AHE 591: Lesson 4

As Dr. Major's stated in the beginning of her blog this week, a college education is vital in today's society if a person wants a career (not just a job) that will provide financial stability, as well as personal gratification. This is more true now than it ever has been. When I talk to high school students about the importance of going to college and earning a degree, I try to get them to think long-term, over the span of their lifetime. Most studies show that any type of college degree or certification compared to a high school diploma will mean substantial income growth. The individual with a higher education often earns $1,000,000 more over their lifetime as compared to the one with just a high school diploma. So, when viewed in this light, the cost of a college education seems well worth it.

However, as Dr. Major also pointed out, this cost continues to rise, with seemingly no end in sight. This is certainly true of four-year universities. For example, I did a Google search of "University of Alabama  tuition increase". The first four results were from articles in 2011, 2012, 2013, and just recently in 2014 where the UA Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition in each of those years. Community colleges tout their affordability as compared to the four-year institution, which is true. But even the yearly tuition costs at community colleges, which in Alabama approximately amounts to $4,000, can be steep for some. I see it everyday in my office, as students come in asking for financial help to ease the burden of paying for tuition, books, and tools if they are in a technical program.

So, if higher education is critical for individuals to attain, yet increasingly expensive and an obstacle more and more individuals cannot overcome, what is the answer? As we have been learning in this course, online education, especially in the form of MOOC's (massive open online courses) can be an avenue in which students can get a higher education at a low cost to them, possibly even free. This is a wonderful thing, and something that will no doubt continue to influence higher education as a whole. My question is in regard to credentialing for the organizations that provide MOOC's, such as Khan Academy and EdX. How will businesses and industries view an education that was earned via MOOC's? Will it be viable in the job market? And, how will MOOC's be accredited so that the public at large will know that this is a legitimate option for those pursuing a higher education?

Online learning is not the silver bullet that will solve the problem of accessibility and tuition costs in higher education. But, it is here to stay, and will only continue to grow throughout this century. My two-month-old son will graduate high school in the year 2032 (hopefully!). I fully expect him to go to college, but I am sure that his college "classroom" experience will include more hours in front of a computer, tablet, or maybe even a smart phone, than mine ever did. 

AHE 591: Lesson 3

While I wouldn't rate this week's readings as the most exciting I have read throughout my graduate coursework (no offense, Dr. Major :), it definitely was thought-provoking. I have never given any thought to state's having to regulate their institutions using distance education and online learning, but it certainly makes sense. I do think that it is a difficult thing to oversee, especially as the different forms of online learning continue to grow. Forgive me for using a college football analogy, but it made me think of the NCAA and their inability to make sure that every athletic program is following every recruiting rule in the rulebook to a "T". The really good coaches and recruiters know how to push the boundaries of the rules and operate in a gray area where they technically aren't breaking a rule. I can see the same happening over time with online learning. Colleges want to increase their enrollment and tuition dollars. So instead of being restricted to only their geographic service area or state, online learning essentially makes anybody who is living and breathing a potential student. Over time, I think college decision-makers and administrators will try to find ways to recruit the student(s) who lives on the other side of the country, and even the other side of the globe, if it means increased enrollment figures and more tuition revenue coming into the university.

I also echo the sentiment in Dr. Major's blog that "the primary question at hand is whether online learning has or will be able to provide meaningful access to higher education to those who need and want it." Before starting in my new position as an Advisor at Gadsden State Community College a couple of months ago, I was essentially a Recruiter for GSCC. I helped many high school seniors fill out admission, scholarship, and financial aid applications online. I would often ask students if they had Internet access at home, in case we couldn't finish the online application we were working on. Far too often, the student's answer was "no". And, it's not just about having a reliable Internet connection in order to take an online class in college. I taught an Orientation to College 101 class at GSCC for several years, and often I would have students who did not have basic software applications like Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. In short, while access to higher education has certainly increased with the development of online learning, it is still an unlevel playing field, and honestly it probably always will be to some degree. As soon as those who are technologically behind catch up, there will be other technologies that will be required to take online courses that they may not have (i.e. webcams, App Store apps, etc.).

