Augustine Hammond & Martha Ginn Augusta State University

 Considering placing the MPA program at Augusta State University online  Search for information on the state of online education in Public Affairs and Administration  Little and inconsistent information  This presentation is based on:  Content analysis of MPA online programs’ websites and  Survey of accredited Public Affairs and Administration programs with support from NASPAA (Response from 96 schools)

 96 out of the 270 NASPAA affiliated institutions (~ 36%) completed the survey  Our respondents appear relatively representative of NASPAA member programs in terms of institution type  76% of NASPAA members are public institutions vs. 81% (n=78) of our respondents  23% of NASPAA members are non-profit institutions vs. 19% (n = 16) of our respondents  It also reflected significant geographic diversity

 18 of the 51 schools listed on NASPAA’s website as offering online courses or programs (35.3%) completed the survey  Through the survey, we identified 44 additional schools that offer online courses or programs.  We visited program websites for every NASPAA listed school  We identified 33 schools with online courses and programs in addition to 51 schools listed by NASPAA  A total of 84 schools with online courses and programs  Comparing our list from the content analysis with our survey, we identified a total of 127 MPA programs that offer some form of online education

 We were able to successfully identify and collect information on program websites from 121 of the 127 schools  Of the 96 schools that completed the survey about a third, 34 (35.4%), do not offer any courses with online components  The remaining offer some form of online education:  17 (17.7%) offered hybrid or blended courses  22 (22.9%) offered both fully online and hybrid courses  23 (23.9%) offered fully online courses program

 19 schools offered programs that could be completed fully online (15 with entire MPA/MPP degree online and 4 with entire MPA/MPP certificate online)  Thus, almost a fifth offer fully online degree, almost half offer courses completely online and about a third offer no online courses  NOTE: Figure on schools with no online course may be underestimated (might elected not to complete the survey because it is about online)  Schools with fully online courses may also offer traditional on campus classes

 Combining website analysis with survey, we identified  57 schools that offered complete degree programs or certificates entirely online  11 of these programs (not necessarily the online component) are not NASPAA accredited  Another 41 offered courses fully online but students cannot complete an entire degree program online (many offered hybrid courses with courses offered completely online)  29 schools offered hybrid courses

 14 out of the 34 schools (41%) without online component were currently considering online courses in the future BUT 19 schools (56%) have no plans for exploring the idea  Of the 39 schools offering online courses, 30 (76%) indicated that they do not want to take the entire program online.  Schools not currently offering online courses/programs identified several reasons for not going online  The most common was skepticism about quality (58% & 63%), though literature suggests there is no real difference in the quality

 Others reasons were:  Faculty unwilling to teach online courses (33%); supports Allen and Seaman’s (2007)  Start-up costs, faculty workloads and resources (33% & 30%); supports Allen & Seaman; Jones (2008)  Limited demand (30% & 17%); market saturation?  Despite skepticism about the quality, schools with online components indicated their programs were seen as rigorous, challenging and well regarded with NASPAA accreditation increasing the prestige

Online degree (n=19) Online courses (n = 41) Considering (n = 12) Increase enrollment/reach more students 79%66%67% Increase revenue16%32%42% Compete with other similar schools10%37%58% Physical space concerns on campus16%10%8%8% Other (please specify)42%51%33% NOTE: check all that apply question; % in each sample indicated that response category Most popular motivation for entering the field of online education is to increase enrollments and reach more students. Online format allows schools to reach students that would otherwise be unable to take coursework due to geographic limitations, work/home constraints, and even physical impairments Motivation to compete was not very prevalent for schools with online programs but it was for both schools offering online courses and those considering online courses. Are schools with online degree more established in providing online courses (and competition is not an issue)?

 Given that reaching more students is the most common motivation, it was useful to evaluate whether schools feel they successfully met that goal.  No school reported decline in enrollment when offering classes online  The modal category for enrollment pattern for both online courses and degree was modest increase – online offerings helping to reach more students  Only 5% of online courses reported dramatic increase in enrollment vs. 26% of online degree – Dramatic increases in enrollment more likely with entire program online?

 13 of the 19 schools with online degree provided estimated enrollment (in their online programs) for Fall 2010  Enrollment ranged from 10 to 140 (M = 56) students – Appears there is demand for the programs  11 out of the 19 indicated 20% or less of their students lived out of state; 2 schools indicated 80% or more lived out of state and the rest (6) fell in between these two extremes – regional or national competition for students  Website analysis revealed some schools (15) charged an additional fee for online coursework; ranging from $25 to $925 (M = $175, SD = $270); wide disparity

 41 schools provided in-state tuition costs per credit hour for both regular classes and online classes; charged online courses slightly higher (M = $25.68) but the difference was not statistically significant.  17 schools that provided out of state tuition costs per credit hour for both regular classes and online classes; Charged online courses slightly lower (M = $34.70) but the difference was not statistically significant  NOTE: Not all schools listed their tuition and fee policies with regard to online education, so our estimates are plagued my missing data values

 Scholars (e.g. Jones, 2008; Perreault et al., 2002; Vernon et al., 2009) have concerns about technology in online education but our respondents (schools with online degree and courses) did not indicate technological resources and problems as being major concern  However, infrastructural development and system upgrades seem to be slight concern – Artifacts of recent budgetary restrictions?  Percentage wise, online degrees do have more “slight problem” with technology than online courses – Most likely a function of frequency of use  NOTE: Problems with IT support for students and faculty mostly likely not captured (Directors’ perspectives)

 Blackboard and Blackboard owned products (e.g. WebCt) was overwhelmingly favored product in online platforms  Used by over 75% of schools offering online degrees and courses  Other less common platforms were E-College, Desire to Learn, and Moodle  Both schools offering online degrees and courses reported using wide range of instructional methods, reinforcing the idea of flexibility  But narrated PowerPoint lectures and written lectures (supported by discussion boards) seem to be the more preferred method

 Schools that offer entire degree online indicated providing the following online services:  Academic advising (68%; n = 13)  Financial advising (26%; n = 5)  Academic support such as tutoring (26%; n = 5)  Career placement and career support services (32%; n = 6)

 Contrary to expectation, only 2 schools with online degrees indicated employing administrative staff dedicated exclusively to their online programs  Only 5 schools indicated hiring additional faculty or staff (1 to 4 FT positions) to accommodate their online program; 1 school hired 10 part time instructors  Interestingly, the online degree degrees indicated having smaller faculty members than those offering online courses  The average faculty for online degree was 9.6 tenured/tenure track and 7.6 adjuncts (vs. 7.1 tenured/tenure track and 6.5 adjuncts) – Difference not statistically significant

 Expected that the number of faculty members would be dependent on enrollment; schools with online degree have slightly higher enrollments (difference not statistically significant)  Schools with online degree have average enrollment of 89 full-time and 107 part-time students (vs. 71 full-time and 94 part-time students)  Schools offering online courses offered an average of 3.7 courses online per semester with average enrollment of 15 students per course

 MPA/MPP programs are not immune from the proliferating of online education across academia  As expected, there are different experiences for schools offering online courses and those offering full online degrees including faculty size, IT infrastructural development and enrollment patterns  Schools not offered online courses or degree mostly because of  Skepticism but most are considering it because of competition – skepticism might be with fully online degree  Faculty willingness – several possible reasons but workload