Pass the SoLT

I was sent a link to a blog today maintained by the Best Colleges Online which celebrates 'National Distance Learning Week'. I immediately assumed the reference to national meant the United States.

The blog lists 25 facts you should share during National Distance Learning Week. Here is a quick summary of the top 10 facts:

1. Between 2007 and 2008, 20.4% of American undergrads participated in distance education.

2. More female undergrads participate in distance education than male.

3. Most undergraduates taking distance learning courses are white (their term not mine).

4. Twenty-two percent of graduate students took distance learning courses during the 2007-2008 school year.

5. Distance education participation increased by 4% between the 2003-2004 and 2007-2008 school years

6. Distance learning is just as engaging as its classroom counterpart

7. There are disadvantages, of course

8. …distance learning programs lag crazy behind when it comes to accessibility

9. Most DETC (Distance Education Training Council) students are middle-aged adults

10 Master’s degrees are their (DETC) most popular offerings

I'll leave you to explore the remaining 15 DE facts from the website. Each of the so-called facts has a brief explanation along with a hyperlink which takes you to further information, including a link to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The United States Distance Learning Association website states, 'The purpose of National Distance Learning Week is to generate greater awareness and appreciation for distance learning, including K-12, Higher Education, Corporate and Military, while recognizing leaders and best practices in the field'. There is also a link to a series of webinars over the course of the week to discuss different topics related to distance learning.

The idea of a week devoted to distance learning is an interesting concept but I'm not sure how well it would be received by the current government in New Zealand with such a focus on retention and completion rates. Perhaps the Distance Education Association of New Zealand (DEANZ) could try to initiate a similar celebration to help raise the profile of the social, cultural, economic and environmental benefits of distance learning to society at large. I might raise the idea at the next Executive Committee meeting...

Earlier in the year I gave a conference presentation that asked the question: What are the social, cultural, health and economic benefits of distance education to the nation?

Degrees of Value is a new report out of the United Kingdom which attempts to calculate the benefits of universities to society beyond individual financial returns to students and human capital gains for the economy. In particular, the report focuses on three main benefits:

• Societal benefits from individual social outcomes
• Facilitating social mobility, and
• Public outreach and access to cultural resources

Picking up on the last point, unless I missed, it the report does not comment on the new open scholarship movement which arguably will extend the public outreach even further. Nevertheless, the report adds useful numbers to the many personal narratives that exist on the benefits of higher education. One of the key conclusions is that universities need to become more vocal about the public value they deliver to society. This point is particularly relevant at a time when university funding is being reduced and higher education is being positioned as a burden to society rather than an investment in the long-term future of humanity and the planet.

Unfortunately the report does not disaggregate the benefits of study by delivery mode as this would be useful in terms of current concerns in New Zealand, and elsewhere, over retention rates and the return on investment of mature learners studying through distance education. Nevertheless, when combined with the findings of the 2010 New Zealand report on Social and Economic Indicators of Education and the 2010 Education Pays analysis produced in the United States by the College Board, the message is quite clear. As the latter report concludes:

“The evidence is overwhelming that higher education improves people’s lives, makes our economy more efficient, and contributes to a more equitable society. The existing gaps in participation and success are detrimental not only to individual lives, but also to society as a whole. Different paths are appropriate for different individuals, and our challenge is to make the most promising paths readily available to students from all backgrounds. We will all be better off if we continue to make progress in this direction” (Education Pays, 2010, p.9).

Last week I met with a representation of the Insight Group to discuss Massey University's participation in the i-graduate Distance Education Barometer project. The DE Barometer was launched in 2010 as a joint sector initiative between i-graduate and The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education as an international benchmarking exercise. The tool covers the following seven key areas of the student experience:

• Decision making
• Application process
• Learning experience
• Technology
• Support and communication
• Recommendation
• Future plans

I was wary of yet another benchmarking instrument as Massey already participates in AUSSE and last year we added a number of institution specific questions about online learning to this survey. We also have our own regular in-house student engagement surveys. Although the findings from AUSSE were very (very) positive for Massey, having lots of data does not solve the problem of how you act on what you discover and this remains a key issue to address. Here at Massey we are working on how we can consolidate various data sources from different instruments in a concise dashboard which can help to lead to more effective, evidence-based decision-making with clear action plans for quality enhanbcement. Ideally this process will be automated but one should not underestimate the scale of the project.

In the meantime, I'm pleased on two counts as it looks like that we have managed to influence the design and depth of questions in the DE Barometer. In particular, there should be, fingers crossed, a new section with a handful of questions on the personal and societal benefits of distance learning to students as there is a lack of solid empirical data on the wider social, cultural, health and especially (in the current climate) economic benefits.

As a quick sidebar, only a couple of days ago I completed an application for an independent international research agency based in the US to begin a study on this very issue. In New Zealand and at Massey we need an economic analysis, with numbers, to go with the personal narratives on the benefits of DE for society at large. We are talking here about calculating the value of human capital and the impact any growth has for families, communities and the nation. Notably, we have also included in scope the benefits of development on a global scale. I'll try to share some of the findings later in the year as we plan to release them at a special high profile event.

The second reason I'm pleased is that last week I managed to work a few late nights to write a paper which consolidates and compares the evidence from six separate student surveys over the last two years on the implementation of Stream (our VLE) in the College of Business. Although the findings are overwhelmingly positive (more so than I expected given the challenging implementation phase), I can't help but think our students are far too kind in giving feedback. However, at least we now have some useful baseline data and it will be interesting to watch how progress tracks in future surveys--both internal questionnaires and external benchmarking instruments.