What's Working in Online Education Right Now
(Surprise—It's Not What You Think)
What can a career school learn about online education from a not-for-profit institution and a state university? You may be surprised. Recently I sat down with three industry leaders who've taken three very different paths to distance learning success. Dr. Keith Hampson reveals how it's possible to build a thriving e-Learning program looking no further than your own backyard, and how small career colleges can compete—and win—against the “big boys.” Professor Barry McGlumphy proves the value of a unique curriculum—in a field no one imagined could be taught online. After you're inspired by their stories, former
Listen in as these online pioneers debunk common myths and misconceptions, disclose valuable insights and even issue a few vital warnings. Whether you're an online veteran or contemplating your first online course, you can borrow these success shortcuts to jumpstart or expand your online program.
By Paul Jacobelli
Note: Dr. Keith Hampson is Director of Distance Education at
Paul Jacobelli: Your enrollment numbers are impressive, especially for a non-for-profit school. How did you get there? What was the process?
Keith Hampson: During the past decade it's been working adults that have responded most positively to online higher education; it suits their lives. By creating web-based versions of our popular classroom courses we were simply going one further step to help them continue their studies. Fortunately, we figured out some shortcuts to streamline the process so we could produce more online classes and better classes without increasing staff.
Paul Jacobelli: Some folks reading this might think, “I could never have thousands of enrollments and hundreds of courses online. I'm a small school with limited staff and resources.” What would you tell them?
Keith Hampson: The fastest and least painful way to grow an e-learning operation is to create partnerships with organizations that provide the resources you need. Don't think you need your own IT department and a big, dedicated staff to make it happen. Take advantage of the myriad outsourcing options available today.
You can outsource the learning management system. You can outsource parts of course development. You can supplement outsource online faculty. You can, and should, outsource enrollment marketing. This approach allows a small operation to do it faster, and you can get access the best available talent and resources this way.
Plus, outsourcing gives you an advantage over larger institutions. Most large institutions are philosophically biased against outsourcing. They believe they can and should do everything in-house. By outsourcing, you can do more. You can see significant enrollments fairly quickly.
Paul Jacobelli: Was your administration ever concerned that online courses would cannibalize on-ground enrollment?
Keith Hampson: Yes, and in some cases we found that it did. But students are demanding online options. You've got to respond to that demand. You've got listen to your clientele or risk losing them to a competitor who's willing to listen. We felt that in the long run, we'd end up with more students overall by offering distance education, and that's turned out to be true.
Paul Jacobelli: So your foray into distance learning was demand driven?
Keith Hampson: Exactly. Critics of online education say it's a plot by administrators to try to save a buck. That's not true at all. Today's students demand it. The most common complaint I get from students is not about the quality of our online courses; it's “when are you going to offer more online courses?”
Paul Jacobelli: What about your faculty? I hear that many faculty members at traditional universities feel threatened by e-Learning and resist it.
Keith Hampson: The biggest worry academics have about online learning is that their intellectual property is going to be digitally captured and they will be out of a job. This is an understandable concern. But the reality turns out to be just the opposite. That's because no matter how it's delivered, higher education is instructor-led, including online education. So with the demand for online education exploding, that means more work for teachers, not less.
Paul Jacobelli: You mentioned you've been able to streamline the course development process so every year you're able to create more courses and better courses. How have you been able to accomplish that?
Keith Hampson: One of the big breakthroughs for us was adding a content management system onto our learning management system platform. This has allowed us to develop a consistent look and feel to all of our online courses. Plus, it's made our team 500% more efficient than we were when we started.
Paul Jacobelli: Was there a big learning curve for your instructors?
Keith Hampson: When we first started, teachers used to just send us content, usually as a MS Word document and ask us to “put it up.” So the content was solid but the execution was uninspiring and inconsistent. Also, every course from every teacher looked and felt different. There was no consistency even in type fonts or graphics. How do you take a course that has four sections taught by three different teachers—and get it to look and feel like the same course?
