Education & Distance Learning Enthusiasts- Standards Urged For Online Course Development - Report 03/20/00 - report by the Institute for Higher Education Policy

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Standards Urged For Online Course Development - Report 03/20/00 - report by the Institute for Higher Education Policy - Internet/Web/Online Service Information

Newsbytes PM - March 20, 2000

WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 2000 MAR 20 (NB) -- While it may be too soon to determine whether Web-based education can be as effective as traditional classroom instruction, a recent study has outlined a set of standards colleges and universities can use in establishing or evaluating the quality of their Web-based curriculum, and, in effect, figure it out on their own.

The Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP), in a report commissioned by the National Education Association and Blackboard Inc., a developer of distance learning programs, sought to determine whether a series of "benchmarks" initially developed many years ago for evaluating all types of distance learning were sufficient to gauge the relative quality of Internet-based degree study programs - as opposed to single courses offered over the Internet.

The report, using the curriculum of six institutions thought to have the most experience in distance-learning programs, recommended a set of 24 "benchmarks" as essential to ensuring a quality Internet-based education program.

The study found three important - if somewhat obvious - benchmarks had not previously been considered. First, that the reliability of the technology delivery system should be as failsafe as possible, a recommendation with a special emphasis on security and privacy. Second, institutions should establish feedback mechanisms through which professors can adequately and realistically interact with and critique the work of their students. Lastly, the report found a greater need for mechanisms to ensure prompt communication between students and their career counselors, admissions officers and registrars.

As the number of Internet-based education programs have exploded over the past several years, colleges and universities have striven to prove that such programs are just as effective - if not more so - than traditional classroom courses. The Department of Education estimates that 78 percent of all colleges and universities offer some form of distance-learning program, and that more than 1.6 million students were enrolled in distance learning courses in 1998.

In a report issued last year, "What's the Difference: A View of Contemporary Research on the Effectiveness of Distance Learning in Higher Education," IHEP studied 300 published research reports on distance learning and found that distance education research quite often focuses on individual courses rather than study degree programs; and does not consider how so-called "virtual libraries" might restrict the academic reach of online courses. The report also found a high dropout rate among those that enroll in distance learning courses.

Officials from The American Federation of Teachers - one of the co-commissioner's of the "What's the Difference" report and a group that has been critical of the push for online education - were not immediately available for comment.

Jamie Merisotis, IHEP president and author of both reports, said while there is still insufficient data to evaluate in a quantitative sense the value of Web-based education vis--vis traditional coursework, the most recent report goes a long way toward establishing standards for schools to reach their own conclusions.

"This report tries to provide some guideposts for decision makers to determine how to measure that quality," Merisotis said. "Because Internet-based education is so new and is growing so rapidly, there is a disconnect between knowing what the quality of that education is and how effectively the technology is being used."

The National Education Association and Blackboard will present the full report on the second day of their Blackboard Summit 2000 in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.

The IHEP's site can be found at http://www.ihep.com .

Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com

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