State U Online

According to State U Online, a new report from the New America Foundation and Education Sector, although 32 percent of all postsecondary students in the U.S. took at least one online course in 2010, public institutions of higher education have been slow to embrace the potential of online learning. The report suggests ways state systems of higher education can build and sustain an online public university and profiles several states that are addressing common challenges such as faculty buy-in, quality control, and financing.

Among the report’s findings:

• States that have had the most success building a “state u online” have:
  • made it easy for students to access available online learning opportunities through such means as a centralized clearinghouse of courses and degrees offered;
  • provided student services support such as e-tutoring and advising;
  • spread costs among institutions through shared contracts for resources such as learning management systems;
  • collaborated within and between states to streamline a student’s path towards completion by making sure credits transfer between institutions and even across state lines.
• Some examples of states that have made steps towards comprehensive online programs include:
  • The University of Wisconsin’s eCampus which provides a catalogue of all online courses available in the system, connected by a single brand.
  • Minnesota State Colleges and Universities which are able to share resources and costs of online learning by way of an inter-institutional online university.
  • The Florida Virtual Campus which provides access to tutoring, advising, and library support services in one place for students in the Florida College System and the State University System of Florida.
  • The University System of Georgia which has created an online core curriculum, subject to approval by each institution that offers general education courses fulfilling requirements at institutions within the system.
  • The Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (IDEA) which has developed a consortium of 20 regional public distance-education programs in states with a common interest in providing education to rural professionals in fields such as  human services and agriculture.
• The report concluded that for a “state u online” to be successful, systems should consider the following:
  • Sharing costs between institutions, enabling institutions to identify the needs of their own campus, and utilizing existing online education resources (like MOOCs) on a system level.
  • Offering faculty a stipend to teach online courses, giving weight to online instruction in tenure decisions, and providing professional development for course design.
  • Providing a clearinghouse of online courses, so students can learn about various online opportunities in one place.
  • Creating agreements among institutions to allow credits to follow students.
  • Providing detailed information on the policies, procedures, and benefits of online learning to all students before they begin an online program.
  • Designating administrators to follow up with students who did not show signs of activity online.
  • Embracing prior learning assessments and competency- based education to accelerate time to degree for students.