Paul Jacobelli: How did you solve this dilemma and get faculty buy-in?
Keith Hampson: We introduced built-in templates for the instructors to use. We went to the academics and said, “Here's what your course looks like now. If you're willing to do just a bit more and work in this template, here's what your course could look like.” That's all they needed to see.
Paul Jacobelli: You showed them the potential.
Keith Hampson: Precisely. We showed them what was possible and they bought in. Most teachers have a strong desire to excel. They want to reach their students. They want their courses to look cool. We didn't force anything down their throats. We didn't mandate anything. We just showed them what was possible and they jumped on board of their own volition.
Paul Jacobelli: Describe your typical student.
Keith Hampson: Our average student is a 31 year-old working woman, taking two or three courses per year. She has such a small window of available time to get her education. She craves the convenience of online.
Paul Jacobelli: By offering more online courses, did you find that you were pulling from a greater geographical area?
Keith Hampson: Actually, quite the opposite. We're located in
Paul Jacobelli: For many schools contemplating starting an online program, one of the attractive benefits is being able to attract students from far and wide. Are you saying that the secret to your online growth was the local market?
Keith Hampson: I know, it's counter-intuitive. Especially when you consider how competitive the education market is in
Paul Jacobelli: How is that possible?
Keith Hampson: We are expanding the total market size. We never got certain students before because their jobs and day-to-day responsibilities prevented them from attending on-ground classes. Going to school wasn't an option for them. Now it is thanks to distance learning—even if the “distance” is extremely short.
Paul Jacobelli: Sit back and reflect for a minute. What's been your biggest positive surprise so far in e-Learning?
Keith Hampson: That online courses can produce better educational outcomes than traditional classroom learning. The myth we're dispelling every day is that online classes can never be as good as face-to-face learning; that online classes lack the vital interaction and classroom participation necessary for education success.
Critics of online education often compare it to a style of education that rarely, if ever, exists. They're imagining eight or nine highly motivated students sitting under the learning tree, being instructed by a brilliant, highly engaged and attuned teacher. Think back on your own experience. You were lucky if you experienced that 1-2 times out of hundreds of courses you took. It's extremely uncommon, and certainly not duplicable on a large scale.
Actually, what is more common (according to the experts who study this) is that only 15 to 20% of students actively participate in class. They dominate the class, and get most of the teacher's attention. The rest of the students tend to just watch because they are too shy or intimidated.
By contrast, in an online environment, people are less inhibited, so they participate more. Everybody participates. Students get equal attention. Ideas flow more freely, both from student to teacher and student to student. Plus, students don't just respond. They actively create. As a result, there's a collective creativity that develops that one doesn't find very often in a traditional classroom. The overall experience is more rewarding, and the learning is at a higher level. I find this collective creativity very encouraging—and inspiring. It bodes well for education in general and online education more specifically.
Paul Jacobelli: What's the most important piece of advice you'd give to someone just getting started in distance learning?
Keith Hampson: I think the higher education industry has been lucky thus far. To date, students have continued to put up with lower levels of service and quality from some education providers. For example, they typically turn to their local universities and colleges, even when selecting web-based courses.
These same students – in the other parts of their lives - demand endless choices, fast service, and competitive pricing when dealing with other industries, such as consumer electronics. They expect less from educational institutions. But that's starting to change.
Students now are finding and gravitating towards the best provider - whether it's consumer electronics or education. An example of this is tutoring sites like smartthinking.com and studyloft.com. University students have access to all sorts of tutoring help from their own universities, usually for free. But they're rejecting this local help in favor of smartthinking.com and studyloft.com, even though they have to pay out of pocket. Why? Because they believe these sites are the best sources of help.
Similarly, continuing education students are demanding some form of online option. That means you absolutely have to find a way to offer e-Learning—whether hybrid or 100% online. Offering online courses used to be an option. Now it's a necessity.
