Following a year of upheaval concerning the size of the distance education market and who quantifies it, the Babson Survey Research Group's annual barometer of the students taking online courses contains few surprises.
The survey was never meant to make it this far, codirectors I. Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman point out. What was intended as a “single snapshot” of the distance education market of the early 2000s is now in its 12th annual edition. During those years, the survey has tracked chief academic officers’ attitudes toward online learning and also attempted to quantify just how many students enrolled in at least one distance education course.
Last year, the Babson Group faced a crossroads. The National Center for Education Statistics began tracking distance education enrollment in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, or IPEDS, and the results from fall 2012 -- the first batch of data collected by the federal government -- counted 1.6 million fewer students than theBabson survey's estimate. In response, Seaman said the federal government’s data were likely more accurate and that his survey would change to focus more on attitudes and trends.
This year’s report, released today, shows the result of that shift. The Babson Group now uses a combination of enrollment data from IPEDS reported by 4,891 colleges and universities (most recently from fall 2013) and additional survey responses from 2,807 of them (from fall 2014), but it is more interested in trends than totals.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/02/05/babson-survey-research-group-considers-changes-annual-report-distance-education