Over the past several months, public attention has continued to be drawn to the issues of online learning and distance education. With increasing frequency, independent and government organizations alike have begun the process of formally reviewing the players in the market.
Following an intense study of the distance learning market by Hezel Associates and the National University Telecommunications Network (NUTN), IQAT (the Interactive Quality Assessment Tool) was developed and launched in 2006. IQAT’s purpose is to assist subscribing organizations with benchmarking of their distance learning activities. That is, to provide a tool that aids in self-assessment as well as in the consideration of various market-driven factors. Although NUTN and Hezel Associates were the first to offer a benchmarking tool, other public and private groups have started to look at the situation with more scrutiny than ever before.
In February 2007, The Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET) surveyed its official institutional membership about their use of adjunct faculty in teaching online courses. Factors such as cost, enrollment, and management were reviewed, with an extremely wide range of responses. The Sloan Consortium recently released its fourth annual report on the state of e-learning in higher education, Making the Grade: Online Education in the United States 2006. Through its research efforts, Sloan continues to formally consider various factors of the online learning market, ranging from analysis of the student population to market entry barriers and institutional strategic initiatives. Both WCET and Sloan’s actions make a bold statement: online learning is a permanent part of the higher education market that should be surveyed and benchmarked as it continues to evolve.
Just as private organizations such as Sloan and WCET are considering the issue, government oversight is not far behind. An announcement was made on Feb. 19, 2007 that the U.S. Education Department would be making some significant additions to its Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Most importantly, IPEDS will begin asking institutions to report data on their accountability measures, attempting to clear some of the haze from higher education and increase transparency. These additional requests for data from IPEDS were expected, as the issue has been under various levels of consideration through most of 2006.
What does this change of focus mean for institutions? Clearly, in some cases, the additional reporting requirements will create further burdens in data collection and management. For proactive institutions, however, the burden should be familiar, and ultimately, light. Most institutions that offer distance learning have had experience with harvesting the information needed to benchmark their organizations. The most important activitiy for schools with [then] be adding aspects of their distance learning programs to their institutional strategic plan, and including them as comparative factors in benchmarking reports.
To continue its position as the most cutting-edge tool available for benchmarking of distance learning programs, IQAT will expand to include new research areas. Future development concentrations may include integration of mandated data collection items from public agencies, such as the US Department of Education based on the Spelling's Commission, or perhaps partnership with private organizations who share IQAT’s interest in the distance learning landscape. Subscribers are always invited to share their other benchmarking and survey response activities to ensure inclusion in upcoming strategic development of the Interactive Quality Assessment Tool. Though there will be continued uncertainty about what the benchmarking market and accountability concentration areas will be, one thing is for sure—there will always be someone looking over our shoulders.
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