Professor Barry McGlumphy is Program Director of Exercise Science & Health Promotion at California University of Pennsylvania. He is the co-creator of a Personal Training and Wellness program based on the Optimum Performance Training (OPT) Model used for conditioning Olympic and professional athletes. Offered at the undergraduate (BS) and master's degree (MS) level. the program is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, and recently received a prestigious “Excellence in Online Teaching” award, one of only 5 online instructors across the
Paul Jacobelli: How many students are in the program and what's the tuition for undergraduates vs. master's students?
Barry McGlumphy: CalU's overall online enrollment goal is 4,000 new students over the next couple years, a very hefty goal for a state university. Just our Exercise Science and Health Promotion Program will see over 500 full time students within the next year. Tuition is between $8,000-$15,000 per year based on state residency and program type.
Paul Jacobelli: So if I do the math, this one niche program is generating millions of dollars a year in tuition revenue.
Barry McGlumphy: Yes, and this is revenue the University did not have a couple years ago. We often state that the online programs will enhance and financially support the traditional “on ground” programs and we are starting to see the rewards of a strong online presence. It's also important to note that our attrition is less than 5% a year.
Paul Jacobelli: How were you able to take a subject like Personal Training & Wellness, which seems very hands-on, and turn it into a 100% online course?
Barry McGlumphy: My doctoral work is in Instructional Design and Technology and my MS and BS are in sports medicine. I took the best pedagogy for delivering psychomotor skills online (streaming video, narrated PowerPoint lectures, case study assignments, etc.) and used my background in health and fitness to evolve the program and courses. Most of the classes require the student to use their place of work or a spouse, friend, etc., to apply the techniques learned each week in the classes. I refer to this as the student's "working laboratory". This brings the material into a real-world context immediately, resulting in greater comprehension.
It also helps that our faculty is nationally known in the sports medicine and fitness industries. Examples of guest lecturers include strength and conditioning coaches from NBA teams such as the Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves and Toronto Raptors, and athletic trainers/conditioning coaches from NFL teams such as the Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. Other faculty members with Olympic and Collegiate experience are also guest lecturers in the program.
Paul Jacobelli: Was yours the first online program at the university?
Barry McGlumphy: I was hired to develop the program during the 2002 academic year and we started our first cohort in 2003. We had a goal of having three cohorts of 30 students within three years, but have more than tripled this goal with ten cohorts of 30 students (300/year) each starting this summer. In addition to the graduate program, our undergraduate 100% online Wellness and Fitness program will enroll over 250 students this academic year.
Paul Jacobelli: Where do your students come from? How do they find you?
Barry McGlumphy: Our students are mostly working health care and fitness professionals, who have a variety of backgrounds and areas of expertise. The online graduate and undergraduate programs are intended to reach working athletic trainers, physical therapists, exercise physiologists, fitness professionals, military personnel, coaches, and other professionals who cannot adhere to the traditional course schedule.
Paul Jacobelli: How do you engage them at such a high level, and over a long period of time?
Barry McGlumphy: We create a “virtual community” of professionals in the online learning environment. Students are enrolled as cohorts of 25 who move through the program together as a group and who graduate together. As a result, they develop into a network of peers learning from each other. The student interaction in each course is amazing. The discussions are more thought provoking and interesting than any dialog our faculty have had in the traditional classroom. In fact, much of the student feedback states that there is more interaction and sharing of professional ideas in the online courses vs. the traditional classroom. The weekly threaded discussions in each course create a forum where students are required to respond to questions and interact. Many students have commented about the high level and quality of peer-based learning.
Paul Jacobelli: What's next for you?
Barry McGlumphy: I'm doing some consulting work—working with other schools, especially career schools, to develop new online programs specifically at the associate's degree level and certificate level. The programs are focused on wellness, fitness, and personal training, and include everything from the online curriculum to faculty to technology support and marketing. These certificate and associate's degree level programs will eventually become feeder systems for the CalU online BS and MS programs. We're taking the lead in developing unique curricula, and in helping traditional universities work in mutually-beneficial partnerships with career schools.
As the former Director of Online Learning for
Paul Jacobelli: How long did it take to ramp up to such heady enrollment numbers?
Linda Passamaneck: Spring and Fall of 1996 combined yielded 45 enrollments in 6 courses. Today, some would call that a modest start, and considering the knowledge base of best practices regarding marketing to online students now compared to 1996, it probably is a modest beginning. However, just one year later, Park had almost 2,000 enrollments. The growth has consistently risen ever since.
Paul Jacobelli: What were the 3 things you did that worked best?
Linda Passamaneck: Well, the first thing is, Park made a commitment to pay their faculty well, and to invest in training and retaining them. Even given all the transitions we made, I'm proud to say that we never lost a single instructor in my three years at Park.
The administration also made a commitment to quality course development. Park offered full degrees online as well as a large offering of General Ed courses to help students fill in educational gaps. Each and every course was developed by a single subject matter expert, under the oversight of that particular academic department. Once the course was approved, all sections were taught based off of one “master” copy of the course. This ensured high quality and consistency. We also paid developers an ongoing fee to continue to monitor, update, and improve the courses so that they never grew outdated or stagnant. So you can see, the commitment to quality was paramount.
Lastly, Park invested in “top of the line” technology. Starting with the course management system, and including online registration, online grade and attendance systems, and an extensive online library, Park did everything to ensure that students could access all services at their convenience. Not only did this increase student satisfaction, but it enabled Park to use a fairly small staff to service thousands of students.
Paul Jacobelli: Park is also tied into the
Linda Passamaneck: Park had a long-standing relationship with the military providing education on military bases throughout the
Paul Jacobelli: With so many online students, and a high percentage of those being in a transient situation such the military, what kind of retention rates did you experience?
Linda Passamaneck: During my tenure, our retention rate was 96%.
Paul Jacobelli: Wow, how did you achieve such a high retention rate?
Linda Passamaneck: I know it sounds simple and obvious, but we were committed to helping students complete their degree. This philosophy was implemented everywhere, beginning in the classroom. If students were struggling with any part of their learning experience, they always had multiple contacts they could turn to for help resolving their problem. Real people with real answers. Also, decision-makers were empowered to create solutions that provided flexibility to students who received a job transfer or were deployed to another base, etc. Students were the number one priority in the online program, and I think they could sense that and felt a sense of community in their online courses.
Paul Jacobelli: What are some of the big myths or misconceptions people have about adjunct faculty that prevent them from getting good quality instructors?
Linda Passamaneck: I think that many people have the misconception that adjuncts are not as qualified as full-time faculty. My experience with adjuncts has been wonderful. Many adjuncts are professionals who bring a wealth of experience to the classroom, and they can very easily transfer their experiences to working adult learners, who value authentic learning environments and often bring their own set of rich experiences to the classroom. You often get a much deeper, richer level of discussion with adult learners than in a typical college campus classroom.
Also, most adjuncts are hired on a term-by-term basis, so their level of accountability, and their desire to continue to work with an institution can be extremely motivating.
Paul Jacobelli: What are the top two or three mistakes you see people making in this area?
Linda Passamaneck: While there are plenty of advantages to using adjuncts, there are also some barriers that need to be addressed: For one thing, training. To ensure consistency and quality, initial training and ongoing mentoring and professional development are needed.
Another important consideration is communication. Just like our online students, adjuncts need to feel a part of the institution's community. They often have wonderful insight and experience that would help improve the programs they teach...but I only see a small percentage of schools tapping into that reserve and utilizing it well.
All faculty, whether first-time adjuncts or seasoned full professors, are the life-blood of any academic program. They bring the quality of content and learning to the classroom, and they are the “face” of your institution to your learners (particularly in an online program). You just can't go wrong investing in and developing your faculty.
Paul Jacobelli: What percentage of schools do you see using their own faculty vs. outside instructors?
Linda Passamaneck: I believe the percentage of schools using at least some outside faculty is 90% or more.
