The Benefits of Online Learning for Municipal Officials and Managers

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1 The Benefits of Online Learning for Municipal Officials and Managers New Jersey State League of Municipalities 2010 Annual Conference - November 12, 2010 Dr. Raphael Caprio Dr. Richard Novak Mr. Alan Zalkind

2 The Emerging Global Economy Any recent college graduate today will require the equivalent of seven additional years of education and training to remain competitive in the new economic reality Local and County Governments will not be immune to these pressures

3 Some initial observations Nationally, online enrollments have been growing substantially faster than overall higher education enrollments for the past several years. Example: The Penn State World Campus now offers 62 credit and noncredit programs and nearly 700 courses. Rutgers growth increasing with seven graduate degree programs now available entirely online, and annual increases in the growth of online course enrollments consistently exceeding 20%

4 Online-Only Enrollments in Higher Education Actual Projected Source: Chronicle of Higher Education

5 Among traditional students, over 4.6 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2008 term; a 17 percent increase over the number reported the previous year. The 17 percent growth rate for online enrollments far exceeds the 1.2 percent growth of the overall higher education student population. More than one in four higher education students now take at least one course online. (Source: Sloan, Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United States, 2009)

6 Some Characteristics of Online Learners/Learning More than 50% of online learning students are married with children. Distance education is especially attractive for non-traditional working adult students. 63% of online students are women as compared to 57% in all courses 77% OF American corporations now use online learning, often blended, compared to 4% in 1995.

7 Consider some of the following: Processing Expansion Bandwidth Expansion Blogs, Discussions Live Video, Chats Media Rich Content Social Media Now, Increasing Mobility Access

8 WHAT DOES AN ONLINE COURSE LOOK LIKE? 12/22/2010 8

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16 Why Do It? What are the benefits? What are the similarities and differences with F2F Learning?

17 Can provide portable, customized and ondemand learning Innovative pedagogical tool, especially incorporating multimedia, collaboration tools and other applications Tends to be learner-friendly Can reach wider range of learning preferences more effectively Can engage learners more regularly & actively

18 Teaching & Learning - Differences Subdividing the course and the content into smaller segments Students surrounded by interruptions; online attention span Self-contained short lessons incorporating passive and active learning Establishes a pattern to the course Easier to update

19 Differences, continued Interactivity with the instructor, with students, with material Explicit directions, rules, policies and procedures Students (and instructor) need to login frequently Technology is integral educational technologies not social technologies

20 Teaching & Learning Similarities Explicit Learning Objectives Assessments based on and measured against objectives Faculty control of academic issues

21 Attributes of Successful Online Student Motivated Self-starter Ability to be independent learner Well organized Good time management Good study environment At least average technology skills with ubiquitous technologies

22 For Municipalities Enhance professional development without productivity downtime Provides access without travel expenses Potentially cheaper approach to continuing education (consider opportunity costs)

23 For Municipalities, continued Can assure participation, compliance and completion Can provide Rich Media, such as video Barriers to entry are much lower today than 5 years ago Online learning reinforces technological literacy skills

24 For Municipalities, continued Rutgers Center for Government Services is developing courses now What courses would you like to see in the future?