Six ed-tech trends to watch in 2007.

We are going to finish our posts for this year with another article from eSchoolnews. Accroding to them, "Educational technology at last has progressed to the point where differentiated, individualized instruction clearly is possible for students anywhere on the planet. It can be delivered at any time, in just the right form, with whatever frequency might be required. This has long been the dream of educational technologists. And today the dream has come true--at least in terms of the technology. The barriers to universal access are no longer technical; they're political and financial.

So while governments and society grapple with the challenges of making what's already technically feasible universally available, let's take a look at what's next on the ed-tech horizon. Here are six emerging ed-tech trends that could have a significant impact on schools and colleges in 2007. " Click here to read the remainder of this article.

The top 10 ed-tech stories of 2006: Part 2

In this two-part special retrospective, the editors of eSchool News highlight the ten most significant educational technology stories of the past year. Click here to read part two of this series.

eSchool News presents the top ten tech ed stories of the year, part 1.

One of our favorite sources for information about eLearning trends has been eSchoolnews. They just posted part 1 of the top tech ed stories for the year and you can read it by clicking here.

We will be posting almost daily in 2007, so please bookmark our blog and tell your friends and co-workers about it!

Happy Holidays!

Gatlin Education Services: online career training courses

Ruling: Schools must archive eMail.

eSchool News online recently reported that, "according to new federal rules that went into effect Dec. 1, schools, businesses, and other organizations are required to keep tabs on all eMail, instant messages (IM), and other digital communications produced by their employees. " To read the entire story click here.

Training Experts to Convene at Online Educa Berlin

More than 2,000 participants from 86 countries are expected at the 12th Online Educa Berlin, the world's largest international conference for ICT-supported learning and training. The event is taking place at Berlin's Hotel InterContinental from November 28 - December 1, 2006. Gatlin Education Services is one of the U.S. based participants. To learn more about this international conference click here.

Number of students taking online courses rises!

According to a recent AP article posted by CNN.com roughly one in six students enrolled in higher education -- about 3.2 million people -- took at least one online course last fall, a sharp increase defying predictions that online learning growth is leveling off. A new report scheduled for released Thursday by The Sloan Consortium, a group of colleges pursuing online programs, estimates that 850,000 more students took online courses in the fall of 2005 than the year before, an increase of nearly 40 percent. Last year, the group had reported slowing growth, prompting speculation the trend had hit a ceiling. To read the entire article click here.

Virtual-school enrollment explodes!

From eSchool News, "Enrollment in K-12 online courses in the United states has exploded in the past year, increasing by as much as 50 percent in some states, according to a new report from the North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL). " To read the entire article click here.

Gatlin course author to be honored by the Queen of England!

Tom Whittaker, the first person with a disability to reach the summit of Mount Everest, will be awarded the Most Excellent Order Member of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. Tom is the instructor for our, "Seven Steps to Leading High Achieving Teams" program. Click here to read the full story.

How to pay for distance learning!

Education and training can give your career a tremendous boost. Chances are pretty good that your employer will help pay for classes that enhance your career.

In many cases your employer may be willing to help pay for a distance-learning class that improves your skills. And even if your company can't help, the government often can. Professor Michael R. Simonson, distance learning expert, explains why funding a distance-learning program might be easier than you thought.

Q: How can I convince my employer to pay for my distance training?

A: Many companies and organizations provide qualified employees with support for education. First, it is important to know your company's existing policies. Start by asking your HR representative about any subsidies available for work-related training. If an employer is reluctant to accept distance education, try providing them with as much information about your proposed course of study as possible. With a little extra work, it is often possible to convince a skeptical employer that distance education not only provides quality learning that makes employees more qualified, it also permits the employee to stay in the workplace and not have to take days, weeks, or even years away from the job. You might also point out to your employer that many distance education programs stress the applicability of the course material to the workplace.

Q: Are there any government grants that would help me pay for a distance-learning program?

A: That depends on the program you choose. Start your search for financial assistance at the school, college, or university where you plan to enroll. Scholarships and student loans are available, but most can only be applied toward courses at accredited institutions. Most such institutions will have an office dedicated to finding financial assistance for students who need it.

Branding Options For Distance Learning Programs: Managing The Effect On University Image.

This is a very interesting article on branding by Nita Paden and Roxanne Stell of Northern Arizona University.