Paul Jacobelli: Now that you're out on your own, working with schools of different sizes all across the country, what are the most prominent trends you're seeing?
Linda Passamaneck: There's a shift towards enterprise-wide e-Learning solutions. Early on, schools would try small pilots and may have had several different online classroom platforms in use by various departments or schools. However, the overlap of faculty and students using multiple systems made variety less appealing. So schools are consolidating their offerings onto one single platform. It is also easier to maintain and provide student and faculty support for a single system.
Another trend I see is a focus on service and support. Let's face it...many of the online learning platforms now offer essentially the same tools. But the ease of use of the system, and even more importantly the level of support that students and faculty receive have come to outweigh bells and whistles or even price. When you are running a programs that brings hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars of revenue into your institution, you better make sure that your users can access the system and get help when they need it—even at 2 am on a Sunday night!
The last and perhaps most significant trend I see is outsourcing. Many schools, particularly smaller institutions, just lack the staffing, time, and expertise needed to get an online program started. While the outsourcing of course delivery systems and support has been commonplace for years, a growing number of schools are now bringing in content and training to help jumpstart their e-Learning programs.
Paul Jacobelli: What are you focusing on these days?
Linda Passamaneck: There are still many institutions just sticking their toes into online learning. I'm working with some of them to help design the best program possible from the start. There's no need to “learn as you go” now with all the experience, best practices, and research that have accumulated over the last 10 years. I get so excited when I see a smaller school open up new student populations in 2-3 years that have never been possible in their 100-year history. Oftentimes, it is the online program that brings in revenue needed to keep the school operating in the black as student populations, programs, and trends shift.
SUMMARY AND KEY POINTS
For-profit institutions enjoy significant competitive advantages over not-for-profit and state universities. They tend to be more nimble, more business savvy and have quicker access to capital. So if schools such as
Key Point #1: Remember what business you're in. People see statistics such as 100 million online users and get starry-eyed at the prospect of online riches. While chasing after the “virtual hordes,” they forget their “core constituency.” First and foremost, e-Learning brings educational opportunities to men and women who are unable to attend traditional in-classroom learning. You may be surprised to discover just how many prospects there are close to home. Interest in continuing education among working adults continues to grow – creating opportunities right in your own backyard.
Key Point #2: Size doesn't matter. Online distribution levels the playing field. You don't need to be big to win. You don't need to invest in expensive hardware, or staff an in-house IT department. You can do it cheaper, faster, better by outsourcing, and have proven experts doing the work for you.
Key Point #3: Students are starting to demand more from online providers. Offering online courses used to be an option. Now it's a necessity. And for the first time, students are starting to behave more like “consumers” when making education choices. They shop, compare and come equipped with a demands list. Schools who don't offer high-quality, interactive online courses will find it increasingly difficult to attract students.
Key Point #4: There's riches in niches. There's no point in offering another “same old” online MBA. Who needs it? How can you possibly stand out? Don't offer what everybody else already has. One distinctive curriculum is better than five me-too offerings. Look for an untapped niche and seek out unique courses…unique delivery methods. Let the big boys with deep pockets grapple over the masses. Find a good niche and farm it. Consider this: a mere 300 students a year in a $15,000 specialized program generates $4.5 million in annual revenue.
About the Author
Paul Jacobelli is founder and CEO of EdTek Services, Inc. He has been “in the trenches” of online education since 1996. He was both a client and a Regional Director during the explosive growth of eCollege. After helping to launch some of the biggest players in distance learning, he now works exclusively with small colleges, career schools and non-profit organizations. His varied client list includes the
If you are considering a distance education program for your institution or entity, EdTek offers a complimentary 17-Point Online Opportunities Analysis, including recommendations on which courses to offer. If you are already online, EdTek Services offers a free Online Program Audit that can help you determine if you’re overpaying and by how much. Contact the EdTek office toll free at (866) 644-2450 or at info@edtekservices.com.