Distance Learning: A Postsecondary Update John Opper Florida Distance Learning Consortium

Distance Learning? Distance education E-learning Distributed learning Flexible learning Remote learning Virtual Learning Online instruction Technology mediated instruction An instructional program or course where the student and the faculty member are separated by location or time or both.

Trends  Distance course enrollments have continued to grow over the last five years at levels from percent annually.  Every seat of every section of an e-learning course will fill first and fast.  Approximately 80 percent of students enrolled in e-learning courses are local to their home institution. Students are extending their reach - finding course options from multiple institutions

Access to Courses Student access point for information and services – connections to institutions. Over 6,000 courses listed in 2005, 12,800 in and over 11,000 so far this academic year Current participation - 23 community colleges, 9 state universities, 3 private universities and the Florida Virtual School. Online degree program database contains 313 listings from certificate to PhD programs and receives as many searches as the course catalog.

Distance Learning: Community College System Distance Learning enrollments were increased 26.1 percent in over the prior year. (30,000 new enrollments) Several colleges experienced large enrollment increases last year in response to demand. –Daytona Beach 12,000 to 25,000 –Palm Beach 12,000 to 22,000 –Valencia 19,000 to 27,000 Distance Learning percent of credit enrollment is approximately 15 percent up from 12 percent last year.

Distance Learning in the SUS: Current Data Students ,137 enrolled in at least one DL course –Up 16% in one year 17,514 enrolled only in DL courses –Up 29% in one year –Equal to UNF in , 823 enrolled in technology mediated –Up 7% in one year Primarily DL Programs Baccalaureate –32 fully DL 120 Graduate –84 fully DL 108 Certificates –84 fully DL

SUS Distance Education Trends

Instructional Delivery Methods

Authority for Community College Distance Learning Fees Community College System: Student Fees – (12) FS - laboratory fees - facilities or equipment use –Rule 6A (6) Student Fees – allows each board of trustees to establish user fees for services that incur unusual costs

S (13) (k), F.S. - Each university board of trustees is authorized to establish “A fee for off-campus course offerings when the location results in specific, identifiable increased costs to the university.” 6C Continuing Education - The Auxiliary Budget Entity may be used for the recovery of any additional fees established by the president for off-campus credit courses… Any fees …shall be established solely for the purpose of recovering all increased costs which result from offering these courses … 6C Special Fees, Fines and Penalties - The Board may authorize additional fees in order to meet specific higher education needs of the State when special circumstances result in specific, identifiable increased costs to a university… Each university president is authorized to establish fees for off- campus course offerings when the location results in specific, identifiable increased costs to the university. Authority for SUS Distance Learning Fees

Distance Learning Fees: Calculation Costs incurred to create or support the instruction –Learning management system license –Infrastructure licensing or usage –Curriculum licensing, telecourse fees –Web-conferencing licensing Divided by the number of students using the the resource/system Fees range from a few dollars a course per credit hour to several hundred dollars a course.

Increasing Access and Building Capacity Coordination among institution offerings to promote student progression Sharing quality content resources - Orange Grove repository resource items and approximately 85,000 external resources –Critical courses –Baccalaureate degree content areas Development of a “quick admit” system to streamline professional development and student matriculation Degree Completion Initiative - Use the flexibility of the distance learning system to rescue “lost” students and increase baccalaureate degree production

Building Capacity: Infrastructure Institutions can only offer high tech services to the extent that they have infrastructure System-wide requirements for all students include: , web storage, e-portfolio, communities, content management and content, open labs, and all transactional and portal systems, storage, and network resources used by all students in relationship to the institution (grades, registration, on-line advising, financial aid notices, etc.) Course-specific requirements include: learning management systems for suite of courses, course cartridges, licensed content, software unique to a course, and the resources used to support distance learning/on-line students. Both system-wide and course-specific infrastructure are needed to enable an institution to effectively participate

Looking Forward... Strengthen an e-learning system among Florida institutions that provides a convergence of services while preserving institutional autonomy and building on the unique yet combined instructional capabilities that exist to better meet the needs of students and the state. –Strengthen institutional involvement in the Consortium –Creating a state-level learning infrastructure Improve the online catalog Develop web-services to securely connect catalog search, enrollment and student records systems Collect and share copies of state developed content resources

Looking Forward... Florida graduates will enter a global economy with increasing reliance on interactive technology. Interactive online communication Online research and just-in-time learning Teamwork and collaboration in an online environment Continuous professional development- lifelong learning Distance learning and technology mediated courses provide the opportunity for students to develop these skills. Florida’s postsecondary education community is committed to expanding access to such 21st Century learning through greater collaboration and leveraging of existing resources.