Definitions of
E-Learning Courses and Programs
Version 2.0
April 4, 2015
Developed for Discussion within the Online Learning Community
By
Frank Mayadas, Gary Miller, and John Sener
As e-learning has evolved into a global change agent in
higher education, it has become more diverse in its form and applications. This increased diversity has
complicated our ability to share research findings and best practices, because
we lack a shared set of definitions to distinguish among the many variations on
e-learning that have arisen. This
paper is designed to provide practitioners, researchers, and policy makers with
a common set of terms and definitions to guide the ongoing development of the
field. Our hope is that it will
move us toward a set of shared, commonly understood definitions that will
facilitate the sharing of research data and professional standards in our
field. In developing the
definitions below, we have tried to incorporate existing definitions developed
by others and have incorporated comments from colleagues who have reviewed
earlier drafts. We do not
present these as the ultimate definitions, but as a step toward more commonly
held standards as our field continues to evolve. Additions and revisions will be published periodically, as
needed.
The Impact of
E-Learning
While e-learning has become the primary form of distance
education, it is also transforming instruction on campus. Higher education historically is a
campus-based institution. Many
students live on campus for the duration of their studies; others live near
campus and commute to campus to take classes and to receive campus-based
support services. This physical
connection has defined the relationship between the student and the institution. It has also helped to shape the curriculum
itself. E-learning has blurred
these traditional relationships, removing geography as a defining element in
the student-institution relationship.
Technology-enhanced learning has evolved both from
enhancements to earlier generations of face-to-face teaching and enhancements
to earlier generations of distance education. Engaged intentional design of learning experiences has also
evolved to promote the most effective design to serve the learners, their life
experiences and the opportunities and limitations of the particular
environment. For example, many graduate programs have deliberately
designed programs for working adults, which are predominantly offered online
but also include short-term face-to-face residencies.
At the same time, it is becoming increasingly difficult to
define a common measure for instruction.
The “seat time” measure on which common understanding of a “credit hour”
is largely based, is being challenged as new instructional models and
alternatives to traditional classroom lectures become more widely
accepted. However, the credit hour
remains the most widely accepted measure used to compare courses across
different delivery environments.
Continued growth in the number and diversity of learning environments
will increase the need for a common standard by which different learning
environments can be compared. The
following definitions assume the credit hour as the primary means by which
courses are defined, regardless of delivery environment.
As e-learning has matured, it has begun to be used in
different ways to address diverse goals.
Several models have emerged that have different geographical and
curricular implications. It is
important to be able to distinguish among these factors in order to compare
practices and to understand and be able to effectively apply research
findings. Shared definitions will
also empower students to make better decisions. The major goals of e-learning include: improving access for both traditional-age and nontraditional students who are
not otherwise able to attend a traditional, campus-based program and improving student choice over when, where, and
how to engage in the learning process; and improving efficiency and effectiveness by using e-learning media and methods
to control cost or provide other efficiencies or to make large-enrollment
courses more effective for students.
In addition, we are assuming that courses and programs defined below are
instructor-led experiences, distinguishing them from self-learning modules,
often seen for instance in some corporate
training models.
DEFINITIONS OF E-LEARNING
Over the years, various organizations have attempted to
define different aspects of e-learning.
Often, these have been focused on the specific needs of an individual
institution or organization. In
2012, Frank Mayadas and Gary Miller posted a set of definitions designed to
create a more common understanding; these were updated later that year in
response to feedback from the professional e-learning community. The following definitions are designed
to replace the 2012 document. They are designed to help both faculty and students
better understand the different kinds of e-learning that are now practiced in
higher education and to provide institutions with some standard models to
encourage effective sharing of data about e-learning, at both the individual
course and the curriculum level.
These definitions have two key characteristics:
·
They include definitions at both the course
level and the program level.
·
They incorporate three key parameters: instructional delivery mode, time, and
flexibility.
COURSE-LEVEL DEFINITIONS
The following definitions distill current practices into
seven categories that reflect the variety of applications that predominate in
use today.
1. Classroom
Course – Course activity is
organized around scheduled class meetings.
Traditional classroom courses are measured by the number of
hours spent in required in-person class meetings in various formats, such as
lectures, studios, or workshops or other traditional face-to-face activities,
such as laboratories, field trips, or internships. Such courses may involve some sort of computer usage—for
example, a software simulation or laboratory or design software for art or engineering
applications—but the course is still anchored to the normal time spent in
face-to-face classes. For the
purposes of clarity in these definitions, courses that use technology at this
level are considered to be “classroom” courses.
