Fall 2015; Costs and Economics of DE and E-Learning
9/11 Module 1
I am excited to take this course. I have been immersed in education courses for 15 months and am loving all of the learning I am doing/receiving. None of the 13 courses, however, touched on the costs of education at all, and I am interested in what factors affect the costs of education in general and distance education specifically. If my husband and I do start our own distance education center (which we have talked about for a few years now), this is one of the first considerations we will have to attend to.
The first assignment of the class, a debate on the discussion board concerning whether education delivers on its promises of a better life or not, has truly been enlightening. I had always just believed what I was told – that I should concentrate on being a good student and everything else would fall into place. My mother especially was a big proponent of this advice, and she still is. However, as I was assigned to argue the other side of the debate, I found that just getting the education is not a guarantee for anything at all. This was the first time I ever had occasion to question my belief in school since I had found such success in it and loved learning so much. But now I see that for the majority of the people, there is more to achieving a good life than just attending classes. A great start to what I hope is a great class.
9/14
During the past week I have been reading about the unprecedented expansion of education after WWII, the Human Capital Theory, and the Screening Theory. I studied several factors that contributed to the education boom of the 20th century and to its continual increase ever since, and I realized that I have very little knowledge of the history of the US, not to mention the world, during the second half of the century. I grew up during part of that time, but I was not paying attention to the current issues and their greater effect years later on all areas of life. It is fascinating for me to study modern history through the lens of education.
In answering whether humans should be allowed to be called capital, I discovered that one reason I like the discussion boards so much is that I feel invested in whenever someone answers me or continues a discussion I am involved in. Not only do I feel the instructor and the institution are investing in me by allowing me to be part of their academic world, but also my classmates who have a freer choice in the matter. As far as the Screening Theory, I had never clearly admitted what I had noticed concerning what employers were looking for on resume`s. I heard people say that the type of degree and GPA mattered the most, then your extracurricular activities. But I didn’t connect that to the fact that it didn’t matter so much exactly what material I retained from the courses. I was thankful that I did not face an end-of-the-degree exam like some students in other countries or in other fields (like medical or law), but I never realized that employers might not care if I got a 90% or a 98% in a course. The Screening Theory does fit what I have seen in the work world, and therefore I believe it is a valid theory, no matter how much it shakes my perception of academic reality.
9/18
This week I learned about the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and looked at some numbers on Excel using the IRR function. This was an exercise in interpreting what the numbers mean in the real world! For example, I noticed that on the university degree example, the rate of return is 40%, which seems outrageously high when compared to interest rates that are almost always under 20% for any type of interest. Upon thinking about the Benefit inputted, I am not certain that it is fair to consider one's whole salary a benefit of education. I believe it would be more correct to consider a benefit of education to be the increase in the salary that one earns after obtaining the education. For example, if the average salary in your town for those without any college work is $20,000 a year and your salary with the Bachelor's degree is now $32000, then the benefit of education is not $32000 but $12,000 a year. This return an IRR of 15%, which is much more within normal range.
I also studied the dynamics of educational expansion with its Job Competition Model. This model states that education level puts people in a que for the available jobs, with those most highly educated leading the line. When positions become open, they are filled by the next person in line, without regard to strengths and weaknesses the person may have. This would include past experience, personal preferences for a certain type of work, and social skill level. The theory is that the people with the most education are best equipped for the most complex jobs regardless of whether their studies gave them knowledge to use in that job or not.
The last concept that we touched on this week that touched my psyche was that well-designed distance courses may actually cost more than on-campus courses, so the strength of DE being cost-effective no longer exists. This may not be a problem for long, as technology advances to a point where synchronous communication doesn’t cost much at all, but it may change the course of the development of DE in the meantime.
I am excited to take this course. I have been immersed in education courses for 15 months and am loving all of the learning I am doing/receiving. None of the 13 courses, however, touched on the costs of education at all, and I am interested in what factors affect the costs of education in general and distance education specifically. If my husband and I do start our own distance education center (which we have talked about for a few years now), this is one of the first considerations we will have to attend to.
The first assignment of the class, a debate on the discussion board concerning whether education delivers on its promises of a better life or not, has truly been enlightening. I had always just believed what I was told – that I should concentrate on being a good student and everything else would fall into place. My mother especially was a big proponent of this advice, and she still is. However, as I was assigned to argue the other side of the debate, I found that just getting the education is not a guarantee for anything at all. This was the first time I ever had occasion to question my belief in school since I had found such success in it and loved learning so much. But now I see that for the majority of the people, there is more to achieving a good life than just attending classes. A great start to what I hope is a great class.
9/14
During the past week I have been reading about the unprecedented expansion of education after WWII, the Human Capital Theory, and the Screening Theory. I studied several factors that contributed to the education boom of the 20th century and to its continual increase ever since, and I realized that I have very little knowledge of the history of the US, not to mention the world, during the second half of the century. I grew up during part of that time, but I was not paying attention to the current issues and their greater effect years later on all areas of life. It is fascinating for me to study modern history through the lens of education.
In answering whether humans should be allowed to be called capital, I discovered that one reason I like the discussion boards so much is that I feel invested in whenever someone answers me or continues a discussion I am involved in. Not only do I feel the instructor and the institution are investing in me by allowing me to be part of their academic world, but also my classmates who have a freer choice in the matter. As far as the Screening Theory, I had never clearly admitted what I had noticed concerning what employers were looking for on resume`s. I heard people say that the type of degree and GPA mattered the most, then your extracurricular activities. But I didn’t connect that to the fact that it didn’t matter so much exactly what material I retained from the courses. I was thankful that I did not face an end-of-the-degree exam like some students in other countries or in other fields (like medical or law), but I never realized that employers might not care if I got a 90% or a 98% in a course. The Screening Theory does fit what I have seen in the work world, and therefore I believe it is a valid theory, no matter how much it shakes my perception of academic reality.
9/18
This week I learned about the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and looked at some numbers on Excel using the IRR function. This was an exercise in interpreting what the numbers mean in the real world! For example, I noticed that on the university degree example, the rate of return is 40%, which seems outrageously high when compared to interest rates that are almost always under 20% for any type of interest. Upon thinking about the Benefit inputted, I am not certain that it is fair to consider one's whole salary a benefit of education. I believe it would be more correct to consider a benefit of education to be the increase in the salary that one earns after obtaining the education. For example, if the average salary in your town for those without any college work is $20,000 a year and your salary with the Bachelor's degree is now $32000, then the benefit of education is not $32000 but $12,000 a year. This return an IRR of 15%, which is much more within normal range.
