As a growing number of higher education learners seek out flexible, online educational programs, it is more important than ever that higher education policy is informed by, and responding to, the needs of its learners. The latest white paper from the Center for Higher Education Policy and Practice (CHEPP) offers a first-of-its kind framework for the systems design of online higher education programs, focused on helping learners from all backgrounds access and succeed in postsecondary education.
What We Know
Despite ongoing questions about the value of higher education, completing a postsecondary degree or credential continues to be a linchpin for economic safety. Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce estimates that 72% of jobs in the United States will require some level of postsecondary education by 2031, and 43% will require a bachelor’s degree. Despite these workforce demands, higher education is leaving behind the learners who stand to benefit the most from completing a degree or credential.
Today’s higher education learners have more obligations outside of their studies than ever, including the 64% who are working and 24% with children. It can be difficult, or even impossible, for these learners to access traditional higher education programs, where in-person courses are offered from Monday to Friday between 9 AM and 5 PM. When more than 40 million people have some college credit but no degree or credential, it’s clear there is a mismatch between the current design and the current learner.
In the first publication of this series on online education, Online by Design: How Learner-Centered Higher Education Design and Delivery Accelerates Equitable Access and Outcomes, the Center for Higher Education Policy and Practice (CHEPP) shares a new framework for learner-centered higher education design, and invites higher education policymakers and stakeholders to think differently about the design and delivery of postsecondary education.
Why Online Education Matters
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges across the country were forced to quickly shift their in-person programs online. With little planning and even less online infrastructure, many programs were not designed to be delivered in a remote environment and left students struggling to complete their courses. These haphazardly remote experiences reinforced a common bias that traditional, in person programs are higher quality than online education.
While COVID increased awareness of online learning, the dramatic growth in students attending online and hybrid programs preceded the pandemic – with 34% of undergraduate students taking some of their coursework online in 2018, compared to just 26% in 2012. As the number of students accessing their education through online and hybrid programs grows, so does the diversity of options – far more than post-pandemic headlines or limited data have shown.
Given the enrollment growth and range of program type, it is important to understand the higher education landscape from a learner-centered perspective. In a series of papers, CHEPP will unpack how learner-centered design in online education can uniquely meet learner needs and drive equitable access to higher education.
Designing and Delivering Online Learning
Online higher education programs, particularly asynchronous models, offer much-needed flexibility by enabling learners to balance their academic curriculum with work and family responsibilities. This flexibility makes online programs more accessible than traditional higher education models – opening the doors of postsecondary education and a path to economic safety to segments of the population who would not be served otherwise. As higher education continues to change, and does so rapidly, there is an opportunity for institutions to shift from institution-centered practice to learner-centered designs that focus on improving and advancing stronger learner outcomes for economic safety and social mobility.
The Online by Design paper offers a new framework for learner-centered higher education design. This framework can be used as a guide to help policymakers understand the importance of higher education programs that are structured to meet learner needs and to develop policies at every level to support those models. This framework is not meant to be comprehensive, but a tool to help inform a necessary shift in higher education policy where the needs of learners are the foundation of program development.
What’s Next
This year, CHEPP will build on the findings of Online by Design with a series of papers that show how learner-centered education can employ accessibility and universal design to better serve learners with disabilities, create a culture of care and belonging, deliver robust and relevant academic curriculum, and support learner connectivity to the workforce. We invite you to join us in the conversation and in this series, as we seek to learn about best practices and critical questions that will inform the future of being online by design.
Learn how we can work together and get in touch here.