2. Synchronous
Distributed Course—Web-based
technologies are used to extend classroom
lectures and other activities to students at remote sites in real time.
These
courses use web conferencing or other synchronous e-learning media to provide
access to a classroom experience for students at off-campus locations (such as
places of employment, other campuses, etc.) while otherwise maintaining a
normal face-to-face classroom schedule.
These courses may mix on-campus and remote students, with on-campus
students being face-to-face with their instructor and remote students
participating simultaneously via technology. This changes the experience for both sets of students, so
both settings fall into the same category. Some types of synchronous distributed courses offer greater
place flexibility than others, depending on the delivery tool used. Synchronous distributed courses are
significantly limited in terms of time flexibility, although that can be
increased by recording class lectures and related activities and making them
available for later viewing.
3. Web-Enhanced
Course – Online course activity complements class sessions without
reducing the number of required class meetings.
When
Internet access is required to complete course requirements, and when this
Internet-based work augments classroom activity or supplants a relatively small
amount (typically, 20 percent or less) of the traditional classroom activity,
the course is considered a “web-enhanced course.” Traditional courses and web-enhanced courses are very similar,
but are placed in separate categories because web-enhanced courses require
additional faculty and student support, and very likely additional
technology. Web-enhanced courses
are not normally considered to be e-learning courses, but are described here
because they may be a step toward a hybrid or online course.
4. Blended
(also called Hybrid) Classroom Course – Online activity is mixed with
classroom meetings, replacing a significant percentage, but not all required
face-to-face instructional activities.
When the technologies used for education and communication
outside the classroom are used to supplant
some, but not all face-to-face instruction, reducing the time actually spent in
the classroom, the result is a blended classroom course. For example, if a course traditionally
meets in a classroom three times per week, a blended version might use online
sessions to replace one or two of the traditional weekly classroom sessions or
to focus face-to-face sessions on laboratory or project work. The offering institution should set the
threshold for required online activity at that institution. Some institutions use blended courses
with traditional on-campus students to improve efficiency in the use of limited
classrooms. For example, replacing
50% of classroom experiences with online experiences would allow an institution
to schedule a second course in the same room.
5. Blended
(also called Hybrid) Online Course – Most course activity is done online,
but there are some required face-to-face instructional activities, such as
lectures, discussions, labs, or other in-person learning activities.
These courses are the mirror image of blended classroom
courses. Most course activity is
conducted online, but a small amount of scheduled in-person classroom or other
onsite group activities events are required. Online delivery replaces all but a few required face-to-face
sessions. While this category of
course may commonly be called an “online” course, the distinction is important
because the inclusion of face-to-face work sets some geographic limitations on
student access to the course.
The institution is responsible for setting the threshold of required
online activity.
Both Blended Classroom Courses and Blended Online Courses
are particularly relevant in programs that serve students within commuting
distance of campus. They increase
flexibility but do not totally eliminate the need for students to have physical
access to a campus facility.
Blended courses will be attractive to many traditional full-time
students, in addition to non-traditional learners, typically working adults who
are within commuting distance and who wish to earn a degree.
6. Online
Course – All course activity is
done online; there are no required face-to-face
sessions within the course and no requirements for on-campus activity.
Purely online courses totally eliminate geography as a
factor in the relationship between the student and the institution. They
consist entirely of online elements that facilitate the three critical student
interactions: with content, the instructor, and other students.
While these courses may appeal to on-campus students, they
are designed to meet the needs of students who do not have effective access to
campus. They may reside near the
campus, or they may reside quite a distance away in other states or even in
other countries. Over the
years, universities have sought to serve this “non-traditional” population
through a variety of media—from correspondence courses to satellite
teleconferences—but only since the mid-1990s has technology enabled easy and
continuous communication—interaction—among the learners and instructors at a
distance. The Internet also has made library and other information resources
available to this group.
Improvements in basic technology also permit this user group access to
complex data as in precision images, mathematical visualizations and
simulations of various kinds.
Social networking applications allow these learners to participate in
both formal and informal learning communities.
NOTE: Since 2002-03, the Babson Survey
Research Group has conducted a national survey of online learning, initially
supported with funds from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. It has become recognized as a premiere
national e-learning survey research effort in the United States. Their protocol defines a Blended/Hybrid
course as being up to 79 percent online and an Online Course as being 80-100
percent online. They have
maintained that distinction in order to ensure longitudinal consistency across
survey years. However, most
institutions now consider an online course to be 100% online.
7. Flexible
Mode Course – Offers multiple delivery modes so that students can choose
which delivery mode(s) to use for instructional and other learning purposes.
