Online Education is Entering the Mainstream
New Study Shows Growth Rate is Accelerating; Confirms Quality is as Good or Better
U.S. Academic Leaders Say Online Education is Critical to Long Term Strategy
The 2004 Sloan Survey of Online Learning, Entering the Mainstream: The Quality and Extent of Online Education in the U. S., was released today at the 10th Annual Sloan-C International Conference.
The report shows online enrollments continue to grow at rates faster than for the broader student population and institutes of higher education expect the rate of growth to continue increasing.
The comprehensive survey by Babson College and Sloan-C concludes that the expected average growth rate for online students for 2004 is 24.8%, up from 19.8% in 2003. “Last year’s online enrollment projection has been realized.
There are 2.6 million students learning online this semester and there is no evidence enrollment has reached a plateau,” says Jeff Seaman, Chief Information Officer and Director of Operations, The Sloan Consortium
The second annual survey is based on responses from over 1,100 colleges and universities and represents the state of online education in U.S. Higher Education. “Online learning is indeed entering the mainstream,” says Frank Mayadas, President Sloan-C and Program Director, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “Last year we found that a majority of academic leaders said online learning was just as good as traditional, face-to-face classroom instruction. This year’s results confirm the finding and show that schools offering online courses believe their online students are at least as satisfied as those actually in the classroom.”
The majority of all schools (53.6%) agree that online education is critical to their long-term strategy. Among public and private for-profit institutions almost two-thirds (over 65%) agree. “At the University of Central Florida, we have found that online education compares favorably with face-to-face instruction,” UCF President John Hitt says. “Today’s students are comfortable learning and communicating online, and we can increase our enrollment and diversity without burdening our already crowded classroom schedule.”
The study was supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and conducted by the Sloan Center for OnLine Education at Olin and Babson Colleges and The Sloan Consortium.