Running Head: ENHANCING QUALITY, ACCESS, AND COST

Surprising Trends in Instructional Technology and their Consequences:

Enhancing Quality, Access, and Cost

California State University, Monterey Bay

Ahmed Jalloh

August 22, 2023

IST 524 - Instructional Technology

Dr. Sarah Evanick

Running Head: ENHANCING QUALITY, ACCESS, AND COST

Abstract

It is vital for instruction designers and instructors to ensure the instruction technology they

implement is learner-centered as opposed to technology-centered in order to prevent

consequences of integrating surprising trends in instruction technology. This paper provides and

in-depth analysis of surprising trends in instruction technology and ties it into three primary

components of education: enhancing quality, expanding access and creating a fair cost. Each

aspect is broken down into a definition, importance, examples of surprising trends and

consequences of implementing those surprising trends.

Running Head: ENHANCING QUALITY, ACCESS, AND COST

Enhancing Quality, Access, and Cost

Introduction

There are many surprising instruction technology trends happening in the field of higher

education and the consequence they've had/are going to have on education institutions must be

analyzed. Learners have found that recent instruction technology trends have enhanced

traditional learning methods; according to Concannon et al. (2005), learners see instruction

technology "as an additional reinforcement to the traditional face-to face delivery

mediums…they make regular use of the medium’s flexible access, and the incentive it provides

for ongoing study and continuous assessment." This means that instruction technology has aided

instruction designers/instructors in many different aspects in developing an effective instruction

design plan. The most notable instruction technology trends focus on three components: quality,

access, and cost; these three areas can be used to determine the consequences of implementing

new trends.

Quality, Access, and Cost of Instructional Technology Trends

Quality. The quality component is focused primarily on enhancing the delivery of

education to learners and learning content/strategies that are used to achieve learning goals and

outcomes. According to Abdullah (2006) "rendering quality service is a key for success, and

many experts concur that the most powerful competitive trend currently shaping marketing and

business strategy is service quality." This means that higher education institutions must ensure

that quality of instructional technology is top rated to ensure that the institution is successful

(high rate of student retention and enrollment).

Running Head: ENHANCING QUALITY, ACCESS, AND COST

Access. The access aspect is focused on utilizing instruction technology to expanding

access to education. One of the most notable ways higher education institutions have expanded

access to nontraditional students is by offering online courses. According to de Freitas et al.

(2015) online learning in higher education "offers the promise of truly open access to high-

quality learning resources reaching much wider audiences of learners, such as independent

learners and professional learners." This means that online learning has expanded access to

education to nontraditional students such as working professionals.

Cost. The third component is cost which focuses on creating a cost that will

accommodate the financial needs of the institution while also being at a reasonable price for

students. According to Deming et al. (2015) "although the pattern of results suggests some hope

that online technology can 'bend the cost curve' in higher education, the impact of online learning

on education quality remains uncertain." This means that the impact of online learning (which is

one of the most prominent instructional technology trends today) needs to be analyzed to

determine if it will be able to financially sustain an education institution such as a community

college.

Expanding Access

There have been various trends that have been introduced/proposed/implemented to

expand access to education. One of the most notable is a massive open online course (MOOC).

These courses are generally online courses that are available to large amounts of people for free;

it started out when a course reached its limit and instructional designers wanted to increase the

capacity to accommodate more learners; they eventually had over 2,000 learners (Reiser &
Running Head: ENHANCING QUALITY, ACCESS, AND COST

Dempsey, 2018). MOOC has provided an opportunity to promote life-long learning by

increasing access to education. For example, LinkedIn Learning is a learning platform that

includes courses where learners can learn how to publicly speak, computer code and how to

become a more effective leader. These courses are open to large amounts of people and is

designed to accommodate all types of learners (which expands access to nontraditional students

such as working professionals). LinkedIn Learning is taught by leaders in their field and notable

professionals which is made possible due to a massive student base and its accessibility online.

Although there are many interesting components to MOOC the integrity of the companies

providing these services may be in question. Many of the notable MOOC platforms are ran by

massive for-profit companies that have the primary goal of making maximum profit. For

example, LinkedIn Learning is owned by Microsoft (which is has a market value of over a

trillion dollars) and LinkedIn Learning only offers computer application courses that are related

to their Microsoft suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). This means that students will miss the

opportunity to learn how to use similar products by Microsoft's competitors.

Increasing Quality

The quality of education is a vital component to student success and is achieved through

the implementation of trends in instructional technology. One of the most notable ways

instructional designers have increased the quality of learning to learners is implementing learner-

centered rich media. According to Reiser and Dempsey (2018) a learner-centered approach to

instructional design focuses "on how to facilitate the learner’s natural learning process. Rich

media must be adapted to serve the needs of learners, rather than the other way around" (pg.
Running Head: ENHANCING QUALITY, ACCESS, AND COST

260). This means that implementing rich media in an instructional design plan should be learner

centered as opposed to technology centered to meet the educational needs and the education

seeking behavior of modern learners. One of the primary consequences of implementing rich

media is finding credible sources. With massive streaming platforms such as YouTube allowing

content creators the ability to put out as many videos as they want, some of these videos contain

misinformation due to ignorance. For example, YouTube is a common platform that was used to

spread vaccine misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fair Cost

To provide enlightenment to students (via instruction) the financial cost of learning

must not disable learner motivation. One of the most notable trends in higher education that have

provided a fair cost for learners is open education resources (OER). According to the William

and Flora Hewlett Foundation (2020) OER is primarily, "teaching, learning, and research

materials in any medium that have been released under an open license that permits no-cost

access." In short, OER are instructional resources that are available for free. One of the most

notable education materials that are used in higher education are textbooks. The cost of

textbooks has increased significantly over the years. According to the Washington Post the price

of textbooks, "rose 88 percent between 2006 and 2016" (Lumpkin, 2020). To combat the cost of

textbooks some academic library leaders have implemented an OER program that allows

faculty/associate faculty to list their own learning materials instead of textbooks; it also may

direct collection development funds to purchasing eBook licenses to distribute learning materials

to students for free.

Running Head: ENHANCING QUALITY, ACCESS, AND COST

Although OER can lower the cost of education for learners it has created a potential

revenue loss for publishers and authors. Many textbook publishers rely on the money that

students spend on textbooks as a vital revenue stream. Textbook publishers like Pearson and

McGraw Hill Education may lose vital income and profits from the implementation/expansion of

OER. They will likely lose income because students will likely buy less textbooks and licensing

deals with academic libraries usually involve providing a discount from the original price of each

individual textbook. These textbooks will likely have to find different strategies to sustain

funding and refill their coffers to prevent potential layoffs of employees (which usually occurs

when companies lose vital revenue streams). Authors that write textbooks and receive royalties

for the number of textbooks sold may also see a decline in income with the expansion of OER.

Conclusion

There are many surprising instruction technology trends that can be used to enhance

quality of education delivery, expand access to education (to underserved population such as

nontraditional students) and provide it at a fair cost. It is extremely important to identify the

consequences of implementing instruction technology in the aspects of quality, access, and cost.

The consequences of implementing technology trends in instruction are based upon it being

technology-focused instead of learner focused. To successfully implement instruction

technology, the technology must be learner centered and it has been seen throughout this paper.
 Running Head: ENHANCING QUALITY, ACCESS, AND COST

References

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https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2005.00482.x

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Deming, D. J., Goldin, C., Katz, L. F., & Yuchtman, N. (2015). Can Online Learning Bend the Higher
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