Barbara Oakley, PhD, PE
Assoc. Prof. of Engineering
Oakland University
What we’ll cover
 Why should Oakland University and its professors
care about the changing landscape of online learning?
 How might the broadening availability of MOOCs
and general online learning impact Oakland
University and its professors?
 How might Oakland University and individual
faculty members strategically address the
opportunities and potential pitfalls of online learning?
Institute for Emerging Leadership in
Online Learning (IELOL)
Online Primer: July 14–August 1, 2014
On-site: August 11–14, 2014, State College, Pennsylvania
Project (Online): September 13–October 3, 2014
Sloan-C Pre-conference Workshop: October 29, 2014
Objectives of IELOL
Dr. Bruce Chaloux
Dr. Lawrence Ragan
• Establish a network of international colleagues involved
in a variety of online education initiatives.
• Understand the rapidly changing role of online learning
in higher education.
• Gain a leadership perspective to address institutional
challenges in higher education.
• Recognize and seize institutional opportunities for
leadership in online education.
• Identify the leading forces impacting higher education
and online learning globally.
Why should Oakland
University and its professors
care about the changing
landscape of online learning?
Today’s universities were created for industrial
societies of 1850s, not global information society
of today.
• How do we serve our society
better?
• We should have a sense of
mission for what we do.
• We are helping institutions
become what is needed.
Drivers for disruption
“A majority of Americans (57%) say the higher
education system in the United States fails to
provide students with good value for the money
they and their families spend. An even larger
majority—75%—says college is too expensive for
most Americans to afford.”
—2011 survey by the Pew Research Center
Debt increasing by 6%
each year 2008 - 2011.
Up 10% in 2012.
How much student debt is carried by grads of Michigan colleges
School
Avg. debt of grads
Adrian College
$30,645
Albion College
$36,029
Calvin College
$32,957
Central Michigan University
$31,520
Eastern Michigan University
$25,133
Ferris State University
$36,930
Grand Valley State University
$28,728
Hope College
$37,010
Kalamazoo College
$27,845
Lake Superior State University
$28,500
Lawrence Technological University
$41,529
Michigan State University
$24,987
Michigan Technological University
$34,938
Northern Michigan University
$29,371
Northwood University-Michigan
$32,457
Oakland University
$19,697
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
$27,815
University of Michigan-Flint
$26,899
Wayne State University
$24,316
Western Michigan University
$30,867
% with debt
75%
62%
63%
75%
68%
81%
72%
65%
53%
76%
75%
46%
73%
68%
74%
60%
44%
71%
55%
62%
Cost of attendance
$38,283
$43,922
$37,770
$20,556
$19,469
$21,490
$21,196
$37,660
$46,732
$20,617
$39,846
$23,202
$25,157
$19,047
$32,018
$21,626
$25,204
$20,452
$21,495
$22,154
The Institute for College Access & Success, College InSight, http://www.college-insight.org. The cost of
attendance is for students who live on campus
Our Competing Academic Institutions
Are hiring consulting companies and developing internal
initiatives to:
• Help them understand the online market
• Allow them to do a competitive assessment
• Allow them to do program feasibility studies and
market scans
• Develop a strategic vision and assess operations,
technology & structure
• Develop rubrics to improve program quality
• Recruit and retain students
“Right to Know Before
You Go” Act
 Co-sponsored by Democratic Senator Ron Wyden
and Republican Senator Marco Rubio
 The bill aims to make data on publicly available to
policymakers, parents, and students:
o
o
o
o
Graduation rates
Transfer rates
Average graduate salary for every college program
Future employment for every college program
Increasing trends towards
learner-centered education
 Competency-based
education—a growing
personalization movement.
 Students will drive more of
their learning. A greater
role for the advisor/faculty
coach.
 Threat and promise of
badging.
 Self-learning is becoming
critical
Adjusting from
brick to click—
evolving trends
 The book was the first distance learning.
 The assumption is always that in-class is always superior
to on-line.
 Unbundling of faculty role.
 Revenue streams drive where education goes. Online
captures revenues—students want online coursework.
