Learning, Location and Lucre

In "Degrees, Distance, and Dollars" Marina Krakovsky provides a down to earth analysis of experience with distance education for universities (Originally published in Communications of the ACM September 2010, then eLearn Magazine, 7 September 2010). Some of the points made: elite universities are not using online courses to admit more students; some lower ranking ones might use online to reduce costs. As well as the university, Krakovsky sees the online students being different, with those with jobs (particularly the military) and family commitments which preclude conventional education and this may help women get qualifications for management. Online courses are priced the same or higher than face-to-face courses, with students attracted by convenience and lower travel and living on campus costs (with a course costing US$14,000 a year). Also more individual attention from online tutors might be a factor. Ease of course entry is suggested as a factor, with students willing to pay more for entry without having to worry about prior qualifications willing to pay more. High fees also help retain students, which in turn helps with course accreditation. For the future Krakovsky suggests specialization suits online courses, with only a few students needed from a wide catchment needed to make a viable program.

The one major flaw in Krakovsky's analysis is that it does not address education outside the USA. It is as if there are no courses or universities, online or bricks and mortar, outside the USA. Online courses open up the possibility of US students studying at overseas universities. It also raises the possibility of overseas based staff of US universities teaching US students online. Already I have had a North American student (admittedly from Canada, not USA, in my Green ICT course). Australia and New Zealand have high quality universities, compatible education standards to the USA and a similar cultural outlook and good English skills. Australia and New Zealand also has sophisticated use of online education, being the origin of the Moodle Learning Management System and the Mahara e-Portfolio system. Perhaps the one thing stopping Australian universities addressing the US market is that they are busy with Chinese and Indian students.

India has shown how it could provide first basic telephone call centre services and then increasingly sophisticated accounting, software and engineering services online. It would seem a small step to providing courses for students around the world to English speaking students.