Distance Education Enrollment Research Articles

Exploring the relationship between community colleges’ participation in SARA and enrollment in distance education

AbstractWith the growth in distance education programs and other interstate activities, community colleges increasingly need to be authorized by multiple states. State authorization provides the legal approval for postsecondary education providers to offer credentials and conduct related activities. Participation in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA) allows an institution to provide distance education to students in other SARA‐member states by honoring its original state authorization through interstate reciprocity. For community colleges, SARA reduces the administrative burden to participate in distance education. This article examines trends in SARA participation and the relationship between this participation and distance education enrollment. Using NC‐SARA and IPEDS data, we find that participation in SARA has grown rapidly, particularly among colleges with higher online enrollments. Distance education enrollments have likewise grown at community colleges, suggesting that SARA has successfully helped institutions maintain and grow multistate distance education programs.

Accountability in Distance Learning: The Effect of Remote Proctoring on Performance in Online Accounting Courses

ABSTRACTDistance education allows educators, with the use of technology, to deliver curriculum to students who are separated from their instructors. As higher education evolves, enrollment in distance education continues to present challenges of academic dishonesty. Proctoring services can provide educators with a practical and cost effective approach to reduce academic dishonesty in accounting programs. This study examines the effects of online proctoring programs on students' exam performance in an online accounting course. Our findings show lower exam performance when proctoring services are used, consistent with a reduction in academic dishonesty. More importantly, we show that proctoring affects lower performing students' exam performance more than higher performing students. These results have implications for accounting faculty in designing accounting courses, which can be delivered through a distance learning approach while maintaining the academic integrity and rigor demanded by the accounting profession.

Quick Fix: Using Interteaching to Increase Student Engagement in Online Courses

Enrollment in distance education continues to increase (Babson Survey Research Group 2018). Faculty often encourage online student engagement through discussion board interaction. These discussion ...

Examining Distance Education Coursetaking and Time-to-Completion among Community College Students

ABSTRACTThe discrepancy in the empirical literature surrounding distance education (DE) coursetaking among community college students has led to the online paradox, where short-term or more proximal academic outcomes associated with DE coursetaking are negative, but the long-term or distal academic outcomes are positive. Importantly, no previous study has yet examined the relationship between DE enrollment and the time it takes community college students to complete their degree programs or succeed in transferring to a four-year school. This gap in the research literature is unfortunate, as understanding the relationship between DE and time-to-completion may shed light on mechanisms underlying the online paradox. Consequently, the current study looks at the relationship between DE coursetaking and time-to-completion among first-time community college students. The study uses large, nationally representative data and propensity score matching (PSM) to mitigate the impact of self-selection into DE courses. Results indicate that students who completed at least one DE course during their first year of study finished their BA degrees, on average, two to three months sooner than similar students who did not take a DE course. Policy implications for DE and community college leadership are discussed.

Educação a distância: configurações, políticas e contradições engendradas no trabalho docente

The paper aims to unveil the contradictions that arise in the teachers’ work organization within the context of distance education. The analytical framework included the systematization of the educational data provided by the “Anisio Teixeira National Institute for Educational Studies and Research (Inep)”, the study of the documents that guide the national educational policy and empirical research carried out in higher education institutions. The results support that the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) constitute the objective base upon which speeches and practices for the democratization of access to higher education rely. The first decade of this century witnessed an enormous growth in distance education enrollment at universities. The increase, however, has triggered some contradictions such as alienation, precariousness, and the division of the teachers’ work

Critérios para a Avaliação de Materiais Didáticos Impressos de História da Ciência para a Educação a Distância

This paper proposes criteria for the evaluation of printed materials (MDI) of History of Science for Undergraduate Distance Learning School. The construction of the criteria was based on official documents of Undergraduate and High School of Brazil, models of teacher training by Porlan and Rivero (1998) and in the theoretical History of Science teaching. The criteria were divided into five blocks: Block I: legislation, Block II: textual elements, Block III: Undergraduate student, Block IV: references, glossaries and answers and Block V: editorial design. Census Data, organized by the Brazilian Association for Distance Education (ABED, 2011) show that despite the increasing technological development, printed material is still the main learning object used by institutions for distance learning. The data from this census show a progress in the number of student enrollment in Distance Education between the years 2009 and 2011. The construction of the criteria for evaluation is relevant because this increase in enrollment in Distance Education signals a greater demand for the production of learning objects generating a concern on the quality of the content and exercises contained in these materials. Perhaps, the criteria to evaluate MDI of History of Science, that this article describes, are the beginning for the construction of criteria to evaluate MDI from other disciplines of EAD. This set of assessment instruments could be inserted into a desirable National Textbook Program for Undergraduate Distance Learning Courses, aiming to improve the quality of these materials.

