D2L Guide

Planning for the Future of Online Learning

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The market for online education is growing, getting more sophisticated
and is becoming increasingly competitive. Students are more empowered and
more selective when it comes to choosing an online education. This means
that online universities need to understand and find a balance between
quality and cost of an education for their students. Selling students on
education isn’t enough any longer and higher education institutions need
to make things more personal and emotional to reach new learners. How
students interact with their teachers and advisors can make a huge impact on
their decision to select an institution that truly adds value to their education.
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High-end online institutions need to focus on strategies and technologies that
let them provide a much more informed and holistic experience built around
their students — student centered learning. They also need to continually
evolve to remain relevant to the market. In this guide, we examine the growing
trend towards online learning and discuss what higher education institutions
can do to remain competitive in this expanding market, and how to put the
student at the center of the education experience.
 “It’s so easy to get wrapped into
market models, change, and
organisational challenges. And
in the course of that, lose sight
Contents
of the student. As educators, we
The case for online learning..........................................................................................................4
should always start with the
The world of the student................................................................................................................6
student and innovate around
Trends in technology and the future workforce...................................................................7 their success.”
-Brian Fleming. Executive Director, Sandbox ColLABorative SNHU
How students benefit from an online education................................................................. 8

What successful online institutions are doing: metrics.....................................................9

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 01
The case for online learning

Colleges and universities are experiencing the largest growth in online
course enrolment.1 Therefore, it’s vital to build an online programme
that accommodates the needs of students both today and down the
road. Online institutions are investing in the future of teaching by
attracting and supporting a new type of student: the “new traditional”
student. These are students with time and economic restrictions, who
might be working a full time job, taking care of their families, live in
remote loca-tions, economically challenged, you name it.
This type of student has achievements and skills that need to be
recognised by their educational institution, but may have, up until
online offerings became available, determined that an education
simply wasn’t possible. Now, the online student seeks an education
that can build skills for complex jobs and lead to better life outcomes.
This means higher education institutions have to transform. In many
ways, they have traditionally been more rigid organisations that select
students that “fit” their programmes and their methods of teaching.
However, selectivity has been flipped. Students are now the ones that are
selective, and institutions need to transform to be ready for anyone.
Higher education institutions need a long-term plan and commitment that
embraces this transformation and determine how technology, pedagogy, and
system change can interact. Every stakeholder needs to understand why this
change is important. Everyone needs to be onboard in order to drive desired
outcomes: putting the student at the center of the educational system.

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https://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/highered.html
1
 The Future of Learning

• Lifelong Top workforce trends and drivers of change2

° Developing skills and building expertise Here’s what executives of leading global employers rate as the
• Very Accessible top emerging trends that will impact the future workforce.
° 24/7 learning, from anywhere • 44% Changing work environments and flexible working
• Digital arrangements
° Digital environments are the norm • 23% Climate change, depleted natural resources, and
• Practical transitioning to a green economy
° Learning is contextualised, relevant, and aligned with outcomes • 14% Managing the economy with an aging population, who
• Personalised may work past retirement
° Student-centered content aligned with interests and experience

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http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs.pdf
2
 02
The world of the student
The student of today lives in a world that is changing rapidly not just
in education, but politically, socially, and culturally. Technology is only
one of the drivers of this change and it has significantly impacted
the way that students of today interact with their world. Mobility and
VUCA World (term coined at the Army War College in Carlisle, PA) 3

Internet connectivity have allowed people to extend the environments

that were traditionally associated with work and school. This is an
• Volatile
expectation that people likely have when it comes to education.
• Uncertain
• Complex
One of the key incentives for students seeking an education is the lack
• Ambiguous
of certainty there is in the job market and within their day-to-day lives.
An online institution needs to understand the strain and stress that
students face. They need to preserve the quality of their academic
standards and extend their campus to include this new type of
learner. But in fact, they need to do more than simply emulate a
brick and mortar education experience. They need to provide faster
support, move students more efficiently through their courses, and
personalise learning in a way that a single lecturer with 30 students
simply couldn’t have done in the past.

