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Griffith Online: Preparing for the online world of higher education

Professor Sue SpenceDVC (Academic)

Griffith University

Presentation to Academic Committee, Sept 2012

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National and International Developments

• Changes in student demand – online/flexible– Students expect to study whenever and

wherever they want to• Rapid and incredible change in technology

(smart phones, ipads, mobile apps, etc)• Edutainment

– Students expect interactive, high quality, dynamic presentation of learning materials

• Most unis now offer some online delivery

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OpenCourseWare Movement

• Not a new phenomenon – most unis have some free online content

• Open access to course materials• Normally not “for credit”, not assessed• May have “for credit” (assessed) option – for a fee• What is new is the sheer scale that online has enabled• From top lecturers and top institutions around globe• Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

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Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs)• Udacity (ex Stanford et al)

– Sheer numbers of students enrolled (160,000 in the original Stanford course).

– Quality of the productions; free; optional assessment

• Coursera– Stanford University, Princeton, U Penn, Michigan PLUS 10 more

• edX - Harvard/MIT, $60 million, – Not just passive video viewing, interactive, quizzes, discussions– Optional assessment, receive a “certificate”– Researching online learning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA6ELdIRkRU&feature=email

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Sheer Scale of MOOCs• Khan Academy

• 4 million unique users; 148,865,454 YouTube downloads• Funded by grants and philanthropy (Gates, Google, etc)

• NPTEL - National Program Technology Enhanced Learning• Indian Government• Videos, ppts, podcasts, animations, notes• Online quizzes• 66 million Utube downloads• 4900 hours of lecture video content• Engineering, but also science and humanities

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• ItunesU – 500,000 free lectures, videos, books– 150 universities and colleges in 2011 and growing

• YouTube EDU – examples (figures on 8 May 2012)

– Khan Academy; 148,865,454 views– NPTEL; 66,117,991 views– MIT; 37,395,933 views– U Berkley 15,238,672 views– Harvard: 9,682,958 views– UNSW; 2,681,818 views

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Benefits of OpenCoursware• Building capacity for the institution – staff skills,

infrastructure, enhanced on-campus learning resources• Connection to alumni• Reputation building• Social justice – increasing educational access• Donations, philanthropy• Marketing/Pathway- may attract students to uni

– Pay for assessments -> credit for entry• Advertising, selling “lists”

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For Credit, Fee paying (or CGS) Online Degree Programs

• Most Australian universities have some online (external delivery/off-campus mode) options for UG and PG

• Some have developed separate online channels– eg. Curtin Online, Swinburne Online

• Significant emerging international competition– from top universities eg. Penn State; Harvard distance

ed.– from large scale online providers e.g. Open University

of China; UK Open University

Open University of China• Largest distance

provider of higher education

• 2010: 2.8 million registered students (including junior college)

• 802,600 undergraduate students

• 94,500 staff: 57,100 FT and 37,000 PT

• Network of radio stations and satellites

Open Universities Australia Source OUA 2011 Annual Report - In 2011 OUA had over 167,000 unit enrolments (over 43,000 EFTSL)

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Griffith OUA Enrolments – Size of a Small CampusAround 4,000 EFTSL in 2011

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 20110

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

UNIT Enrolments

Enrolments

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What are the implications for Griffith?• Australian students are increasingly studying online –

nationally and internationally• A shift from traditional on-campus to demand for mixed

mode and full online study.• Cannot rely solely on Open Universities Australia

• Not able to offer many programs through OUA• OUA is Open Access – high drop-out rate

• Need for fully online options for CGS students

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Griffith Online: Vision• Griffith will be a university with a significant proportion of

its programs offered online and an increased number of students studying online

• With increased options for students to choose whether to study on campus or online, or both

• Increased use of online learning resources to enhance the quality of “on campus” learning experience

• An academic staff with strong skills in the use on online learning strategies

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Griffith Online• Goal – Increase to 5,000 EFTSL online by 2020

(including OUA – currently around 3,000 EFTSL)• Expand OUA but also reduce reliance on OUA• Expand direct enrolment into fully online Griffith

degree programs (Commonwealth funded places)– Higher income per enrolment than OUA– In areas that OUA does not permit– Downside = Less national marketing capacity

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Griffith Online : key points

• Quality product: Top quality online materials, curriculum, learning activities

• 4 major programs for 2014• Materials for online must enhance on-campus teaching• Building staff and institutional capacity (policies,

systems, processes)• Expand over time:

• MOOCS?• Executive education?• Larger number of programs

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THANK YOU

Discussion