I also studied the dynamics of educational expansion with its Job Competition Model. This model states that education level puts people in a que for the available jobs, with those most highly educated leading the line. When positions become open, they are filled by the next person in line, without regard to strengths and weaknesses the person may have. This would include past experience, personal preferences for a certain type of work, and social skill level. The theory is that the people with the most education are best equipped for the most complex jobs regardless of whether their studies gave them knowledge to use in that job or not.
The last concept that we touched on this week that touched my psyche was that well-designed distance courses may actually cost more than on-campus courses, so the strength of DE being cost-effective no longer exists. This may not be a problem for long, as technology advances to a point where synchronous communication doesn’t cost much at all, but it may change the course of the development of DE in the meantime.
9/21 Module 2
Module 2 is said to be the heart of this course in the Costs and Economics of DE & e-Learning. This is the part where we have to understand all of the elements that go into costing a course, be able to reproduce them in our own costing assignment, and create graphs to show the results. I see that the beginning explains the ingredients approach. This seems like a good way to start the module, as we all need to study the ingredients before we can understand where and how to put them together. This module seems like a combination of learning theory and formulas, so the math shouldn’t be all that scary after we learn what it is used for.
9/28
The discussions have helped so much in explaining the concepts. I especially like the Excel activities, which both give us practice in the concepts and practice in Excel for the big project. I can see that it really depends on perspective whether something is considered a cost or a benefit.
“I feel that one of the most important lessons that can be learned is that what we ‘see’ may be different than what is actually in front of us.” –― Mark Singer, (2011), The Changing Landscape Of Retirement - What You Don't Know Could Hurt You
Also, recurring vs. non-recurring can be a little tricky when the cost itself is expected to be there every year but the amount in that category changes or the frequency that it is accessed changes, or something like that. Semi-variable costs are an interesting concept, something between fixed and variable costs. Graphically, fixed costs are horizontal lines, variable costs (per student) are a rising diagonal line, and semi-variable costs are a step-function with horizontal lines but with an average slope similar to the variable costs line.
The concept of economies of scale found in DE is clearer to me now. I understand that the more students are enrolled, the more people share the fixed costs. This leads to lower costs for everyone. I had known that DE technology costs were more that f2f fixed costs. With more students, DE can lower their costs to below the f2f costs which are limited in their reduction by class size. I was not aware, however, of the role that variable costs play in this. DE has to keep variable costs at a minimum to retain this economies of scale, and that is why there is so much research and experimentation in using the teacher less. This is bad news for the teachers, however, which could explain why so many of them are dragging their feet concerning getting on board with the distance education.
But for every job that is eliminated, there are new jobs being created by the new paradigm. I understand that it is more comfortable to stay with the old habits, but society is keeping up with the changing times, and old professors must do the same. Or they can retire and let the younger generation take their spot in the circle of life. I personally can attest to the possibility of changing with the times since I made my decision to do so last August. It has been so life-changing, as I expected, but it has not been necessarily HARD once I submitted to letting go of how I used to teach.
Singer, M. (2011). The Changing Landscape Of Retirement - What You Don't Know Could Hurt You. Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/18190947-the-changing-landscape-of-retirement---what-you-don-t-know-could-hurt-yo
10/8
The spreadsheet was not so difficult to use. That was just a matter of typing in the ingredients found in the assignment. There were a few differences from the Mock assignment, so it was helpful that Prof Thomas did a live demonstration on what each of the parts of the spreadsheet were for. The hard part for me is the graphing. I could not catch Prof Thomas’s instructions during his demonstration because the audio kept going out whenever he switched workbook pages in Excel. Then in the recording, some of the instructions were still missing, as Steffi had to cut out the parts that could not be understood because of the bandwidth. I finally understood the crucial beginning part of the graphing: switching the x and y axes! From there, it wasn’t too hard to make the adjustments as I followed along with the recording. I feel that I understand well the parts we were asked to write about in the assignment. I just hope that I kept it short enough, since the instructions used the word SHORT ! There are some discrepancies that I want to ask about, but I feel that maybe this assignment is not supposed to be a group assignment, since we are all trying to get the same answer. I don’t know if working together would be considered cheating. I think I will at least note the discrepancies on the discussion board so others will notice them. Maybe Prof Thomas can clear it up so there is no confusion.
Module 2 is said to be the heart of this course in the Costs and Economics of DE & e-Learning. This is the part where we have to understand all of the elements that go into costing a course, be able to reproduce them in our own costing assignment, and create graphs to show the results. I see that the beginning explains the ingredients approach. This seems like a good way to start the module, as we all need to study the ingredients before we can understand where and how to put them together. This module seems like a combination of learning theory and formulas, so the math shouldn’t be all that scary after we learn what it is used for.
9/28
The discussions have helped so much in explaining the concepts. I especially like the Excel activities, which both give us practice in the concepts and practice in Excel for the big project. I can see that it really depends on perspective whether something is considered a cost or a benefit.
“I feel that one of the most important lessons that can be learned is that what we ‘see’ may be different than what is actually in front of us.” –― Mark Singer, (2011), The Changing Landscape Of Retirement - What You Don't Know Could Hurt You
Also, recurring vs. non-recurring can be a little tricky when the cost itself is expected to be there every year but the amount in that category changes or the frequency that it is accessed changes, or something like that. Semi-variable costs are an interesting concept, something between fixed and variable costs. Graphically, fixed costs are horizontal lines, variable costs (per student) are a rising diagonal line, and semi-variable costs are a step-function with horizontal lines but with an average slope similar to the variable costs line.
The concept of economies of scale found in DE is clearer to me now. I understand that the more students are enrolled, the more people share the fixed costs. This leads to lower costs for everyone. I had known that DE technology costs were more that f2f fixed costs. With more students, DE can lower their costs to below the f2f costs which are limited in their reduction by class size. I was not aware, however, of the role that variable costs play in this. DE has to keep variable costs at a minimum to retain this economies of scale, and that is why there is so much research and experimentation in using the teacher less. This is bad news for the teachers, however, which could explain why so many of them are dragging their feet concerning getting on board with the distance education.
