Online education: issues and research questions [Editorial] (original) (raw)

2007, Journal of Technology …

One of the more startling recent developments in postsecondary education in the United States (U.S.) is the unprecedented growth of online education. Although the exact extent of this growth is unknown, and while some estimates in the past have been controversial, it seems clear that extensive recent growth has taken place. An extremely conservative estimate is that at least 3 million U.S. students are currently enrolled, and the field is growing at an annual rate of 41 percent (Primary Research Group, 2002). This phenomenal growth is not limited to the U.S. alone, and in fact, has been even more extensive in many other countries, especially when all forms of distance education are considered. Debeb (2001) has estimated that as early as 2001 there were 986 distanceteaching institutions in 107 countries, and that 90 million higher education distance learners were enrolled worldwide in 2000. He predicts that this number will reach at least 120 million by the year 2025. Furthermore, phenomenal growth in online education is occurring across extremely diverse disciplines (Hill & Raven, 2000), causing universities to invest "huge resources" in online education (Reid, 2003, p. 17). Extraordinary growth in online offerings is also occurring in teacher education. Paradoxically, the growth in online education, while startling in its scope, velocity and cost, has directly affected only a minority of students and faculty. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2003), until recently, only about eight percent of undergraduates and ten percent of graduate students have taken a distance education class. Furthermore, Saba (2005) estimates that only between two and twelve percent of faculty are involved in "teaching via technology beyond the campus proper." These numbers, humbling as they are, include all fields of study; online teacher education experiences make up an even smaller subset. This suggests that so-called "early adopters" of technology may have made up the majority of faculty and students who have so far been involved in the online education phenomenon. However, because of several conditions in higher education, we believe this is about to change. In fact, we would suggest that we may be at the cusp of a revolution in higher education instruction brought on by several recent developments, some of which are societal in nature while others are more directly related to changes in technology. The societal factors include, but are not limited to the following: 1. rapid growth in the number of for-profit institutions offering increasing numbers of online courses, programs, and degrees to compete with the face-to-face offerings at traditional institutions; 2. increasing numbers of public institutions suffering from financial difficulties coupled with the growing reluctance or inability of many state legislatures to fully fund these institutions; 3. increasing entry into higher education of nontraditional students whose life circumstances lead them to demand the flexibility and convenience of online courses and programs. 4. the increasing popularity of virtual classes and schools in K-12 education (Ferdig, Papanastasiou, & DiPietro, 2005). This has led to the belief that for K-12 teachers to be effective in teaching in virtual environments they need to have experience with learning in them during their professional preparation.