Distance education at degree-granting postsecondary institutions: 2006-07

This report presents findings from 'Distance Education at Postsecondary Institutions: 2006-07', a survey that was designed to provide national estimates on distance education at 2-year and 4-year Title IV eligible, degree-granting institutions. Distance education was defined as a formal education process in which the student and instructor are not in the same place. Thus, instruction may be synchronous or asynchronous, and it may involve communication through the use of video, audio, or computer technologies, or by correspondence (which may include both written correspondence and the use of technology such as CD-ROM). The questionnaire instructed institutions to include distance education courses and programs that were formally designated as online, hybrid/blended online, and other distance education courses and programs. Hybrid/blended online courses were defined as a combination of online and in-class instruction with reduced in-class seat time for students. The 2006-07 study on distance education collected information on the prevalence, types, delivery, policies, and acquisition or development of distance education courses and programs. Findings indicate that during the 2006-07 academic year, two-thirds (66 per cent) of 2-year and 4-year Title IV degree-granting postsecondary institutions reported offering online, hybrid/blended online, or other distance education courses for any level or audience. Sixty-five per cent of the institutions reported college-level credit-granting distance education courses, and 23 per cent of the institutions reported noncredit distance education courses. Sixty-one per cent of 2-year and 4-year institutions reported offering online courses, 35 per cent reported hybrid/blended courses, and 26 per cent reported other types of college-level credit-granting distance education courses. Together, distance education courses accounted for an estimated 12.2 million enrollments (or registrations). Asynchronous (not simultaneous or real-time) Internet-based technologies were cited as the most widely used technology for the instructional delivery of distance education courses; they were used to a large extent in 75 per cent and to a moderate extent in 17 per cent of the institutions that offered college-level credit-granting distance education courses. The most common factors cited as affecting distance education decisions to a major extent were meeting student demand for flexible schedules, providing access to college for students who would otherwise not have access, making more courses available, and seeking to increase student enrollment.

Published summary from the NCES website. Show less