But for every job that is eliminated, there are new jobs being created by the new paradigm. I understand that it is more comfortable to stay with the old habits, but society is keeping up with the changing times, and old professors must do the same. Or they can retire and let the younger generation take their spot in the circle of life. I personally can attest to the possibility of changing with the times since I made my decision to do so last August. It has been so life-changing, as I expected, but it has not been necessarily HARD once I submitted to letting go of how I used to teach.
Singer, M. (2011). The Changing Landscape Of Retirement - What You Don't Know Could Hurt You. Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/18190947-the-changing-landscape-of-retirement---what-you-don-t-know-could-hurt-yo
10/8
The spreadsheet was not so difficult to use. That was just a matter of typing in the ingredients found in the assignment. There were a few differences from the Mock assignment, so it was helpful that Prof Thomas did a live demonstration on what each of the parts of the spreadsheet were for. The hard part for me is the graphing. I could not catch Prof Thomas’s instructions during his demonstration because the audio kept going out whenever he switched workbook pages in Excel. Then in the recording, some of the instructions were still missing, as Steffi had to cut out the parts that could not be understood because of the bandwidth. I finally understood the crucial beginning part of the graphing: switching the x and y axes! From there, it wasn’t too hard to make the adjustments as I followed along with the recording. I feel that I understand well the parts we were asked to write about in the assignment. I just hope that I kept it short enough, since the instructions used the word SHORT ! There are some discrepancies that I want to ask about, but I feel that maybe this assignment is not supposed to be a group assignment, since we are all trying to get the same answer. I don’t know if working together would be considered cheating. I think I will at least note the discrepancies on the discussion board so others will notice them. Maybe Prof Thomas can clear it up so there is no confusion.
10/13 Module 3
There is an article that I came across in researching for Assignment 2 that I found interesting. Calder spreadsheet
I am beginning to learn about the difference between effectiveness and efficiency. Basically, efficiency is about maximizing the output/input ratio while effectiveness is about achieving the goals. It is possible to have one without the other (both ways), so it is important to check for both when evaluating a system. For example, an educational system could have low costs of operation (which translates to low costs of tuition) but not produce marketable graduates. A prime example of this imbalance is the University of Phoenix, which my classmates have discussed in minute detail. Another example of efficiency/effectiveness imbalance is a high profile education provider that everyone recognizes can charge fees higher than what is warranted by the outcome, just based on reputation alone. Their graduates may not be hired any quicker than graduates of other institutions if their graduates’ ability to perform the job is not greater than others’ ability.
Cost-effectiveness combines both efficiency and effectiveness since it is both about the relationship between input and output and about measuring the effectiveness of the outcome. Within cost-effectiveness, there are distinctions between cost per learning gain, cost per student, and cost per graduate. It was interesting to note a difference between Prof Huelsmann and Guest Prof Greville Rumble in their understanding of cost per graduate. Apparently, Prof Huelsmann would classify cost per graduate generally as a cost-effectiveness measure since graduating is meeting a goal, while Guest Prof Rumble classifies it as a cost-efficiency measure by just counting people. In the end, it seems that distance education is more efficient in terms of cost per student, but the rest of this module looks at other factors that have to be considered in making a final analysis.
10/19
I have been looking at various case studies of large, national open universities around the world. It is fascinating to see how each has its own system of education and its own philosophy of what its students need to be taught. Having just been involved with American education at different levels, I was unaware of some of the underlying cultural differences that were possible and that really affect how and what education is offered to citizens. Actually, I was totally unaware that there had been an open university in America for a short time. I was interested in the factors in America which were so different from what the founders expected that the whole university failed. For example, I might have joined them in the assumption that the courses offered in OUUK were easily transferrable to USOU. Apparently, there was enough difference in curriculum need for that to be one of the major reasons for failure. Of course, when there was difficulty with accreditation, that was the death sentence for the baby university. In America (and probably all across the globe), if your organization/institution is not accredited then it doesn’t hold much influence in its field.
I remember studying both OUUK and IGNOU in OMDE 601, but this week I was able to compare their structure with other old, giant open universities like the Chinese Open University (COU) and the University of South Africa (UNISA). Actually, several mentions have been made in other courses about the Chinese method of distance learning still being mass media like radio and television given all across the country, but I had not had the opportunity to see the components of the Chinese university system until now. I was made aware of how different online learning looks in countries that do not have good access to Internet. Many of the educationally disadvantaged students (the ones that distance education is supposed to be targeting morally) do not have computers at home, not to mention Internet. Studying at Internet Cafés would make my job as a student much harder than it is, so I feel that these students are struggling to get their education.
10/25
MOOCs seem to be a “horse of another colour” to quote the doorkeeper of the city of Oz in the movie “The Wizard of Oz”. I still don’t quite understand how these open courses are funded. I mean, I know that the initial costs were covered by philanthropist organizations and by big-name schools with enough money to donate to the cause, but how do they plan to keep them running? Students are beginning to be charged if they want some type of credit for the learning they have done, but that is not enough money to keep the whole operation afloat. It has been some years now since the MOOC movement began out of the Connectivism Learning Theory (Sanders?), and the public’s emotion has gone up and down again concerning MOOCs. Now that the initial hype that Tony Bates lamented (Bates) has died down, it is time to see how MOOCs have affected the academic scene. Some scholars are now saying that MOOCs are dying out because they are unsustainable. Others are pointing out how much attention they drew to the theory of connectivism and predicting that they will survive, but in an evolved form. (?)
There is an article that I came across in researching for Assignment 2 that I found interesting. Calder spreadsheet
I am beginning to learn about the difference between effectiveness and efficiency. Basically, efficiency is about maximizing the output/input ratio while effectiveness is about achieving the goals. It is possible to have one without the other (both ways), so it is important to check for both when evaluating a system. For example, an educational system could have low costs of operation (which translates to low costs of tuition) but not produce marketable graduates. A prime example of this imbalance is the University of Phoenix, which my classmates have discussed in minute detail. Another example of efficiency/effectiveness imbalance is a high profile education provider that everyone recognizes can charge fees higher than what is warranted by the outcome, just based on reputation alone. Their graduates may not be hired any quicker than graduates of other institutions if their graduates’ ability to perform the job is not greater than others’ ability.