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3
http://usawc.libanswers.com/faq/84869
 03
Trends in technology and the future workforce
This advertising agency “hired” the first artificially intelligent
As discussed in the previous section, technology is changing the type and creative director, named AI-CD ß. Consider the impact that AI
complexity of work that students are graduating into. It is expected that there can have on the future of jobs.
will be an increase in automation and deeper collaboration between humans and
http://www.businessinsider.com/mccann-japan-hires-ai-creative-director-2016-3
machines4. With that in mind, the future workforce will need to start building skills
now to deal with the jobs of the future. Starting as early as kindergarten, students
are using technology like an LMS (learning management system) as part of their
classroom experience. By the time they get to higher education, students will
be well-versed in human-machine interactions and the institutions need to take
advantage of technology in order to teach technology to the next generation of
workers.

As machines become smarter, students may need to learn to work with,

alongside, and in some cases, for these machines. Collaboration between humans
and machines will reinvent the way we learn, the way we create value, and the way
we build the world around us.

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4
https://www.nap.edu/read/24906/chapter/4
 04
How students benefit from an online education
Online learning is flexible and accessible to help remove barriers
associated with the traditional classroom experience. The days of
the “sage on the stage,” or the “chalk and talk” are dwindling as
tech-hungry students are looking to streamline their education, while
increasing the quality and value of their experience. Lecturers are still
• Multiple forms of engagement. Email still works in some
circumstances, however an LMS can enable real-time collaboration
between lecturers and student.
• Flexible pacing. Consider the advantages of a competency-based
programme, enabled through an LMS with conditional release and
automated email notifications.
• Authentic and varied assessment. Instructors can make assessments
of course material as well as from non-traditional sources (group
discussions, YouTube™ video community, Ted Talks)
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the greatest resource for any institution and need technology that supports
their mission and lets them scale up their expertise and insight to deliver
engaging courses. Working as collaborative partners, lecturers and students
can benefit from online learning and a learning management system in a
number or ways, for example:
• Multiple forms of expression. Students can create video responses, make
comments on social media-style activity feeds, and all of these interactions
are captured in an LMS.
• Varied and timely feedback. Instructors can comment on a student’s
assignments, leave an audio note, and more. A mobile-friendly LMS allows
students to access them anytime.
-Id.
• Student data. Analytics can reveal the level of engagement that students
have with material. Instructors can intervene quickly to support at-risk
students.
 05
What successful online institutions are doing: metrics
Successful institutions measure the success and progress in a
variety of key areas. Providers and institutions need a common
language through which they can discuss how well the investment into
the transformation of the student experience is going. Creating data
around these points is essential to help make decisions for the future
(i.e.: what to work on next?)
Why data is the key to outcomes
Data is used to support student outcomes as well as operational
outcomes. Looking for patterns in data and acting upon those is
essential. Data is like a utility that should be thought of as everywhere
— not just a place where data exists, but fluid and available,
questioned, checked, and refined for continuous improvement.

• Adoption rates
• Learner engagement
• Productivity “SNHU exists to transform the lives of
• Learner outcomes our students. We believe, firmly, that
• Retention and completion
• Learner satisfaction
our success is defined by our students’
success.” -Id.

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 Summary
Looking at the trends reported on in this guide, it should be evident that a
combination of factors are likely to contribute to the way future students
desire and access their education. But more likely is that technology is
currently, and shall always be, a key component to addressing these issues.
Mobile accessibility and a next generation learning management system can
create an ecosystem of student-centered learning informed by actionable
data, and supports learning that can take place anywhere. This technology
encourages a close relationship between educators, administrators, and
students and ultimately supports lifelong learning. Now is a great time to
determine the tools needed to propel your blended or online course
offerings and begin to plan for a future of online learning that is quickly
approaching and soon to become the new normal.

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