Sloan Survey Discovers Strong Growth Trend in U.S. Online Learning

WebKnowHow
Friday, November 10, 2006; 05:07 AM

The Sloan Survey of Online Learning, "Making the Grade: Online Education in the United States, 2006" shows tremendous growth in online learning in America. The complete survey is available at http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/index.asp.

"This is the largest study to date and it tells us online learning is growing without any sign of a plateau," says Jeff Seaman, chief information officer and survey director, the Sloan Consortium. "There were nearly 3.2 million students taking at least one course online this past fall, up from 2.3 million just last year."

The fourth annual survey is a collaborative effort between the College Board and the Sloan Consortium. It's based upon responses from more than 2,200 colleges and universities nationwide and represents the state of online learning in U.S. higher education.

"We include Sloan questions in the College Board's Annual Survey of Colleges to better understand the state of online learning at our country's institutions of higher education," said Hal Higginbotham, chief information officer, the College Board. "The insight we gain from the survey enables us to better serve those who benefit from online courses, those who traditionally wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to connect to college success."

The survey also finds a larger percentage (62 percent) of chief academic officers agree the learning outcomes in online education are now as good as or superior to face-to-face instruction while 57 percent say it is critical to their institution's long-term strategy.

In addition, 73 percent agree online education reaches students not served by face-to-face programs. "Offering courses online increases enrollment particularly among populations like working adults and others who traditionally have not been able to access higher education," says Frank Mayadas, program director, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

The Sloan Consortium (http://www.sloan-c.org) is a large association of institutions and organizations committed to quality online education and administered through Babson College and Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering.