csm Research Briefs
College of San Mateo / 1700 West Hillsdale Blvd. / San Mateo, CA 94402
Volume 15 / Number 1 / May 2006
Office of Articulation & Research
DISTANCE EDUCATION AT CSM:
Student Enrollment Patterns
This report presents a profile of CSM students
enrolling in distance learning coursework (telecourse
and on-line), Fall 1999 – Fall 2005. This report tracks
2,971 students enrolling in 838 sections, representing
19,753 distance education course enrollments (13,317
telecourse and 6,436 on-line enrollments). The
tracking period of time covers 19 semesters, including
Summer Sessions. Throughout the report, comparison is made with “traditional format” coursework—
i.e., all other classroom courses offered during the
same period of time.
Figure 1 displays the total number of course enrollments. Traditional format courses account for 95.4%
of all student enrollments. In comparison, telecourses
account for 3.1% of enrollments, and on-line courses
1.5%. In terms of actual enrollments during these 19
terms, CSM students enrolled in 409,981 traditional
courses, 13,217 telecourses, and 6,436 on-line courses.
These proportions have remained basically the same
since Fall 1999.
Figure 2 examines CSM student’s course format
preference. These unduplicated headcount data show
the following enrollment patterns:
· Traditional courses only - 85.1%
· Distance education courses only – 4.2%
o Telecourses only – 3.1%
o On-line courses only – 0.9%
· 10.7% enrolled in both traditional and distance
education courses
Figure 3 displays the total number of distance education
courses taken by students while enrolled at CSM. It is
important to keep in mind that 85.1% of CSM students
never enroll in a distance education course. For distance education students, the data indicate the following:
· Nearly two-thirds (60.1%) of students only enroll in
one distance education course
· Two distance education courses - 20.8%
· Three distance education courses - 8.9%
· Four distance education courses - 10.2%
Another way to consider traditional vs. distance education coursework is in terms of the total number of
course offerings. Measured in terms of total sections
offered at CSM during this period of time:
· Traditional format – 95.4%
Figure 1
CSM Total Course Enrollments
Distance Learning vs. Traditional Format
Fall 1999 - Fall 2005
(Duplicated Count)
95.4%
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
3.1%
1.5%
Telecourses
(n=13,317)
On-line
(n=6436)
0%
Traditional
(n=409,981)
Figure 2
CSM Student's Course Format Preference
Distance Learning vs. Traditional Format
100%
85.1%
90%
Fall 1999 - Fall 2005
(Unduplicated Count)
* Distance Education Only
(n = 2971)
80%
On-line
Only 0.9%
70%
○
Telecourse
Only 3.1%
○
60%
○
○
○
50%
○
○
○
40%
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
30%
○
○
○
○
20%
Telecourse
and On-line
Only 0.2%
○
○
10.7%
○
○
○
10%
4.2%
○
○
○
○
0%
Traditional Only
(n=60,601)
Distance Education Only*
(n=2971)
· Telecourses – 2.9%
· On-line courses – 1.7%
In absolute numbers, 838 sections (4.6%) out of a total
18,211 sections are offered via distance education.
While 4.6% of the entire College’s sections are offered in the
distance education format, the proportion of distance
education section offerings vary by CSM Instructional
Division:
·
·
·
·
·
·
Business – 8.9%
Social Science – 6.9%
Math/Science – 5.5%
Language Arts – 5.0%
Creative Arts 2.2%
Physical Education – 1.9%
Enrolled in Both Distance Education
and Traditional
(n=7655)
· Counseling (CRER) – 1.5%
· Technology – 0.7%
During Fall 1999 - Fall 2005, 113 different CSM courses were
offered in a distance education format. Table 1 displays the
total enrollment of these courses, the number of offerings
(sections) during these 19 semesters, as well sorting by the
rank order of the enrollment per section. A relatively small
number of courses enroll the bulk of distance education
enrollments:
· 10 courses account for 40.3% of all enrollments
· One-quarter of courses account for nearly three-quarters
(72.3%) of all enrollments
[Subsequent reports will consider the demographic characteristics of distance education students.]
Figure 3
Total Number of CSM Distance Education Courses Enrolled
70%
60.1%
Fall 1999 - Fall 2005
19-Term Average
60%
50%
40%
30%
20.8%
20%
10%
8.9%
10.2%
3
4+
0%
1
2
Courses Per Term
NOTE: Percentages refer to only those students w ho enroll in distance education courses. It is
important to note that 85.1% of all CSM students never enroll in a distance education course.
