US Dept Ed Statistics "First Look" at Distance Education - December 2008

From Ray Schroeder's blog.

US Dept Ed Statistics "First Look" at Distance Education - December 2008

At the end of December, 2008, the US Dept of Education released the results of their first look at distance learning in higher education. They found that 2/3 of colleges and universities are offering online, hybrid/blended, or other distance learning.

Areas covered in the report:

• Whether institutions offered various types of distance education courses, and enrollment in those courses, including online, hybrid/blended online, and other distance education courses;
• Number and types of degree or certificate programs designed to be completed totally through distance education;
• Technologies used for the instructional delivery of distance education courses;
• Factors affecting institutions’ decisions about distance education;
• Distance education offerings for elementary or secondary students; and
• Ways in which institutions acquired or developed their distance education courses.

Findings include:

The most common factors cited as affecting distance education decisions to a major extent were meeting student demand for flexible schedules (68 percent), providing access to college for students who would otherwise not have access (67 percent), making more courses available (46 percent), and seeking to increase student enrollment (45 percent) (table 12).