The pandemic permanently changed the higher ed landscape. Chief Online Officers indicate student interest in online learning is significantly increasing and the majority believe it will continue to grow.
A new report, CHLOE7, focuses on how online learning is being managed in higher education through the perspectives of Chief Online Officers (COOs) at 300 US colleges and universities. The comprehensive reports include various areas of interest from day-to-day management of online learning to students, faculty, and staff support to quality assurance and strategic planning.
Key questions for this year focused on what administrative functions are being centralized and decentralized and to what extent; how services from third parties are incorporated to help institutions meet their online learning goals; gauging the demand for online learning now and into the near future; and how institutions can effectively assure that students are having a quality learning experience and achieving their learning goals.
One of the report’s conclusions is that by 2025, most students will be in a hybrid or blended course of study, and institutions will be offering combinations of face-to-face, online synchronous, and online asynchronous learning experiences for all students.
The COOs view the current alignment between increasing student demand for online learning and the institutional strategy for meeting the demand by student type:
- 60% alignment for graduate students
- 44% alignment for adult undergraduates
- 36% alignment for traditional undergraduates.
Additional findings include:
- Institutions are now fully able to shift to a remote instruction environment if needed.
- More than half of responding COOs believe that meeting the anticipated undergraduate online demand at their institution will require realignment of institutional strategy and priorities.
- Most are optimistic but some see unresolved tensions between longstanding priorities and student demand.
- New areas of investment include provision of web-conferencing software, targeted support for synchronous and multi-modal courses, and technical support for faculty who now teach from home.
- While 50% of responding COOs indicate that their institution requires all asynchronous online courses to meet quality standards, two-thirds of institutions lack any required process to validate compliance with the standards. Voluntary reviews and adherence are the norm.
- However, COOs admitted to frequent omissions of standards that address student outcomes (34%) and student support (27%).
- The 17% increase in staffing levels over the past two years in key roles for online success, such as instructional designers, educational technologists, advisers, and coaches has been a positive investment and will continue to grow to support student and faculty needs.
- 19% of COOs acknowledged shortcomings in their ability to meet the social and psychological needs of students and 35% to training students effectively to succeed in online learning.
- The two leading categories for increased investment in the faculty include professional development for online instructional design and online teaching.
The seventh installment of the Changing Landscape of Online Education (CHLOE) report, produced by Quality Matters™ and Eduventures, offers an overview of the current state of online learning in higher education as well as insights into its future development. The report was compiled by surveying chief online officers (COOs) at two- and four-year colleges and universities.