 Unbundling of degrees due to push for more open
transfer policies. Universities have less ownership of the
degree.
 Poor transfer practices would mean that we lose students
and also don’t do justice to students.
The rise of competencybased education
 Three universities are experimenting with this:
o University of Wisconsin
o Southern New Hampshire
o Western Governors University
 Students demonstrate mastery of a subject through a
series of assessment tests or assignments, instead of
following a prescribed set of courses.
Thoughts to ponder
 There is a commoditization to online presence. There
is a LOT of competition—institutions that don’t keep
up can continue to incrementally lose out.
 Rethink peer institutions when it comes to online—
our competitors are not necessarily who you think
they are.
 What is our differentiator? How can we use our
strengths to recruit effectively?
How might the broadening
availability of MOOCs and
general online learning
impact Oakland University
and its professors?
Online Degree Programs at OU
 Undergraduate Degree Programs
o Bachelor of Integrative Studies
o BS in Occupational Safety and Health
o RRN/BSN Degree Completion Sequence
 Master’s Degree Programs
o
o
o
o
o
Med in Special Education with ASD Certificate
Master of Business Administration
MS in IT Management – Business Analytics
MS in Engineering Management
MS in Safety Management
Georgia Tech
 $40,000 versus $6000.
Spring and Summer 2013
SJSU Plus Courses’ Pass Rates
Courses
Spring Pilot 2013
Summer Pilot
2013
2013 SJSU On-Campus
(based on past 6
semesters)
Elementary Statistics 50.5%
100 students
83.0%
400 students
76.3%
College Algebra
25.4%
100 students
72.6%
200 students
64.7%
Entry Level Math
23.8%
100 students
29.8%
200 students
45.5%
General Psychology
not offered
67.3%
400 students
83.0%
Intro to
Programming
not offered
70.4%
700 students
67.6%
MOOCs are like eBooks
 Lots of failure as the providing mechanisms are
evolving, but once traction hits, the landscape will
begin changing rapidly.
How might Oakland
University and individual
faculty members strategically
address the opportunities and
potential pitfalls of online
learning?
Fully Online Courses at Oakland University
250
200
200
186
186
178
164
150
140
136
124
117
110
100
87
78
59
50
41
25
60
61
44
31
22
0
WI 04 FA 04 WI 05 FA 05 WI 06 FA 06 WI 07 FA 07 WI 08 FA 08 WI 09 FA 09 WI10 FA 10 WI 11 FA 11 WI 12 FA 12 WI 13 FA 13
Enrollments in Online Courses at Oakland University
6,000
4,943
5,000
4,530 4,535 4,581
4,119
4,000
3,637
3,170 3,187
3,000
2,710 2,736
2,013 2,007
2,000
1,571 1,519
1,340
1,157
954
1,000
675
472
567
0
WI 04 FA 04 WI 05 FA 05 WI 06 FA 06 WI 07 FA 07 WI 08 FA 08 WI 09 FA 09 WI10 FA 10 WI 11 FA 11 WI 12 FA 12 WI 13 FA 13
National percentage
figures
2500
Online Enrollments at Oakland University by School/College
2000
1500
FA09
FA10
FA11
FA12
FA13
1000
500
0
CAS
SBA
SEHS
SECS
SHS
SON
Existing Strength &
Potential for Growth
 Existing fantastic structure in our outstanding ELearning and Instructional Support (e-LIS).
 Potential for a high level “knit together” person to
help provide strategic vision and implementation.
o Cathy Cheal, Associate Vice President and Senior
Academic Technology Officer, San Jose State
Online classes
 Reestablish trust in institutions—better job of getting
at what employers want.
 Many universities have excellent centers of online
learning with instructional designers to facilitate
delivery of online instruction. There is bad distance
teaching as well good distance teaching….
 Pay attention to faculty and reward, tenure/tenuretrack or adjunct.
Potential benefits for students
and faculty
 Flipped classes can allow for improvement in
learning of outcomes.
 Potential time savings for both students and faculty.
 Potential cost savings for both the university & for
students.