Table 1
CSM Distance Education Course Enrollments
Fall 1999 - Fall 2005 (19 Semesters)
#
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
Course
Enrollments Sections Enrollment/Section #
HIST202
77
1
77.0
58
HIST201
59
1
59.0
59
CA&S310
1111
19
58.5
60
FITN683
55
1
55.0
61
HSCI100
970
19
51.1
62
SPAN115
644
13
49.5
63
FILM100
49
1
49.0
64
SOCI100
901
19
47.4
65
PSYC100
900
19
47.4
66
BIOL100
47
1
47.0
67
ASTR100
856
19
45.1
68
FITN135
43
1
43.0
69
FILM110
690
18
38.3
70
PLSC210
566
15
37.7
71
MATH120
330
9
36.7
72
PLSC310
579
16
36.2
73
CIS 110
620
18
34.4
74
PHIL100
240
7
34.3
75
GEOL100
647
19
34.1
76
PSYC201
98
3
32.7
77
ART 100
617
19
32.5
78
FITN136
32
1
32.0
79
CRER112
202
7
28.9
80
BUS.201
542
19
28.5
81
BUSW530
28
1
28.0
82
BUS.100
530
19
27.9
83
FITN688
220
8
27.5
84
PSYC410
422
16
26.4
85
FITN689
104
4
26.0
86
CIS 150
332
13
25.5
87
CIS 680
25
1
25.0
88
CIS 285
73
3
24.3
89
CIS 251
215
9
23.9
90
BUS.401
118
5
23.6
91
CIS 379
116
5
23.2
92
CIS 380
45
2
22.5
93
CIS 250
245
11
22.3
94
PSYC110
353
16
22.1
95
BUSW214
109
5
21.8
96
BUS.131
87
4
21.8
97
SOCI110
64
3
21.3
98
CIS 284
106
5
21.2
99
CIS 253
105
5
21.0
100
PSYC680
250
12
20.8
101
ENGL165
353
17
20.8
102
BUSW534
283
14
20.2
103
CIS 252
120
6
20.0
104
P.E.680
39
2
19.5
105
FITN687
213
11
19.4
106
HORT311
19
1
19.0
107
CIS 376
112
6
18.7
108
BUSW415
148
8
18.5
109
ITAL115
236
13
18.2
110
BUS.180
204
12
17.0
111
BUSW416
68
4
17.0
112
CIS 152
135
8
16.9
113
FREN115
185
11
16.8
Total
Course
Enrollments Sections Enrollment/Section
PHIL246
134
8
16.8
BUS.150
318
19
16.7
MGMT100
316
19
16.6
BUSW535
192
12
16.0
ENGL100
95
6
15.8
BUSW680
47
3
15.7
BUSW114
61
4
15.3
ENGL110
137
9
15.2
HSCI684
30
2
15.0
ENGL161
15
1
15.0
MULT688
44
3
14.7
HIST425
138
10
13.8
BUSW681
80
6
13.3
CIS 255
66
5
13.2
CHEM100
92
7
13.1
BUS.170
65
5
13.0
CIS 286
26
2
13.0
LIBR105
26
2
13.0
P.E.684
26
2
13.0
CIS 287
13
1
13.0
SPCH180
129
10
12.9
BUSW383
49
4
12.3
SPAN116
151
13
11.6
BUSW215
23
2
11.5
MUS.301
23
2
11.5
MULT686
99
9
11.0
BUSW682
44
4
11.0
CIS 390
11
1
11.0
ANTH350
130
12
10.8
CIS 278
43
4
10.8
BUSW683
20
2
10.0
MULT101
10
1
10.0
ENGL844
9
1
9.0
ENGL880
9
1
9.0
ENGL888
9
1
9.0
CHIN134
44
5
8.8
PLSC415
34
4
8.5
CIS 256
31
4
7.8
HSCI680
14
2
7.0
CIS 383
7
1
7.0
CIS 382
13
2
6.5
HIST103
13
2
6.5
CIS 381
24
4
6.0
CIS 279
22
4
5.5
SPAN117
70
13
5.4
FREN116
56
11
5.1
ESYS415
20
4
5.0
CIS 384
5
1
5.0
ITAL116
59
13
4.5
SPAN118
40
12
3.3
ITAL117
32
12
2.7
FREN117
20
8
2.5
FREN118
12
6
2.0
ENGL162
2
1
2.0
ITAL118
17
10
1.7
MUS.302
1
1
1.0
19753
838
23.6
For further information, contact the Office of Articulation and Research. Phone: (650) 574-6196 Fax: (650) 358-6831 Internet: www.smccd.net/accounts/csmresearch/