Around one-third of higher education institutions account for three-quarters of all online enrolments. Future growth will come predominantly from these and similar institutions as they add new programmes and grow existing ones.

As for the future, the study found that a large majority (69 per cent) of academic leaders believe that student demand for online learning is still growing. Virtually all (83 per cent) institutions with online offerings expect their online enrolments to increase over the coming year, all of which bodes well for learners and schools.

Future growth in online enrolments will most likely come from those institutions that are currently the most engaged in e-learning. They enroll the most online learning students and reported the highest expectations for growth.

Keywords: Sloan Consortium, growth, research, online education, e-learning.

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