ExtensionEngine Blog

As we enter 2019, many institutions that have tiptoed around the digital landscape are coming to grips with the realization that online learning is almost certainly in their future, one way or another. One driver is declining overall enrollments; the latest statistics show a drop of 90,000 students — or a half of a percentage point — during 2017, the most recent period for which we have data. At the same time, enrollments in online learning increased by 350,000, or 5.7%.

Student enrollments in online learning continue to increase but are very concentrated in public institutions and large private universities. Left out in the cold — and seemingly content to remain there — are the smaller private institutions.

Goldie Blumenstyk’s recent column, “Online Learning Is Misunderstood. Here’s How,” in The Chronicle of Higher Education, raises compelling issues about online learning.

We exhibited at the DevLearn show in Las Vegas last week, and it was an interesting experience. Well, of course just being in Las Vegas is an interesting experience. But more relevant to the interests of our blog readers is the experience we had in our conversations with conference attendees.

The online program management (OPM) landscape is a confusing one, the result of rapid evolution and an ever-greater assortment of businesses keen on winning their share of what has become a very lucrative market. We do not envy the task of any institution of higher learning seeking to upgrade their online learning program, and even less one considering the launch of their first program.

It’s not personal — it’s demographic.

An Eduventures Summit panel discussion

At the 2018 Eduventures Summit in Boston, a panel of representatives from Harvard Business School (HBX), ArtCenter College of Design, Moravian College, and ExtensionEngine discussed the following tenet:

John Leh at Talented Learning recently interviewed Meera Chary of The Bridgespan Group about how that organization has leveraged online learning to reach a broader client base for their consulting services.

At the New Teacher Center, we work with educators every day to provide them with support to be truly effective. We understand that students are unique — individual learners with individual needs. Teachers and teacher leaders must have an arsenal of approaches to be able to respond to their students.

If you’re a leader or an educator at an academic institution, you’re already well acquainted with the many benefits of digital learning: