A 'Disruptive' Look at Competency-Based Education: How the Innovative Use of Technology Will Transform the College Experience - This brief considers whether new competency-based education initiatives such as free, high-quality online college courses can truly disrupt the current model of postsecondary education by being effectively taken to scale. The first section provides a short primer on competency-based education in postsecondary education. Next the authors introduce the four elements of disruptive innovation theory, a business theory that considers how technology can change an organization, and use these elements as a guide to study education initiatives that could promote disruptive innovation. The brief is concluded with a number of recommendations for policymakers on how to facilitate disruptive innovation to transform higher education. (Center for American Progress, June 2012)...

Higher Education: Use of New Data Could Help Improve Oversight of Distance Education - This Government Accountability Office report found that the Education Department does not know which colleges enroll the most students through distance-education programs or which programs receive the most federal financial aid. As a result, the department is unable to focus its monitoring on the highest-risk programs. The report recommends that the department develop a plan to use new data that NCES is collecting to guide its oversight efforts. (U.S. Government Accountability office, November 2011)...

Learning at a Distance: Undergraduate Enrollment in Distance Education Courses and Degree Programs - This report investigates participation in distance education using the most current nationally representative student-reported data collected by the National Center for Education Statistics. The data comes from the three most recent administrations of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study. This report allows for exploration of how participation in these courses varies with student characteristics. (Alexandria Walton Radford and Thomas Weko, National Center for Education Statistics, October 2011)...

2011 Distance Education Survey Results: Trends in eLearning: Tracking the Impact of eLearning at Community Colleges - Reviews major developments for the year 2010 and reports annual survey results on the status of distance education at community colleges. Identifies current focus areas as including moving to the cloud, shifting to mobile devices, the future of the learning management system, regional accreditation, and open educational resources. (Instructional Technology Council, May 2011)...

Online and Hybrid Course Enrollment and Performance in Washington State Community and Technical Colleges - This report looks at enrollment patterns and academic outcomes in online, hybrid and face-to-face courses among students who enrolled in Washington state community and technical colleges in the fall of 2004. The students were tracked for nearly five years. Given the important of online learning current system supports for online learning should be bolstered and strengthened in order to improve completion rates among online learners. Specific recommendations are made. (Community College Research Center, March 2011)...

Online Learning: Does It Help Low-Income and Underprepared Students? - Educators are optimistic about the potential of online learning to promote access to college by reducing the cost and time of commuting as well as allow the student to study on a schedule that works for them. This paper examines the literature for evidence regarding the impact of online learning and found online learning may hinder progression for low-income and underprepared students. The author goes on to explore why students might struggle in these courses and discusses current access barriers to online education. The study ends with suggestions on how public policy and institutional practice could be changed to allow online learning to better meet its potential for these students. (Shanna Jaggars, Community College Research Center-Teachers College, Columbia University, January 2011)...

Class Differences: Online Education in the United States, 2010 - This is the 8th annual report on the state of online learning in U.S. higher education. The study is aimed at answering some of the fundamental questions about the nature and extent of online education. More than 2,500 colleges and universities answered questions about whether or not online learning is strategic, how many students are learning online, whether learning outcomes in online are comparable to face-to-face learning, and if online education has an impact of the economy. (I. Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman, Sloan Consortium, November 2010)...

Speeding Toward a Slowdown? - According to this report, online college enrollments grew by 21% to 5.6 million last fall, the biggest percentage increase in several years. At the same time, the authors say online growth might begin to slow down in the near future since the biggest drivers of enrollment growth face budget challenges and stricter recruitment oversight from the federal government. Nearly one million more students took an online course in fall 2009 than in the previous year. (I. Elaine Allen and Jeff Seamon, Sloan Consortium, November 2010)...

Trends in eLearning: Tracking the Impact of eLearning at Community Colleges - Distance education survey results for 2009 strives to identify relevant data and ensure its timely tabulation and distribution. The distance education landscape is changing rapidly and the need for relevant data and information has never been more important. It is new ground for college administrators being asked to support new staffing, space and budget requests — often with a fixed or shrinking budget. Even though it is new ground the college administrators want to ensure they are making the right decisions that will benefit their students, faculty, staff and greater community. (Instructional Technology Council, March 2010)...

Aligning State Approval and Regional Accreditation for Online Postsecondary Institutions: A National Strategy - The Presidents' Forum brings together a broad spectrum of institutions that have the common attribute of facing growing challenges to college access. The Forum has invited a task force to define and devise strategies to address and ameliorate college access concerns. This paper presents the work of this task force, exploring the background and proposing strategies that might simplify and improve the regulatory process. (President's Forum, November 2009)...

Results of the Pilot Survey for SIIA Vision K-20 - Vision K-20 states specific goals for K-20 institutions so they can embrace technology in order to allow educators to teach and learn in ways that were previously impossible, enable educators to be more efficient and effective in teaching and learning, and provide lifelong learning. Between March and June 2008 educators nationwide responded to the pilot survey. The results reveal a number of areas where considerable work still needs to be undertaken. (Software and Information Industry Association, June 2008)...