Cost-effectiveness combines both efficiency and effectiveness since it is both about the relationship between input and output and about measuring the effectiveness of the outcome. Within cost-effectiveness, there are distinctions between cost per learning gain, cost per student, and cost per graduate. It was interesting to note a difference between Prof Huelsmann and Guest Prof Greville Rumble in their understanding of cost per graduate. Apparently, Prof Huelsmann would classify cost per graduate generally as a cost-effectiveness measure since graduating is meeting a goal, while Guest Prof Rumble classifies it as a cost-efficiency measure by just counting people. In the end, it seems that distance education is more efficient in terms of cost per student, but the rest of this module looks at other factors that have to be considered in making a final analysis.
10/19
I have been looking at various case studies of large, national open universities around the world. It is fascinating to see how each has its own system of education and its own philosophy of what its students need to be taught. Having just been involved with American education at different levels, I was unaware of some of the underlying cultural differences that were possible and that really affect how and what education is offered to citizens. Actually, I was totally unaware that there had been an open university in America for a short time. I was interested in the factors in America which were so different from what the founders expected that the whole university failed. For example, I might have joined them in the assumption that the courses offered in OUUK were easily transferrable to USOU. Apparently, there was enough difference in curriculum need for that to be one of the major reasons for failure. Of course, when there was difficulty with accreditation, that was the death sentence for the baby university. In America (and probably all across the globe), if your organization/institution is not accredited then it doesn’t hold much influence in its field.
I remember studying both OUUK and IGNOU in OMDE 601, but this week I was able to compare their structure with other old, giant open universities like the Chinese Open University (COU) and the University of South Africa (UNISA). Actually, several mentions have been made in other courses about the Chinese method of distance learning still being mass media like radio and television given all across the country, but I had not had the opportunity to see the components of the Chinese university system until now. I was made aware of how different online learning looks in countries that do not have good access to Internet. Many of the educationally disadvantaged students (the ones that distance education is supposed to be targeting morally) do not have computers at home, not to mention Internet. Studying at Internet Cafés would make my job as a student much harder than it is, so I feel that these students are struggling to get their education.
10/25
MOOCs seem to be a “horse of another colour” to quote the doorkeeper of the city of Oz in the movie “The Wizard of Oz”. I still don’t quite understand how these open courses are funded. I mean, I know that the initial costs were covered by philanthropist organizations and by big-name schools with enough money to donate to the cause, but how do they plan to keep them running? Students are beginning to be charged if they want some type of credit for the learning they have done, but that is not enough money to keep the whole operation afloat. It has been some years now since the MOOC movement began out of the Connectivism Learning Theory (Sanders?), and the public’s emotion has gone up and down again concerning MOOCs. Now that the initial hype that Tony Bates lamented (Bates) has died down, it is time to see how MOOCs have affected the academic scene. Some scholars are now saying that MOOCs are dying out because they are unsustainable. Others are pointing out how much attention they drew to the theory of connectivism and predicting that they will survive, but in an evolved form. (?)
11/1 Module 4
The media equivalence hypothesis says that to a certain extent, planners can be relaxed about media effectiveness. "Provided the medium is well-chosen and functioning effectively, it plays a minor role in affecting learning outcomes." (Moore & Kearsley, 1996, p.65). Even so: in order to compare the cost of media we need a common unit of measurement otherwise we would have an 'apple and orange' problem. The only sensible unit of measurement to compare the cost of media is cost per hour of student learning supported by each specific medium or cost per student learning hour (SLH). A corollary of the media equivalence hypothesis would suggest that no medium per se has a higher effectiveness per hour than another. To assume otherwise would undermine any cost per learning time calculation. However, cost per learning time is first of all a means of costing inputs. Its purpose is to compare the costs of supporting learning in various media. It is not a substitute for testing learning outcomes.
Credit transfer between institutions is based on (supervised) learning time. A course of three US American credit points corresponds to 150 SLH. Since credits are intended as measures of effective learning we could regard to some extent cost per student learning hour as a cost-effectiveness proxy. (Assuming we develop two versions of a 150 SLH course, one as a low cost print version, one as high cost multi-media course and students are equally successful we would say that the print version is more cost-effective than the multi-media version.) Specifying course credits in terms of ‘notional’ student learning hours (SLH) is becoming increasingly common. For distance learners, who often study part time, the specified average weekly learning time may be important for their choice of courses. Moreover, it provides a reference point for the course developers, e.g. when determining the acceptable amount of reading. If you tell students that they can successfully complete the course if they invest ten hours per week, then you need to carefully control the amount of reading, the time for completing the assignments and, possibly, the time they would have to listen to the radio or communicate in an online class. The notion of student learning hours is sometimes used to describe the number of learning hours the course offers. This sounds a bit doubtful since learning is a learner activity and something that cannot be provided externally. However, it is possible to estimate how many hours a typical student would need in order to complete a given course. Hence, when we say a course comprises 150 SLH it means, according to the estimations of the provider, students should be able to complete the course within that time. In this sense we see 'number of learning hours' as a characteristic parameter of a given course.
11/14
Two days ago, I listened to a webinar (USDLA's National Distance Learning Week) by a company called GPA, who is connected with Pearson and Connections Academy. The speaker was describing their expansion of K-12 distance education into international markets. She said that she can't call it "Global market" because it is not universal across the globe; rather they have to create a new system for each country they are working to expand into. This particular company is one I have connections to, as my son attended middle school online through Connections Academy. I was also marginally involved during that time in their campaign to legalize their existence in Maryland, their headquarter-state. So far, Maryland Teachers’ Union has not let them in for various reasons.
I was fascinated by the extension of the company into international arenas, but Prof Thomas gave a completely different perspective on the bigger picture of the whole process. “The education market is a big market for the companies. Under the guise of humanitarian inventions they help destroying the commitment to public education. Quality is low (basically no teacher training just handling the tablet on which the content is loaded). Reckless in fee collection.”
From the translation of the article, “If the family does not pay the 5th of the month, the child is immediately excluded. And do not believe those schools are cheap. Parents who earn 1-2 dollars per day, or 73 euros per month maximum, make enormous sacrifices to send their children there. Usually sacrifices against girls. The parents cannot pay for all of their children and are forced to choose one that will have the chance to attend school. And in most cases, it is the boys. ‘This is a terrible injustice to those families and children to be denied the opportunity to improve their social status through education,’ says Kishore Singh, UN Special Reporter on the right to education.”
From the review of the book, “However, there is an alternative outcome possible which, especially when applied to education, is more ‘disconcerting’: That instead of leading to an overall improvement, the market will differentiate in quality products for the rich and junk products for the poor. Market segmentation of this type we see all over the place but it is generally portrayed as reflecting customer preferences, rather than a market dynamic which tends to exclude the poor from quality products.
“The initial reason which opens space for private competitors is the insufficient service both in terms of quality and coverage of the public providers. The private providers moved in, where public coverage was non-existent or breaking down and where quality was perceived as not good. What strikes the reader as difficult to understand is how the perception that the private provider would deliver better quality could emerge in spite of the fact that they operate with less qualified and often badly paid personnel. The question remains not fully resolved in the chapter, but the reasons for choosing the exit-option and moving to private providers in Ghana included grievances students and parents had with respect to corporal punishment and abusive language used by teachers. Nevertheless, partially, moving to private schools was only a temporary option since parents often were unable to pay the higher tuition fees (public education being largely free) and found that essential services promised by the private providers (such as transport) as being unreliable. Parents switched back to public providers. Exit was generally regarded as their preferred way to express their misgivings but was interpreted by teachers as parents’ lack of appreciation of education altogether (since often pupils dropped school altogether to work as apprentices in the informal labor market). As a consequence the public schools, not seeing exit as signal of dissatisfaction, did not improve as a consequence of competition.
“The question, why the performance (in terms of examination results) is worse in the public schools than in private schools even though teachers there are less qualified and worse paid largely remains unresolved.”
I think the book showed me a number of things. First, we need to differentiate between private providers. There are many non-profit providers. Second, that private providers were able to move in was partly due to the arrogance of the monopolistic state sector. The public education system was not so responsive to the needs of the parents. Third, the competition and the introduction of market forces often leads to market differentiation offering the poor access to only low quality schools” (Huelsmann, 2014).
At first I was really excited to ask this new business (which I have old connections to) for a job working with distance education across the globe, but now I can see some other sides to the situation. I have to really think about whether I believe this is going to bring about changes that I am proud of being part of. So do I really want to put my energy into distance education in exactly this fashion, or is there somewhere that I fit better as far as my views and goals for global education? Maybe I will keep looking for my spot.
Revenaugh, M., Birtolo, P. (2015, November 12). "NDLW 2015: Company's Coming. Get Out The Good China! [Webinar]." Retrieved from https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/nativeplayback.jnlp?sid=vclass&psid=2015-11-12.0720.D.308112D489929081EC574F1603EF5C.vcr
Ducatteau, S. (2015, April 3). “Les multinationales inventent les écoles low cost”. L'HUMANITÉ. Retrieved from http://www.humanite.fr/les-multinationales-inventent-les-ecoles-low-cost-570309
Huelsmann, T. (2014). Review of Chapter 7: Changing forms of provision: what impact on education outcomes in Ghana and Pakistan? By Fennel, S., Agbley, G., Malik, R., Akabzaa, R. Colclough, C. (Ed.) (2014). Education outcomes and poverty: a reassessment. London, New York: Routledge.
The media equivalence hypothesis says that to a certain extent, planners can be relaxed about media effectiveness. "Provided the medium is well-chosen and functioning effectively, it plays a minor role in affecting learning outcomes." (Moore & Kearsley, 1996, p.65). Even so: in order to compare the cost of media we need a common unit of measurement otherwise we would have an 'apple and orange' problem. The only sensible unit of measurement to compare the cost of media is cost per hour of student learning supported by each specific medium or cost per student learning hour (SLH). A corollary of the media equivalence hypothesis would suggest that no medium per se has a higher effectiveness per hour than another. To assume otherwise would undermine any cost per learning time calculation. However, cost per learning time is first of all a means of costing inputs. Its purpose is to compare the costs of supporting learning in various media. It is not a substitute for testing learning outcomes.
Credit transfer between institutions is based on (supervised) learning time. A course of three US American credit points corresponds to 150 SLH. Since credits are intended as measures of effective learning we could regard to some extent cost per student learning hour as a cost-effectiveness proxy. (Assuming we develop two versions of a 150 SLH course, one as a low cost print version, one as high cost multi-media course and students are equally successful we would say that the print version is more cost-effective than the multi-media version.) Specifying course credits in terms of ‘notional’ student learning hours (SLH) is becoming increasingly common. For distance learners, who often study part time, the specified average weekly learning time may be important for their choice of courses. Moreover, it provides a reference point for the course developers, e.g. when determining the acceptable amount of reading. If you tell students that they can successfully complete the course if they invest ten hours per week, then you need to carefully control the amount of reading, the time for completing the assignments and, possibly, the time they would have to listen to the radio or communicate in an online class. The notion of student learning hours is sometimes used to describe the number of learning hours the course offers. This sounds a bit doubtful since learning is a learner activity and something that cannot be provided externally. However, it is possible to estimate how many hours a typical student would need in order to complete a given course. Hence, when we say a course comprises 150 SLH it means, according to the estimations of the provider, students should be able to complete the course within that time. In this sense we see 'number of learning hours' as a characteristic parameter of a given course.
11/14
Two days ago, I listened to a webinar (USDLA's National Distance Learning Week) by a company called GPA, who is connected with Pearson and Connections Academy. The speaker was describing their expansion of K-12 distance education into international markets. She said that she can't call it "Global market" because it is not universal across the globe; rather they have to create a new system for each country they are working to expand into. This particular company is one I have connections to, as my son attended middle school online through Connections Academy. I was also marginally involved during that time in their campaign to legalize their existence in Maryland, their headquarter-state. So far, Maryland Teachers’ Union has not let them in for various reasons.
I was fascinated by the extension of the company into international arenas, but Prof Thomas gave a completely different perspective on the bigger picture of the whole process. “The education market is a big market for the companies. Under the guise of humanitarian inventions they help destroying the commitment to public education. Quality is low (basically no teacher training just handling the tablet on which the content is loaded). Reckless in fee collection.”
From the translation of the article, “If the family does not pay the 5th of the month, the child is immediately excluded. And do not believe those schools are cheap. Parents who earn 1-2 dollars per day, or 73 euros per month maximum, make enormous sacrifices to send their children there. Usually sacrifices against girls. The parents cannot pay for all of their children and are forced to choose one that will have the chance to attend school. And in most cases, it is the boys. ‘This is a terrible injustice to those families and children to be denied the opportunity to improve their social status through education,’ says Kishore Singh, UN Special Reporter on the right to education.”
From the review of the book, “However, there is an alternative outcome possible which, especially when applied to education, is more ‘disconcerting’: That instead of leading to an overall improvement, the market will differentiate in quality products for the rich and junk products for the poor. Market segmentation of this type we see all over the place but it is generally portrayed as reflecting customer preferences, rather than a market dynamic which tends to exclude the poor from quality products.
“The initial reason which opens space for private competitors is the insufficient service both in terms of quality and coverage of the public providers. The private providers moved in, where public coverage was non-existent or breaking down and where quality was perceived as not good. What strikes the reader as difficult to understand is how the perception that the private provider would deliver better quality could emerge in spite of the fact that they operate with less qualified and often badly paid personnel. The question remains not fully resolved in the chapter, but the reasons for choosing the exit-option and moving to private providers in Ghana included grievances students and parents had with respect to corporal punishment and abusive language used by teachers. Nevertheless, partially, moving to private schools was only a temporary option since parents often were unable to pay the higher tuition fees (public education being largely free) and found that essential services promised by the private providers (such as transport) as being unreliable. Parents switched back to public providers. Exit was generally regarded as their preferred way to express their misgivings but was interpreted by teachers as parents’ lack of appreciation of education altogether (since often pupils dropped school altogether to work as apprentices in the informal labor market). As a consequence the public schools, not seeing exit as signal of dissatisfaction, did not improve as a consequence of competition.
“The question, why the performance (in terms of examination results) is worse in the public schools than in private schools even though teachers there are less qualified and worse paid largely remains unresolved.”
I think the book showed me a number of things. First, we need to differentiate between private providers. There are many non-profit providers. Second, that private providers were able to move in was partly due to the arrogance of the monopolistic state sector. The public education system was not so responsive to the needs of the parents. Third, the competition and the introduction of market forces often leads to market differentiation offering the poor access to only low quality schools” (Huelsmann, 2014).
At first I was really excited to ask this new business (which I have old connections to) for a job working with distance education across the globe, but now I can see some other sides to the situation. I have to really think about whether I believe this is going to bring about changes that I am proud of being part of. So do I really want to put my energy into distance education in exactly this fashion, or is there somewhere that I fit better as far as my views and goals for global education? Maybe I will keep looking for my spot.
Revenaugh, M., Birtolo, P. (2015, November 12). "NDLW 2015: Company's Coming. Get Out The Good China! [Webinar]." Retrieved from https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/nativeplayback.jnlp?sid=vclass&psid=2015-11-12.0720.D.308112D489929081EC574F1603EF5C.vcr
Ducatteau, S. (2015, April 3). “Les multinationales inventent les écoles low cost”. L'HUMANITÉ. Retrieved from http://www.humanite.fr/les-multinationales-inventent-les-ecoles-low-cost-570309
Huelsmann, T. (2014). Review of Chapter 7: Changing forms of provision: what impact on education outcomes in Ghana and Pakistan? By Fennel, S., Agbley, G., Malik, R., Akabzaa, R. Colclough, C. (Ed.) (2014). Education outcomes and poverty: a reassessment. London, New York: Routledge.
11/03 Module 5
"Print still plays an important role in distance education and for some (especially big institutions, which can count on economies of scale) broadcasting remains an important option. However, computers and digital technologies offer new choices. In particular, we have to decide whether to use computers mainly for information exchange, retrieval, processing and management, or also as a means of communication. This has implication for cost-analysis. The first option follows the traditional cost structure of distance education, while networked computing may mean a considerable break with the established cost-structure of distance learning."
"Most texts, even if they are destined to become printed material are nowadays created on a computer in a digital format. Such documents can be distributed by email or put onto a server for users to access. Changing from a Word format to .pdf or a .html is just a matter of saving the document. Older documents can be made available by scanning them, although that is a time-consuming process. If scanned documents are also to be edited or styled, then, text recognition software is also needed. These process need hardware and software, but no specialist labor. The need for specialist labor increases when it comes to changing standard text into hypertext. Hypertext is a text, which includes links. Such links may be internal, leading to other places within the document, or external, leading to other web sites. Standard software has made it quite easy to edit web pages and include links. The process becomes expensive only when a high design standard is required. In this case, specialist skills and software (e.g. Photoshop) are needed."
11/05
"The simplest way to use a computer is to use it to provide access to resources by creating indexed and searchable databases for articles, pictures, etc. This requires considerable academic time as well as programming and general support input. Automated marking of multiple choice questions is one option for using interactivity digital media. If programming is more sophisticated and includes generic questions with hints, feedback and scoring one often speaks of interactive computer-marked assignment (ICMA). The multi-media formats are the highest in the league table of computer applications. These combine the various interactive media, e.g. multi-media CAL and audio visual media. This leads to high inputs both in academic time and in production related work." We finally considered the use of simple computer tools like spreadsheets for calculation or statistical tools for data analysis. All these different applications use computers as information processing devices and can be classified as i-type., i.e. they can be saved to a CD-ROM and sent to students for self-study. It is important to note that i-type uses of the computer have the same cost-structure as traditional 'one way traffic' media (Holmberg, 1995, p.2). They allow economies of scale. The advantage of the type-i variant of e-learning is that, though possibly costly to develop, it is in line with the traditional cost-structure of ODL which allows considerable economies of scale. Burning and distributing CD-ROMs is comparable in cost with copying and mailing audio or video cassettes. It should be noted that requesting computers and maintaining an online infrastructure is in some parts of the world still quite costly and a considerable access barrier since it devolves a cost to students.
11/08
“The essential cost driver is academic time. When related to the cost-structure (the composition of TC with respect to V and F), it is easy to see that student-teacher interaction changes the cost-structure of DE.” I would expect that if a teacher finds that s/he has spent a considerably larger amount of time than s/he expected helping and communicating with students during a course in a certain semester, then s/he will try to re-negotiate their pay for the next course they teach. As Prof Thomas noted, there is another problem in compensation teachers when they are also (or primarily) expected to do research and publish in income-producing journals. The phrase in America is “publish or perish.” I discovered this problem last year while I was taking courses in Secondary Education. My academic advisor, Dr. Ken Pool, explained to me a great deal about how professorships work in America. He encouraged me to choose a 3-credit independent study with him as a substitute for one course. He wanted me to research and interview Human Resources concerning the qualifications required of new professors at local 2-year and 4-year higher ed institutions. I found very few qualifications in the area of good teaching. There were a lot of requirements for publishing and for technology use in the course, however. Teaching assistants are commonly used to help teach the material to students while the professors spend time researching. This whole lack of requiring higher ed teachers to know how to teach is disconcerting to me, especially as higher ed is becoming more available to the masses through DE. Where high-functioning students could get by with some autonomous learning coupled enough learner support services, the masses won’t be able to thrive in those circumstances. They may not even survive.
"Print still plays an important role in distance education and for some (especially big institutions, which can count on economies of scale) broadcasting remains an important option. However, computers and digital technologies offer new choices. In particular, we have to decide whether to use computers mainly for information exchange, retrieval, processing and management, or also as a means of communication. This has implication for cost-analysis. The first option follows the traditional cost structure of distance education, while networked computing may mean a considerable break with the established cost-structure of distance learning."
"Most texts, even if they are destined to become printed material are nowadays created on a computer in a digital format. Such documents can be distributed by email or put onto a server for users to access. Changing from a Word format to .pdf or a .html is just a matter of saving the document. Older documents can be made available by scanning them, although that is a time-consuming process. If scanned documents are also to be edited or styled, then, text recognition software is also needed. These process need hardware and software, but no specialist labor. The need for specialist labor increases when it comes to changing standard text into hypertext. Hypertext is a text, which includes links. Such links may be internal, leading to other places within the document, or external, leading to other web sites. Standard software has made it quite easy to edit web pages and include links. The process becomes expensive only when a high design standard is required. In this case, specialist skills and software (e.g. Photoshop) are needed."
11/05
"The simplest way to use a computer is to use it to provide access to resources by creating indexed and searchable databases for articles, pictures, etc. This requires considerable academic time as well as programming and general support input. Automated marking of multiple choice questions is one option for using interactivity digital media. If programming is more sophisticated and includes generic questions with hints, feedback and scoring one often speaks of interactive computer-marked assignment (ICMA). The multi-media formats are the highest in the league table of computer applications. These combine the various interactive media, e.g. multi-media CAL and audio visual media. This leads to high inputs both in academic time and in production related work." We finally considered the use of simple computer tools like spreadsheets for calculation or statistical tools for data analysis. All these different applications use computers as information processing devices and can be classified as i-type., i.e. they can be saved to a CD-ROM and sent to students for self-study. It is important to note that i-type uses of the computer have the same cost-structure as traditional 'one way traffic' media (Holmberg, 1995, p.2). They allow economies of scale. The advantage of the type-i variant of e-learning is that, though possibly costly to develop, it is in line with the traditional cost-structure of ODL which allows considerable economies of scale. Burning and distributing CD-ROMs is comparable in cost with copying and mailing audio or video cassettes. It should be noted that requesting computers and maintaining an online infrastructure is in some parts of the world still quite costly and a considerable access barrier since it devolves a cost to students.
11/08
“The essential cost driver is academic time. When related to the cost-structure (the composition of TC with respect to V and F), it is easy to see that student-teacher interaction changes the cost-structure of DE.” I would expect that if a teacher finds that s/he has spent a considerably larger amount of time than s/he expected helping and communicating with students during a course in a certain semester, then s/he will try to re-negotiate their pay for the next course they teach. As Prof Thomas noted, there is another problem in compensation teachers when they are also (or primarily) expected to do research and publish in income-producing journals. The phrase in America is “publish or perish.” I discovered this problem last year while I was taking courses in Secondary Education. My academic advisor, Dr. Ken Pool, explained to me a great deal about how professorships work in America. He encouraged me to choose a 3-credit independent study with him as a substitute for one course. He wanted me to research and interview Human Resources concerning the qualifications required of new professors at local 2-year and 4-year higher ed institutions. I found very few qualifications in the area of good teaching. There were a lot of requirements for publishing and for technology use in the course, however. Teaching assistants are commonly used to help teach the material to students while the professors spend time researching. This whole lack of requiring higher ed teachers to know how to teach is disconcerting to me, especially as higher ed is becoming more available to the masses through DE. Where high-functioning students could get by with some autonomous learning coupled enough learner support services, the masses won’t be able to thrive in those circumstances. They may not even survive.
11/09 Module 6
The claim by distance education of being the most cost-effective solution is to some extent impaired by high drop-out rates. If the definition of what it means to be a drop out is not clear then publishing this number gives minimal or no real information. Is a drop out someone who does not finish a full program? Then what about individuals who only need a few credits, or those who start a program and decide they are simply misplaced. Drop-out rates alone do not provide a complete picture without the reason that the students is choosing to dropout. Knowing the dropout rates can help individuals make a more informed decision about a program when the dropout is tied to the rigor of a program; especially in choosing a specific program. When you examine the amount of money students invest in their education dropout rates paired with other data can help students make informed decision about a program and if they are truly prepared for a program. In high school there is the constant push to prepare students for college; however many students may not want to attend college or choose a vocation that does not need college. These student feel pressured to attend a college and end up on the dropout list after a semester. Knowing the dropout rates is more valuable to the institution than perspectives students; as it allows institutions to evaluate programs and determine their bottom line in the number of students that need to be enrolled the following year to cover the dropout rates. Analyzing the dropout rates will allow institutions to design programs that will help retain students, though creating a problem of extra costs. I believe very strongly that a mentoring program is critical to retention in online learning. I also believe that online students should have access to all of the same resources as do our campus-based students. Learning analytics and using data mining/analysis to flag potential problems within the student populace allow staff and faculty to proactively reach out to students before they drop out of a course. While you're never going to prevent every student from dropping a course, helping those that are "on the fence" can improve student success. Student to student mentoring was researched and found to be popular and effective to those who were surveyed and willing to join a test group to test out the effectiveness of a student mentoring program. Of those who had a mentor, 89% made it through their course of study. Mentors consisted of “experienced students helping newer students (referred to as ‘mentoring’ in this report), or students on the same course helping each other (referred to as ‘peer support’)” (Boyle, Jinhee, Ross, & Simpson, 2010, p. 116).
Boyle, F., Jinhee, K., Ross, C., & Simpson, O. (2010). Student-student mentoring for retention and engagement in distance education. Open Learning, 25(2), 115-130. doi:10.1080/02680511003787370
11/12
The economic case for student support should include, besides the opportunity costs of lost income, the additional costs of finding replacement (since the cost-efficiency of the institution depends on keeping at least the steady state of enrollment level). Thinking about it from a business perspective, recruiting a new student costs money both in recruiting process (handing out flyers, creating ads, etc) and the lack of income during the process that can hinder the institutions ability to pay their own costs. Income earned from the recruitment does not appear in a institutions books typically to the next fiscal year requiring institutions to have a secure source of income during the recruitment process. Now with retaining students there are still costs in helping the students but you are also receiving income from the students that are still attending your institution. This income can be used to offset the costs that are accrued in helping retain students. As with business the cost of recruitment is built into what they charge students however with high drop-outs I assume that institutions have had to increase the hidden costs that are passed along to the students. I think that regardless of what an institution does to prevent drop-outs the old adage holds true you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make them drink. Institutions provide the services to the students it is up to the students to take advantage of what is provided.
11/16
Institutional policies on learner support relate to ethical stances and accepted believes about the nature of intelligence. A wide-spread culture of treating intelligence as an entity sees investing in student support as a waste of money. Many employers use educational credentials as sorting tools. Many also believe in the bell curve, a normal distribution of talents and intelligence in the population. The "tipping point" within higher education will come within the expansion of credentials and certificates before the credential is useless. A credential today is similar to a reference check except a higher ed institution reports courses received and student grades, and some even now report on extracurricular activities. Also they are not just used for jobs; none of us would have been able to apply to this program without prior institution credentials. Those who are charged with hiring new employees should value experience just as much, if not more, than a certificate or degree...especially for positions above the entry-level. For example, if a student took an internship with a company that fell within their career goals, that should go a long way toward validating their educational credentials. Additionally, a "specific degree/certificate" is valued more than a general one. For example, a degree in Management would not be valued as much as a degree in Human Resources Management when it comes to hiring human resource professionals at the entry level.
The claim by distance education of being the most cost-effective solution is to some extent impaired by high drop-out rates. If the definition of what it means to be a drop out is not clear then publishing this number gives minimal or no real information. Is a drop out someone who does not finish a full program? Then what about individuals who only need a few credits, or those who start a program and decide they are simply misplaced. Drop-out rates alone do not provide a complete picture without the reason that the students is choosing to dropout. Knowing the dropout rates can help individuals make a more informed decision about a program when the dropout is tied to the rigor of a program; especially in choosing a specific program. When you examine the amount of money students invest in their education dropout rates paired with other data can help students make informed decision about a program and if they are truly prepared for a program. In high school there is the constant push to prepare students for college; however many students may not want to attend college or choose a vocation that does not need college. These student feel pressured to attend a college and end up on the dropout list after a semester. Knowing the dropout rates is more valuable to the institution than perspectives students; as it allows institutions to evaluate programs and determine their bottom line in the number of students that need to be enrolled the following year to cover the dropout rates. Analyzing the dropout rates will allow institutions to design programs that will help retain students, though creating a problem of extra costs. I believe very strongly that a mentoring program is critical to retention in online learning. I also believe that online students should have access to all of the same resources as do our campus-based students. Learning analytics and using data mining/analysis to flag potential problems within the student populace allow staff and faculty to proactively reach out to students before they drop out of a course. While you're never going to prevent every student from dropping a course, helping those that are "on the fence" can improve student success. Student to student mentoring was researched and found to be popular and effective to those who were surveyed and willing to join a test group to test out the effectiveness of a student mentoring program. Of those who had a mentor, 89% made it through their course of study. Mentors consisted of “experienced students helping newer students (referred to as ‘mentoring’ in this report), or students on the same course helping each other (referred to as ‘peer support’)” (Boyle, Jinhee, Ross, & Simpson, 2010, p. 116).
Boyle, F., Jinhee, K., Ross, C., & Simpson, O. (2010). Student-student mentoring for retention and engagement in distance education. Open Learning, 25(2), 115-130. doi:10.1080/02680511003787370
11/12
The economic case for student support should include, besides the opportunity costs of lost income, the additional costs of finding replacement (since the cost-efficiency of the institution depends on keeping at least the steady state of enrollment level). Thinking about it from a business perspective, recruiting a new student costs money both in recruiting process (handing out flyers, creating ads, etc) and the lack of income during the process that can hinder the institutions ability to pay their own costs. Income earned from the recruitment does not appear in a institutions books typically to the next fiscal year requiring institutions to have a secure source of income during the recruitment process. Now with retaining students there are still costs in helping the students but you are also receiving income from the students that are still attending your institution. This income can be used to offset the costs that are accrued in helping retain students. As with business the cost of recruitment is built into what they charge students however with high drop-outs I assume that institutions have had to increase the hidden costs that are passed along to the students. I think that regardless of what an institution does to prevent drop-outs the old adage holds true you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make them drink. Institutions provide the services to the students it is up to the students to take advantage of what is provided.
11/16
Institutional policies on learner support relate to ethical stances and accepted believes about the nature of intelligence. A wide-spread culture of treating intelligence as an entity sees investing in student support as a waste of money. Many employers use educational credentials as sorting tools. Many also believe in the bell curve, a normal distribution of talents and intelligence in the population. The "tipping point" within higher education will come within the expansion of credentials and certificates before the credential is useless. A credential today is similar to a reference check except a higher ed institution reports courses received and student grades, and some even now report on extracurricular activities. Also they are not just used for jobs; none of us would have been able to apply to this program without prior institution credentials. Those who are charged with hiring new employees should value experience just as much, if not more, than a certificate or degree...especially for positions above the entry-level. For example, if a student took an internship with a company that fell within their career goals, that should go a long way toward validating their educational credentials. Additionally, a "specific degree/certificate" is valued more than a general one. For example, a degree in Management would not be valued as much as a degree in Human Resources Management when it comes to hiring human resource professionals at the entry level.
11/18 Module 7