PDF & Related InfoChapters 2 through 6 of this report present findings on various aspects of distance education for all 2-year and 4-year postsecondary education institutions for 1997–98. This chapter provides comparisons of distance education course offerings, enrollments, degrees and certificates, and technologies at the subset of 2-year and 4- year higher education institutions for 1994–95 and 1997–98. These comparisons are based on the two PEQIS distance education studies conducted by NCES.17 The chapter begins with an overview of the similarities and differences between the two PEQIS studies. Information is then provided about the extent of change in the percentage of institutions offering distance education courses, the number of distance education courses offered, the number of enrollments in distance education courses, the availability of distance education degree and certificate programs, and the technologies used to deliver distance education courses.
The 1997–98 study was sent to all postsecondary education institutions in the PEQIS panel, both higher education and other postsecondary education institutions. In order to make comparisons between the 1997–98 study and the 1995 study, which was sent only to higher education institutions, the data from the 1997–98 study were analyzed for the subset of higher education institutions. It is the data from this subset of institutions that are presented in this chapter. Additional information about differences in the samples between the two studies is presented in appendix A.
In addition, there were slight variations in wording between some of the items on the two surveys. This included the wording for the number of distance education courses offered, enrollment in distance education courses, degree and certificate programs, and the distance education technologies used. These variations in question wording are discussed in appendix A. Also, the data from the 1995 study were not imputed for item nonresponse. However, item nonresponse was very low and did not substantially affect the results. In the following sections, item nonresponse is noted where it occurred.
In fall 1995, 33 percent of 2-year and 4-year higher education institutions offered distance education courses (table 21). In 1997–98, this had grown to 44 percent of 2-year and 4-year higher education institutions. Growth occurred for all institutional types except private 2-year, and for all sizes of institutions. The percentage of public 2-year institutions offering distance education courses grew from 58 percent to 72 percent, and the percentage of public 4-year institutions offering distance education courses increased from 62 percent to 79 percent. While distance education continued to be offered more frequently by public institutions, the percentage of private 4-year institutions offering distance education was approximately double in 1997–98 (22 percent) what it was in 1995 (12 percent).
In both 1995 and 1997–98, large percentages of private 2-year and private 4-year institutions did not offer and did not plan to offer distance education in the next 3 years (table 21). Other findings from the 1995 study suggest that some of the major reasons that institutions do not plan to offer distance education in the next few years are a perceived lack of fit between distance education and the institution's mission, a perceived lack of need for distance education, program development costs, and a limited technological infrastructure to support distance education Mulugetta and Mulugetta 1999; U.S. Department of Education 1997). These reasons may be particularly important for private institutions, especially private 2-year institutions, since private institutions are smaller than public institutions, often have fewer financial resources available to them since they do not receive public funding, and usually have different institutional missions and constituencies.
In the 1994–95 academic year, an estimated 25,730 distance education courses with different catalog numbers were offered by 2-year and 4- year higher education institutions (table 22).18 By 1997–98, the number of courses had grown to 47,540 different college-level, credit-granting distance education courses, and 52,270 different distance education courses for any level or audience. Thus, the number of distance education courses offered was approximately double in 1997–98 what it was in 1994–95. Public 2-year, public 4-year, and private 4-year institutions all experienced this rapid growth in the number of distance education courses offered. However, the overall pattern by institutional type in the number of courses offered did not change. That is, most courses were offered by public 2-year and public 4-year institutions at both points in time. This is consistent with the distributions of the percentage of institutions that offered distance education at both time points (see table 21), and is also consistent with the findings on course offerings for all postsecondary institutions in 1997–98 (see table 6). Taken together, the findings for courses and institutions suggest that change is more rapid in the number of distance education course offerings by institutions, rather than in the number or percentage of institutions offering distance education courses. The increased number of distance education courses is due more to institutions adding distance education courses than to an increase in the number of institutions offering distance education.
