XplanaZine

Many institutions offering online programs have found that no matter how much they boost their fees and tuitions, they’re still in a profitability trap — the more students they attract, the more money the institution loses. Their operating costs are sky-high for a number of factors, including small section sizes, high stipends, high support costs, too-brief course durations, high drop-out rates.

Many private universities, such as ITT and University of Phoenix are “blocking” courses, and making them carry double credit hours, but instead of lasting 8 weeks, they span 16 weeks. These institutions have found that students are not able to complete courses in accelerated formats if they are working, deployed, or have interruptions. The stipend paid to the professor is more than in a 3-hour course. For example, if the professor is paid $1500 for teaching a 3-hour course, they are paid $2,100 for a 6-hour course. There is less paperwork involved, and the processing is streamlined.

The other trend is to require students to attend an on-campus seminar. According to a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, many private for-profit institutions are asking students who are not deployed or otherwise unable to do so to take one class on-site for every two they take online. This helps students make progress through the program, encourages them to set deadlines, and helps group dynamics. There are obvious pedagogical benefits to this approach. The seminars tend to be on weekends, and each weekend carries a certain number of credit hours.

This presents universities with a number of new opportunities. Most have successfully reconstructed and updated our curriculum, based on demand for online courses and subject matter expert guidance.

Universities can recast this into a setting that will restore profitability, simplify advising, and improve completion and graduation rates.

The first and most simple move is to create BLOCK courses. These happen by sequencing 3-hour courses into 9-credit hour courses — they will still carry the same course numbers, etc, but they are, in essence Part I, Part I, Part III. This means that it is not necessary to obtain approvals — it is simply a way of scheduling the courses. Each part is 5 weeks in duration, and moves naturally to the next phase. Ideally, the same core texts are used in each part of the block, with supplemental texts providing additional content.

Blocks are survey courses.

Natural Sciences BLOCK: PART I PART II PART III — the sequence lasts 15 weeks and is enrolled as a “block”
Social Sciences BLOCK: PART I PART II PART III — the sequence lasts 15 weeks and is enrolled as a “block”
Humanities BLOCK: PART I PART II PART III — the sequence lasts 15 weeks and is enrolled as a “block”

Each student will be required to take a BLOCK and 1 or 2 3-hour electives per semester.

If they get transfer credit for a PART within the block, they will still have to pay tuition for it, but they get credit. They will get a “pass” and not have to take that class within the block. They will not be automatically enrolled in that Part.

Each student can take up to 18 hours per semester — one Block and up to 3 electives (electives span the entire semester).

BLOCK courses can restore profitability — for example, if one can enroll up to 25 students per block, then one could pay the professor $4,500 to teach the block. Other benefits of the 3-part BLOCK approach include:

—more productive and deeper-level interaction with students as the same student population is maintained when they move through the parts in the BLOCK
—a deeper and more consistent relationship is developed with the professor
—less “starting and stopping,” which will alleviate start-up anxieties, and wrap-up panics
—streamlined enrollments reduce paperwork and confusion
—streamlined advising
—students can still make progress even if they fall back to taking a BLOCK, and do not take electives
—degree completion programs requiring 60 hours, but which allow transfer hours or life experience credit can give credit for electives, but still require students to take the BLOCKS to ensure consistent quality of education
—a “practicum” block of 12 hours can be developed which combines interdisciplinary study with an internship or work-related research project.
—onsite seminars can be offered between semesters for students wishing accelerated graduation schedules.

This plan can be used as a point of departure for all universities and colleges that offer online courses and programs, but find themselves in a “creeping cost” situation as course management systems, infrastructure, centralized course development, advising, and support costs steadily increase. What can be avoided is the nightmare scenario of having a marketing and promotional success but an economic disaster.