I have previously taken stock of the variety of online activities engaged in by colleges and universities. The list of possibilities for forms of online learning is lengthy, and it is sometimes difficult to understand why certain institutions focus on one as opposed to others as they develop their online offerings. To try to make sense of the landscape of institutional initiatives, I am developing a list of institutional drivers.
The drivers for colleges and universities to develop online offerings include at least the following:
Defense – protect existing programs from erosion
Innovation – initiate new programs in a new format
Revenue – generate additional revenue by increasing overall enrollment
Model – change the fundamental business model (e.g., tuition rate delivery cost structure)
Need – respond to a particular need as a result of a change in the field (e.g., an online program to teach online pedagogy)
Transition – respond to the belief that most education in the field is moving online (e.g., professional masters degrees moving online)
Mission – take advantage of new options to pursue an institutional mission (e.g., serving the most people at the lowest cost)
Marketing – spread the word about existing programs and the institution
Founding – institution founded as online only
Any one institution may be driven by more than one of these forces. It is possible to develop a complex profile of the pressures leading an institution to develop online offerings and certain clusters of drivers may be more likely than others.
Of course, there may be additional drivers worth considering, and I welcome suggestions for drivers to be added to the list.
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