There were an estimated 753,640 formal enrollments in distance education courses at 2- year and 4-year higher education institutions in the 1994–95 academic year (table 23).19 By 1997–98, the number of enrollments had grown to 1,343,580 enrollments in college-level, creditgranting distance education courses, and 1,632,350 enrollments in all distance education courses.20 Thus, as with courses, distance education enrollments overall were approximately double in 1997–98 what they were in 1994–95. Public 2-year, public 4-year, and private 4-year institutions all experienced rapid growth in enrollments. For public 4-year institutions, the number of enrollments in all distance education courses was approximately triple in 1997–98 (711,350) what it was in 1994–95 (234,020). Enrollment growth was somewhat less at these public 4-year institutions for college-level, creditgranting distance education courses, with 452,600 enrollments in 1997–98. As with the number of courses offered, most of the enrollments in all types of distance education courses in both years were in public 2-year and public 4-year institutions.
The patterns of increases in enrollment and course offerings and the percentage of institutions offering distance education, when considered together, reinforce the suggestion that while more institutions began to offer distance education, the most dramatic changes were in the number of distance education courses and enrollments.
In fall 1995, 23 percent of the institutions that offered distance education courses offered degrees that students could complete by taking distance education courses exclusively, and 7 percent offered certificates that could be completed this way (table 24).21 These percentages were essentially unchanged for 1997–98, with 22 percent having degree programs and 7 percent having certificate programs designed to be completed totally through distance education. Although there was no change in the percentage of institutions offering degree and certificate programs, the number of programs offered increased, from 690 degrees and 170 certificates in fall 199522 to 1,190 degree programs and 330 certificate programs in 1997–98. Thus, while the percentage of institutions offering distance education degree and certificate programs did not increase, the number of such degree and certificate programs did grow. This suggests that the growth in degree and certificate programs was due to increases among institutions that already offered such programs, rather than to an increase in the number of institutions offering such programs.
In 1995, more institutions used two-way interactive video (57 percent) and one-way prerecorded video (52 percent) than any of the other technologies (table 25).23 In 1997–98, the technologies used by more institutions than any of the other technologies were Internet courses using asynchronous computer-based instruction (60 percent), two-way interactive video (56 percent), and one-way prerecorded video (48 percent).24 Thus, the percentages of institutions using two-way interactive video and one-way prerecorded video were comparable in the two years. However, the percentage of institutions offering Internet courses using asynchronous computer-based instruction grew substantially from 1995 to 1997–98, from 22 percent to 60 percent.25 The percentage of institutions that offered Internet courses using synchronous computer-based instruction grew slightly, from 14 percent in 1995 to 19 percent in 1997–98. In general, use of the remaining technologies decreased slightly from 1995 to 1997–98.
Although the percentage of institutions offering Internet courses using asynchronous computerbased instruction has nearly tripled, there are a couple of points to keep in mind about these results. First, these data only provide information about whether an institution used the technology at all, and not about the extent to which it was used by the institution. That is, an institution that offered one course using this technology was counted the same way in these analyses as an institution that offered all of its courses using this technology, since information was only collected about whether an institution used this technology at all, and not about the number of courses offered with this technology. Second, while use of this technology has clearly grown quickly in the last few years, the percentage of institutions using it in 1997–98 was about the same as the percentage of institutions using two-way interactive video in that year. Thus, distance education should not be equated with online (Internet-based) education.
Table 26 shows the percentage of institutions using selected technologies by institutional type at both points in time. Across institutional types, public 4-year institutions were more likely than other types of institutions to use two-way interactive video and one-way video with twoway audio at both time points, while public 2- year institutions were more likely than other types of institutions to use one-way prerecorded video at both points in time. The computer-based technologies show an interesting pattern across the time points. While these technologies tended to be used by a larger percentage of public and private 4-year institutions than public 2-year institutions in 1995, in general these technologies were about equally likely to be used by all the types of institutions in 1997–98.
