Elements of Quality Online Education cation

Business Issues in Online Education2. Inter-organizational ProcessThe collaboration of one institution with regional financial services providers has yielded someinteresting inter-organizational business processes and resources. Member companies provide guidanceand operational support by appointing “college advisors” to look after students from their companies (akind of outsourcing of student services). Member companies also provide staff, gratis, who serve on taskforces with the educational institution to recommend and even develop new programs.3. International CollaborationsAlthough there was not a lot of discussion about international collaborations, there were some significantexamples, including the offering of online degrees in partnership with international educationalinstitutions. One institution has its roots in providing education to military personnel around the world.Though overseas enrollment in all courses is approximately 50%, overseas enrollment in online-onlycourses appears to be much lower.B. CompetitionInterviewees expressed business issues as they saw them at their particular institutions and did not oftenturn to concerns about competition and competitors. It did not even come up when asked about“challenges” or “limits to growth” of their online educational programs.However, there were exceptions. At one Master’s College and University I institution, this was an issue asexpressed by more than one interviewee. Unfavorable demographic trends, coupled with potentialcompetition from other online programs, including the for-profits and “name brand” not-for profits,caused concerns about continued erosion of student body. At this institution, online education is looked atas a way to extend the demographic range served by traditional academic programs (albeit by offeringsome new programs, too) —as a way to reverse the declining student population.The other area of concern about competition, more generally mentioned, is in the not-for-credit or at leastnon-degree-credit arena. One interviewee discussed the problems of a yet-to-be-launched program gearedfor professionals who may or may not need continuing education credit, depending on their home state.The program is significantly behind schedule, and has now lost “first mover” advantage to one fromanother state. The potential target audience of these programs is seen to be about 60,000 professionalsU.S.-wide. Another interviewee, from a different institution, but again in the professional continuingeducation space, talked about the difficulty of competing with all the “free stuff” out there that couldcount for continuing education. Finally, some interviewees who looked into programs for corporatemarkets talked about the difficulty of competing with schools that have “premium” names.Sometimes, collaborators can also be competitors. One public institution relies on community colleges asa source of students; another, in a different state, sees community colleges as a source of potentialcompetition.Why was competition, or the effects of competition, an issue that was seldom raised by interviewees,unless asked directly? There are several possibilities, including that online education is still in its earlystages of growth, that access to education via online is increasing, and that the market is not saturated. Nomatter, it seems logical to conclude that at some point, given the very nature of the modality of onlineeducation, institutions will compete with each other for students at a distance. As noted by the intervieweefrom the institution concerned about unfavorable demographic trends, when this institution was created168