Internet Learning Volume 3, Number 2, Fall 2014 | Page 34

Positioning for Success in the Higher Education Online Learning Environment articulate for students the path from degree selection to desired outcome. For-profit institutions, given their primarily adult and national student populations are particularly adept at both building those networks and helping students identify their pathways via competency dashboards and career guidance systems. • Support Your Future Students – Colleges and universities are developing bridge programs and online high schools to generate a pipeline for new quality students (for example, the University of Texas at Austin). Additionally, some institutions with a significant amount of online content may find it appropriate to provide it as OERs or to lease it to community colleges or K-12 schools. Among the angles and considerations to providing content include: • Providing content to smaller colleges or community colleges that do not have many online courses may prove cost beneficial to those schools. Community colleges in particular may be a willing partner. The latest survey from the Instructional Technology Council of the American Association of Community Colleges revealed that 48% of the respondents reported that student demand for distance education courses exceeded the distance education offerings at their college in 2013 (Lokken & Mullins, 2014). In addition to supplementing the course catalog, community colleges could also be specifically interested in online content that they may not be equipped to provide, such as in STEM. Moreover, in a state system where transfer of credits among community colleges and four years schools is mandatory, providing online courses to in-state community colleges would ensure that the courses align with the four-year school degree enabling a seamless transfer for students and a potentially greater likelihood of success in completing their bachelor programs. • There might also be opportunities in the K-12 space for online content; however, there can be issues regarding connectivity. The February 2014 announcement by President Obama that seven private companies will give donations totaling $750 million to improve technology in schools, with the goal of connecting 99% of students to high speed internet is a positive development. However, according to the EducationSuperHighway Initiative, more than 70% of current schools are not hitting the minimum goal for Internet connectivity (Severns, 2014). Despite this, a report from Project Tomorrow noted that 83% of high schools offer online programs (Project Tomorrow, 2014). As high schools are the likely preferred market for college-generated content, there is the possibility for collaboration and content distribution. • Leasing content does come with its issues as there is meaningful competition from the publishers, although university content could carry credit. Some potential partners may also find that other MOOC and OER content sufficient for their needs, at least for the purposes of blended learning. There may be resistance among faculty about teaching outside content. Also, institutions and possibly accreditors may have concerns awarding credit for content that was not produced in-house. 33