Enrollment in Distance Education Classes is Associated with Fewer Enrollment Gaps Among Independent Undergraduate Students in the US

The purpose of this research is to determine whether nontraditional undergraduate students in the US who enroll in distance education classes are less likely to have an enrollment gap (enrollment gap=part year enrollment). Previous research has shown that preference for distance education classes is significantly greater among nontraditional than among traditional undergraduate students; nontraditional students invariably have a greater number of competing demands (work and family) on their time. Since distance education courses provide students with more convenient and flexible class schedules, nontraditional students, who have time or location constraints that prevent them from enrolling in face-to-face classes during a semester or quarter, may be more likely to enroll in distance education classes in order to stay enrolled for the entire academic year. Based upon this rationale, we predicted that enrollment in distance education classes is significantly related to a decreased likelihood of an enrollment gap among nontraditional students. To test this prediction, we used data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey (NPSAS) conducted in 2008. The NPSAS 2008 used a complex survey design to collect data from a nationally representative sample of about 113,500 postsecondary undergraduate students in the US. Results confirm our prediction, and show that enrollment in distance education is significantly related to a decreased likelihood of an enrollment gap among nontraditional students, but not among traditional students. Results also show that five of the seven dropout risk factors (identified by previous research to decrease 6-year graduation rates) are each significantly associated with an increased likelihood of an enrollment gap. These results suggest that the offer of distance education classes could increase degree progress and possibly completion rates for nontraditional undergraduates who are at high risk for dropout.

Cost-Effective, Equitable and Flexible Higher Education through Open and Distance Learning in Bangladesh

This paper examines how this mega-university offers increasing access to cost-effective, equitable and flexible higher education by analyzing data from primary and secondary sources, identifies challenges impacting the continued growth of enrollment in distance education, and outlines opportunities for increasing access to higher education through scaling of distance initiatives. For pedagogic delivery, BOU uses both the conventional face-to-face tutorial system based on print module and electronic learning technologies such as CD, audiovisual cassettes, and radio and TV broadcasts. It revealed that BOU education is flexible, cost-effective, and insensitive to gender and geography and of standard comparable to that of the conventional universities. The reasons behind the success and cost-effectiveness of BOU programs were; O BOU has access to any government and non-government infrastructures and resources without any cost or with nominal costs and can engage specialists from any institution for tutoring with a small honorarium; O it broadcasts program free of cost through government-owned radio and TV channels; O the demand for higher education is very high due to seat limitations only 4-5% of students get the chance to enroll in public universities after their HSC; and O the degree/diploma/certificate of BOU is accepted by all as equivalent to those of conventional public universities. Survey of opinions from students of different programs identified the problems in the current system and proposed alternatives to mitigate them by applying some innovative interactive and flexible learning technologies including mobile phone. Considering the success of BOU and to accommodate the huge demand of higher education, conventional universities should also open their doors for ICT-mediated cost-effective and flexing learning to make the vision of knowledge-based ‘digital Bangladesh’ a reality by the year 2021.

Distance Education vs Face-to-Face Classes: Individual Differences, Course Preferences and Enrollment

To understand better students' preferences for enrollment in distance education over face-to-face courses, the individual difference variables of sex, age category, class level, work status, number of distance education courses taken, frequency of computing technology usage, comfort with course management software, and comfort with computing technology were examined. Analysis indicated that older students, women, and those who work full time were more likely to enroll in distance education courses. Those who had taken the most distance education courses in the past and women were more likely to express a stated preference for distance education over face-to-face classes.

A Foot in the Door

The Houston Community College System (HCCS) is one of the largest community colleges in the nation, serving over 52,000 students. Though there is no dedicated full-time distance education (DE) librarian at HCCS, “traditional” librarians are meeting the needs of a rapidly growing population of DE and hybrid students by adapting to new roles and applying technology in innovative ways. An adventuresome cadre of information professionals has been reaching out to students to engage them where learning takes place. These “virtual librarians” are embedded in Web-based courses in order to promote library services to students who may never set foot in a HCCS campus library. As DE enrollment continues to expand, however, it has become necessary to consolidate efforts, and this is being accomplished through the utilization of a Web log (blog) and syndication tools, as well as some additional free applications.