The information in table 26 about technology usage can also be examined within each institutional type for the two points in time. Public 2-year institutions were more likely to use one-way prerecorded video than any other technology in 1995; in 1997–98, however, public 2-year institutions were about equally likely to use one-way prerecorded video, asynchronous Internet instruction, and two-way interactive video. Public 4-year institutions were more likely to use two-way interactive video than any other technology in both 1995 and 1997–98. No technology stood out as particularly prevalent for private 4-year institutions in 1995; in 1997–98, however, private 4-year institutions were more likely to use asynchronous Internet instruction than any other technology.
Data presented in this chapter indicate that a number of changes occurred in the time period between the two studies. For example, between fall 1995 and 1997–98, the percentage of higher education institutions offering distance education courses increased by about one-third, from 33 percent to 44 percent. Growth in the percentage of institutions offering distance education occurred for all institutional types except private 2-year institutions, and for all sizes of institutions. In 1997–98, about three-quarters of the public 2-year and 4-year institutions were offering distance education courses. The number of distance education enrollments and course offerings approximately doubled between 1994– 95 and 1997–98. For public 4-year institutions, increases in enrollments in all distance education courses approximately tripled in that time period. Although the percentages of institutions offering distance education degree and certificate programs were unchanged, the number of degree and certificate programs that were offered nearly doubled. This pattern suggests that while there is change in the percentage of institutions offering distance education, the most dramatic changes appear to be within the institutions that have been offering distance education for the past 3 years— these institutions have greatly increased the number of distance education courses, enrollments, and degree and certificate programs that they offer.
With regard to changes in distance education technologies employed among all higher education institutions offering any distance education, the percentages of institutions using two-way interactive video and one-way prerecorded video were essentially the same in 1997–98 as in 1995. The use of asynchronous Internet-based technologies, however, grew from 22 percent of institutions in 1995 to 60 percent of institutions in 1997–98.
17 The first PEQIS study, conducted in fall 1995, sometimes asked
for information about the current time frame (i.e., fall 1995), and
sometimes asked for information about academic year 1994–95.
Thus, both dates appear in the results section of this chapter. The
second PEQIS study, conducted in winter 1998–99, is referred to
as the 1997–98 study, since the data were collected for that time
period.
18 Courses with different catalog numbers excluded multiple sections
of the same course. There was no item nonresponse for the
number of distance education courses in the 1995 study.
19 The data for the 1995 study were not imputed for item
nonresponse. However, only 0.6 percent of the institutions
offering distance education courses did not report the number of
enrollments in those courses.
20 In both studies, if a student was enrolled in multiple courses,
institutions were instructed to count the student for each course in
which he or she was enrolled. Thus, enrollments may include
duplicated counts of students.
21 There was no item nonresponse in the percentage of institutions
offering degrees and certificates in the 1995 study.
22 The data for the 1995 study were not imputed for item
nonresponse. However, only 1.3 percent of the institutions
offering distance education courses did not report the number of
degree and certificate programs.
23 There was no item nonresponse for these technology items in the
1995 study.
24 Information was not collected in either year about the number of
courses offered using each technology, only whether the institution
used it at all (or used it as a primary mode of instruction) for
di stance education courses.
25 In 1997–98, the wording of the computer-based technologies was
changed to more accurately reflect how these technologies are
used. In 1995, the categories were two-way online (computerbased)
interactions during instruction, and other computer-based
technology (e.g., Internet). In 1997–98, the categories were
Internet courses using synchronous (i.e., simultaneous) computerbased
instruction (e.g., interactive computer conferencing or
Interactive Relay Chat), and Internet courses using asynchronous
(i.e., not simultaneous) computer-based instruction (e.g., e-mail,
listserves, and most World Wide Web-based courses). For the
comparisons presented in this chapter, two-way online (computerbased)
interactions during instruction is considered to be
approximately equivalent to Internet courses using synchronous
computer-based instruction, and other computer-based technology
(e.g., Internet) is considered to be approximately equivalent to
Internet courses using asynchronous computer-based instruction.
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