Online and Hybrid Education Strategy White Papers

As higher education institutions continue to feel financial pressure from declining or stagnating enrollment, they often look to online education to tap into new markets and adapt to the changing preferences of their existing student populations. However, despite growth in both the number of online and hybrid programs and student enrollments, misconceptions about the potential and limitations of these modalities persist.

EAB has developed four white papers to help member institutions better understand the broader trends in the online and hybrid market and how to serve three critical online student markets.

Executive Guide to Online and Hybrid Education Strategy

Student Segment Overview: Multi-Modal Students

Student Segment Overview: Online Graduate and Professional Students

Student Segment Overview: Adult Degree Completers

Executive Guide to Online and Hybrid Education Strategy

Many higher education leaders fail to understand segment-specific trends in student preferences while also maintaining some false assumptions about the financial and enrollment implications of online and hybrid learning. This whitepaper gives members an overview of the online and hybrid enrollment trends nationally and within their specific institutional segment. It also dispels some of the key myths pertaining to the scalability, quality, and global reach of online education. The whitepaper ends with a brief overview of the regulatory and operational considerations institutions must keep in mind when launching or expanding their online portfolio.

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Learn about national online and hybrid enrollment trends (pg. 9) or delve into the data pertaining to your institutional segment:

• Segment Overview: Research Universities (pg. 13)
• Segment Overview: Regional Public Universities (pg. 15)
• Segment Overview: Regional Private Universities (pg. 17)
• Segment Overview: Liberal Arts Colleges (pg. 19)
• Segment Overview: Private For-Profit Universities (pg. 21)
• Segment Overview: Canadian Institutions (pg. 23)

Understand the three myths pertaining to online and hybrid enrollment (pg. 25) or learn about a specific misconception that might be prevalent on your campus:

• Myth: Online Learning is Less Expensive to Scale (pg. 27)
• Myth: Online Education is Less Effective Than Face-to-Face Instruction (pg. 29)
• Myth: Online Learning Makes Geographic Boundaries Irrelevant (pg. 31)
• Delve into the key lessons the industry can learn from MOOCs and their providers (pg. 34)

Recognize some of the key regulatory and operational changes you need to make to launch or expand your online and hybrid portfolio (pg. 39)

Understand the student markets you serve

As in the case of traditional education, online students are not a homogenous group and to remain competitive institutions need to tailor their offerings to the specific student population they hope to serve. Three core student populations, each with their own goals, preferences, and needs, benefit most from online and hybrid offerings and institutional leaders must create distinct strategies to serve them effectively.

Student Segment Overview: Multi-Modal Students

Demanding greater flexibility in the undergraduate curriculum

Traditional-aged bachelor’s degree-seeking students can balance campus involvement and experiential learning opportunities without sacrificing degree progress when high-demand courses are available in multiple modalities. Not only are more students taking online courses, but face-to-face courses are evolving to include web-based learning. Within this context, institutions must keep in mind pedagogical, student success, and institutional capacity considerations when serving this population.

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Understand the five key considerations to serve this student population:

• Use Hybrid Course Formats for Pedagogical Benefits and Cost Savings (pg. 9)
• Create Short-Term Incentives for Faculty to Teach High-Demand Intersession Courses (pg. 12)
• Require Students to Demonstrate Readiness for Online Coursework (pg. 16)
• Accelerate Academic Preparedness with Multimodal Corequisite Summer Courses (pg. 17)
• Supplement Course Capacity and Offerings Through Online Course Consortia (pg. 18)

Student Segment Overview: Online Graduate and Professional Students

Investing in career development and fulfillment

Students seeking professional master’s degrees or certificates look for flexible, online programs with a clear link to their career goals. Given higher price points and growing demand in many fields, this segment has traditionally been the most lucrative for many institutions. However, as degree conferrals have flattened this market is no longer the revenue-generating panacea many believed it to be. In order to remain competitive, institutions need to create market-responsive program launch policies and invest in self-service student support services.

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Understand the five key considerations to serve this student population:

• Conduct Student and Employer Demand Validation before Program Launch (pg. 8)
• Segment the Market Based on Prospects’ Career Stage and Goals (pg. 10)
• Use Revenue-Sharing Policies to Incent New Program Development (pg. 12)
• Create Rapid Response Program Launch Policies to Capture Market Opportunities (pg. 14)
• Add Capacity to Student Support Services through Self-Service Offerings (pg. 16)

Student Segment Overview: Adult Degree Completers

Looking for fast, flexible, and career-relevant degree programs

In recent years there has been significant hype about the number of adults with some prior college experience but no degree. However, further segmentation shows that not all students within this category are equally likely to reenroll. Many have too few college credits to be considered viable. Without understanding the actual size of the market and recognizing their need for low-cost and flexible programs, institutions will be unable to effectively recruit and serve adult degree completers.

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Understand the five key considerations to serve this student population:

• Develop Programs Based on Student and Employer Demand (pg. 8)
• Benchmark Pricing Strategy to Competition (pg. 9)
• Create Advising Partnerships with Community Colleges to Target Transfer Students (pg. 10)
• Develop Targeted Student Success Offerings to Facilitate Retention and Completion (pg. 13)
• Understand the Potential and Limitations of Alternative Credit Programs (pg. 14)