AHE 591: Lesson 2

The readings this week really made me think outside the box of how I have normally thought about online learning. First of all, I've never given much consideration to the different types of online learning that take place, such as the web facilitated, blended/hybrid, and online styles that the Allen and Seaman text describes. More specifically, I suppose I've never thought about who determines what proportion of the class will be deliver online, and what proportion, if any, will be delivered face-to-face? Does that decision come from instructor teaching the class, a division chair, or an academic dean? My ignorance on this topic stems from working on the student services side of the house in higher education.

Also of interest to me in the Allen and Seaman text was the section titled "Is Retention of Students Harder in Online Courses?" As an Advisor at Gadsden State Community College, one of my main responsibilities is to ensure that the students who are enrolled at my institution STAY at my institution, until they have either graduated or transferred. All of the literature I have read on retention basically says that an engaged student will be a retained student. The more a student is engaged academically and socially into their college environment, the more likely they are to stay until they reached their academic goals. My question is: as online offerings continue to increase, how do institutions engage students academically and socially if students rarely, or in some cases never, come on campus? I believe we can engage students in this way online, but it will take more than just getting them to "Like" our Facebook page or "Follow" us on Twitter. The online experience will somehow have to rival that of the on-campus experience. The Allen and Seaman text echo this sentiment. "Concern about retention is one of the rare areas where those experienced with online education have a more pessimistic view than those lacking such experience. An institution's online education experience does lead to a stronger conviction that it is harder to retain students in online courses" (p. 19).

On the flip side of this argument, online learning does have the capacity to help institutions retain students by offering them more course options. When classroom space is defined by brick-and-mortar buildings, space is limited, class seating gets filled up, and the course gets closed. Space is unlimited, however, with online course offerings. More course offerings can lead to students reaching their academic goals more quickly, and time has always been an enemy to retention and persistence to degree completion. The EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Reseach study backs this sentiment. "Online courses often help by increasing the number of sections of a course offered, the number of students who can take the course, or the frequency with which a course is offered. This can be especially helpful when students drop or fail out of prerequisite course that are a part of a major and have to retake them before advancing to the next course level" (p. 11).

AHE 591: Lesson 1

Greetings AHE 591! My name is Matthew Burttram. I am the Technical Division Advisor at Gadsden State Community College. I previously worked as a Career Coach at Gadsden State, and as Upward Bound Advisor at Snead State Community College. I have been married to my beautiful wife, Emily, for three years. We had our first child, Andrew, almost two months ago on April 8th. I am pursuing an Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration, and take the majority of my classes through the UA Gadsden Center.

In regard to Lesson 1, I read "The Future of Higher Education" article by Pew Research. The article stems from a survey in which respondents were asked how much technology will change higher education by the year 2020. I enjoyed reading the varied responses of those who were surveyed. Some of the comments I heartily agree with, while others...not so much.

If I were surveyed, I am of the opinion that that technology will continue to change higher education over the next five-and-a-half years, particularly in how instruction is delivered. However, I do not see an upheaval of higher education any time soon because of technological advances in our society, nor would I recommend it, as some respondents suggested in the article. Here is why...

Much of what I read about technology is how it connects us and brings us closer together. But, I have found that in some ways technology does just the opposite. It often makes my relationships with others more shallow. When my relationship with someone is reduced to "liking" a Facebook post, or "retweeting" a Twitter message, there is a depth in the human experience that is lost. When it comes to education, proponents of using more technology seem to verbalize how information that was once only available to a select few (students who pay the outrageous tuition rates that universities require) is now available to everyone in the world with an Internet connection. This is true to some degree. But, I would also say that, personally, some of my richest, most memorable, learning experiences have happened in a brick-and-mortar lecture class. There is something to be said about interacting face-to-face with other students in a learning environment where there is a dynamic teacher imparting knowledge and leading classroom discussions. I hope that we who work in higher education are not quick to get rid of this type of experience.

I am all for using technology that is available to supplement the educational and learning experience. For those who have families to raise and full-time jobs, online learning may be the only way they can earn a degree. But, I agree with Matthew Allen, professor of Internet Studies at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. "Universities are not just portals where students access learning. They are places in which people develop as social beings, in some quite specifically institutional ways."