Project Eagle Research Capsule (PERC) #21
February 2006

An Evaluation of E-Learning by Those Who Manage It:
Statistics from Three Recent Surveys

Growing by Degrees:
Online Education in the United States, 2005

I. Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
November 2005

This is the third in a series of annual surveys sponsored by the Sloan Foundation and conducted by the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C). Results indicate that the breadth of online college course could soon rival face-to-face offerings. Results were based on responses from 1,025 colleges and universities.

Statistics from the two previous reports in the series, Sizing the Opportunity: The Quality and Extent of Online Education in the United States, 2002 and 2003 and Entering the Mainstream: The Quality and Extent of Online Education in the United States, 2003 and 2004, were presented in Project Eagle Research Capsules 15 and 17 respectively.

• Online enrollment increased from 1.98 million students in 2003 to 2.35 million in 2004.
• Although the growth rate of 18.2% was down 4.7% from last year, three quarters of the schools expect online enrollments to continue to increase.
• The present growth in online enrollment is ten times greater than the rate projected by the National Center for Education Statistics for postsecondary students.
• About 63% of schools that offer face-to-face undergraduate courses also offer them online.
• 65% of schools that offer face-to-face master's level courses also offer them online.
• Almost 40% of schools offering face-to-face associate's degree programs also offer them online.
• Almost 30% of schools offering face-to-face bachelor's degree programs also offer them online.
• Almost 44% of schools offering face-to-face master's degree programs also offer them online.
• 12% of schools offering face-to-face doctoral degree programs also offer them online.
• 35% of schools offering face-to-face certificate degree programs also offer them online.
• 15% of schools offering face-to-face professional degree programs also offer them online.
• Business education courses have the highest online penetration, with 42.7% of colleges offering face-to-face business courses and at least one online course.
• Liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and humanities follow close behind, with 40.2% online penetration.
• Computer and information science programs have an online penetration of 35.1%, health and related sciences 31.4%, social science and history 28.4%, education 24.9%, psychology 23.6%, and all other programs 36.2%.
• Core faculty members teach the majority of online courses at 65% of schools offering them.
• The number of chief academic officers who felt that online education is critical to long-term institutional strategy increased from 49% in 2003 to 56% in 2005.
• 31% of chief academic officers believed that their faculty accept the value and legitimacy of online education, up only 3% from the 2003 findings.
• One third of academic leaders believed it takes more faculty time/effort to teach an online course.
• 82% believed it is no more difficult to evaluate the quality of an online course than one delivered face-to-face.
• 70% of academic leaders in schools that offer online courses believed students need more discipline in an online course than in a face-to-face class.

The 2005 National Survey of Information Technology in Higher Education*

The Campus Computing Project
September - October 2005

Each year administrators at two-and four-year public and private colleges and universities in the United States participate in the annual Campus Computing Survey, which focuses on campus planning and policy issues affecting the role of information technology in teaching, learning, and scholarship. These are some of this year's findings from 501 respondents.

• 30% of all respondents identified "network and data security" as the most important IT issue that will be affecting their institutions over the next two to three years.
• The breakdown of those identifying this issue as the most important was 44% at public, four-year colleges; 33% at public universities; 31% at private universities; and 21% at private, four-year colleges and community colleges.
• 51% of the officials responding reported that their institutions' networks had suffered attacks (hacking) during the previous year.
• 41% suffered major spyware infestations and 35% major infestations of computer viruses. 20% reported incidents related to identity theft.
• Security incidents were higher in public and private universities than in other sectors.
• 57% reported having plans for recovery from information-technology disasters.
• The 2nd greatest concern expressed in the survey was integrating information technology into instruction, which 18% of all respondents listed as the most pressing issue.
• The 3rd greatest concern, with 16% of the respondents listing it as the most important, was upgrading or replacing their institutions' campuswide computer systems.
• 44% reported an increase in funding for academic computing this year, and only about 16% reported budget cuts in the same area.
• 81% reported that their institutions had initiated appropriate use policies in order to stem the unauthorized peer-to-peer (P2P) distribution of digital content on campus networks.
• 64% of all campuses reported strategic plans for expansion of wireless networks. Almost 29% indicated that full-campus wireless networks were up and running in Fall 2005.
• Almost 46% reported a working (single or initial sign-on) campus portal as of Fall 2005, although portals ranked low in the assessment of campus IT infrastructure.
• The two highest IT infrastructure/service components were computer networks and online library reference resources.
• Almost 55% agreed that open source applications are increasingly important in their IT strategy, but only 30% saw open source software as a viable alternative for key administrative applications like student information systems, campus finance systems, or human resource software.

*Copies of the full report are available from the Campus Computing Project for $39.00.

E-Learning Standards Survey

American Society for Training and Development (ASTD)
September 2005

In July 2005, the ASTD's Learning Circuits publication, in conjunction with its E-Learning Network News, conducted a short survey to determine the attitude of institutions - business, government and academic - toward the value of and interest in e-learning standards. Results are based on 248 responses.

• 57% saw e-learning standards as critical; 22% saw them as pointless. The rest were unfamiliar with or confused by the concept.
• 45% always used standards when developing programs; 30% sometimes; 25% never.
• 58% felt they were getting value by following standards; 35% were unsure; 7% did not.

www.spcollege.edu/eagle/research/perc/perc21.htm
For a list of previous Project Eagle Research Capsules, go to www.spcollege.edu/eagle/research/perc/index.htm
For more information, contact the project manager: lechnerj@spcollege.edu

The contents of PERC were developed under a grant from the U. S. Department of Education (DOE). However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the DOE, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.