The distinguishing characteristic of the type of course is
that it provides students with the option to select from multiple delivery
modes, which also increases their control over time and place as well as
delivery mode. One example is the “Emporium” model developed through several
innovations funded by the National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT)
(1). This model,
designed for on-campus use, eliminates all class meetings and replaces them
with a learning resource center featuring online materials and on-demand
personalized assistance. This gives
campus-based students control over when they study by allowing students to
choose when they access course materials, to choose what types of learning
materials they use depending on their needs, and to set their own pace in
working with the materials. It
assumes that students have access to sophisticated instructional software and
one-on-one on-site help. It
replaces formal class meetings with increased access to instructional
assistance and allows institutions to combine multiple lecture sections into
one large section.
The
HyFlex blended learning model is another one in use at several colleges and
universities. The model was developed at San Francisco State University to give
students choice over the mode of study (2). In HyFlex courses, students have both classroom-based
and online options available for all or most learning activities, giving them
the flexibility to choose when and where they study based on their own needs,
desires, and preferences. Students can also choose to change which option they
use to attend courses weekly.
PROGRAM-LEVEL DEFINITIONS
Similar distinctions among delivery environments can be made
at the program level. Degree and
certificate programs can be designed with a mix of traditional and e-learning
courses in order to serve populations who have different levels of access to
campus. Currently, there appear to
be four major kinds of practices in wide use:
1.
Classroom
Program—The program may include a mix of traditional, web-enhanced, or
hybrid courses, but all courses require some face-to-face lecture sessions.
These programs take advantage of web-based applications to
enhance learning, but without changing the requirement that students attend
classes on campus or in other face-to-face learning environments. As a result, online elements do not
significantly improve access to commuting or distant students.
2. Multi-Format
Program – A program mixes
classroom courses with other formats
that may use a variety of different delivery modes, web-enhanced, blended,
fully online courses, synchronous distributed courses, etc., without
a specific access goal.
These programs use a variety of technologies and course
designs to provide a variety of learning experiences. Typically, choice of technology is less related to the
geographic or time needs of students than to curricular goals or instructional
needs.
3. Blended
Program – A significant percentage, but not all of the credits required
for program completion are offered fully online. Typically, up to 30 percent
of the curriculum may be offered as face-to-face or blended courses
or other face-to-face formats or as independent study.
These programs provide increased
access to distant students who are able to come to campus for some courses,
laboratory work, intensive residencies, or other occasional group
sessions. Ideally, face-to-face sessions will be organized to minimize
travel requirements for distant students. Some academic support services
should be available to distant students as well. While a model in which 30 percent of the program consists of
face-to-face or blended courses is given as a guideline, institutions should
determine the percentage of the curriculum to be offered fully online based on
local needs.
4. Online
Program – All credits required to complete the program are offered as
fully online courses. Students can complete the program completely at a distance,
with no required face-to-face meetings.
Fully online programs are
designed with the truly distant student in mind. Institutions that offer
fully online programs should also take care to provide support
services—registration, testing, advising, library support, etc.—at a distance.
Emerging
Innovations
As e-learning matures, innovative new ways to teach and learn will
continue to emerge. Recent examples are massive open online courses
(MOOCs) and competency-based education. At this stage in their evolution, these
innovations can be adequately described within the course and program
definitions described above; MOOCs and competency-based courses can be
understood as operating within one or more of the defined
categories.
Implementation
The authors are indebted to the many colleagues too numerous
to list individually who have contributed to these definitions by providing
feedback on earlier drafts and who, in some cases, have pioneered in developing
innovative applications of technology to create new learning environments.
These definitions are a work in progress that will be
updated periodically as needed.
The authors welcome comments and anticipate that they will prepare
occasional companion pieces to add new definitions as the field evolves, in the
hope the community will come together around a common set of definitions that
will guide research, practice, and policy. We encourage researchers and professional associations to
adopt the definitions with the goal that a shared vocabulary will facilitate
the sharing of research data, increase the transfer of research into practice,
and, ultimately, promote standards of excellence for the field.
Comments are welcome in this ongoing discussion.
References
(1) “The Emporium Model.” National Center for Academic Transformation. Retrieved from the Internet on February
16, 2015: http://www.thencat.org/PCR/model_emporium_all.htm
(2) “Student
Choice, Instrtuctor Flexibility: Moving Beyond the Blended Instructional
Model.” UAiR: Issues and Trends in
Educational Technology,Vol. 1, No. 1. University of Arizona, 2013. Retrieved from the Internet on
February16, 2015: https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/itet/article/view/16464/16485
Version 1.0 8/2/2012
Version 1.1 9/7/12
Version 2.0 4/4/15
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