Abstract:

Although university goals for adding distance learning programs vary, decisions about development and marketing of the programs can have an impact on traditional on campus programs and influence overall perceptions of the university. As universities develop distance programs, it is important that (a) there is a clear understanding of the university’s brand image and the elements contributing to that image; (b) the university ensures that the distance program maintains/improves the image of the university; or (c) the university makes a decision to develop a separate identity/brand for the distance program that will stand on its own merit and not harm the university’s image if it malfunctions or fails. This paper explores issues relating to the application of branding strategies to distance learning programs.

To read this entire article click here.

Online catalogs bring in more enrollments.

At Gatlin Education Services we have been surveying where the students of our partners come from each year. This year we have noticed a significant increase in the amount of students who find their desired Gatlin course via their school's online catalog instead of the school's traditional paper catalog. This trend is consistent with what others have shared at national conferences like the UCEA and the ACHE.

If you work at an educational institution, it is important to make sure you take these things into consideration to maximize your potential to convert these potential students into enrollments.

1. Make sure students can find your contact information and how to register on your main landing page.

2. Provide compelling copy that concisely describes each course.

3. Make sure you have someone who is knowledgeable about your courses answering the phones and return calls the same day.

4. Make sure your department’s home page can be accessed in less than three clicks from your institution's home page.

5. Search engine optimize your HTML page titles with course related keywords, if your website design allows you to.

Following these simple steps will help students and you to get the most out or your online catalog.

Online Courses Fuel Growth in Continuing-Education Programs,

Online Courses Fuel Growth in Colleges' Continuing-Education Programs, Survey Finds.

Online-course enrollments now account for about a fifth of all continuing- and professional-education enrollments at the typical college or university, and online courses continue to attract more students to continuing education, according to a new report. The report, which is based on a survey of 43 nonprofit institutions, predicts that online continuing-education enrollments will grow by about 20 percent each year for the next few years.

"What gets a lot of attention in this area is the for-profits, but just in our sample, we have about 175,000 enrollments, so that's a big chunk of the market," said Sean R. Gallagher, a senior analyst at Eduventures Inc., the research and consulting firm that conducted the survey and produced the report.

A 2005 report issued by the Sloan Consortium, a collaborative of colleges that offer instruction online, estimated that online enrollments reached 2.35 million nationwide in 2004, the most recent year for which survey data is available.

The 43 institutions that participated in the Eduventures survey are part of the company's Continuing and Professional Education Program. About three-quarters of the participating institutions are public, and the rest are private.

The typical continuing- and professional-education division offers 150 for-credit courses, eight degree programs, and 24 noncredit courses online. Fully online courses and programs dominate the online continuing-education market, but about two-thirds of the colleges surveyed also offer hybrid courses, which combine online and classroom instruction.

About half of the institutions surveyed said they outsourced at least some aspects of their online continuing-education operations. About a quarter of the colleges had licensed noncredit courses from a third-party provider, and some had completely outsourced their noncredit online operations.

The report is available only to members of Eduventures' Continuing and Professional Education Program, and those interested in more information should contact Eduventures.

Colleges eye LMS patent fight.

eLearning patent awarded to Blackboard Inc. draws ire of competitors, schools From eSchool News!

Learning management systems (LMS) provider Blackboard Inc. has sued a smaller business rival over a patent it was issued in January covering its LMS technology. The patent, and subsequent lawsuit, have significant implications for the future of eLearning at colleges and universities nationwide. Critics say Blackboard's patent is overly broad and could stifle innovation in the eLearning industry.

To read this entire article click here.

New freight broker training course to be released this fall!

Gatlin Education Services announced today it has reached an agreement with Brooke Transportation Training Solutions (BTTS) to begin offering a freight broker / freight agent online career training course beginning this fall. The course will be offered exclusively through Gatlin’s partnership with major colleges and universities.

The program will provide students with the necessary skills to succeed in the freight brokerage and logistics business. Freight Brokering is currently one of the top home-based businesses as well as the largest growing sector of the transportation industry, according Entrepreneur Magazine and The Wall Street Journal.

“BTTS reminds us of ourselves in that they are forward thinking and respected in their industry,” said Stephen Gatlin, founder of Fort Worth-based Gatlin Education Services. “It’s really a classic win-win situation. We did our homework and believe BTTS is the best in the business. We are looking forward to a strong partnership and providing students with the most comprehensive education possible.”

Designed by successful freight brokers, the course prepares students to be the dealmaker between manufacturers who need goods moved and truckers who can move those goods. The instruction includes licensing, operations, job requirements, transportation industry trends and prospects(?), legal issues, benefits, ensuring cash flow, finding shippers, and more. Upon completion of the course, participants will be ready to join the $400 billion-plus shipping industry.

Freight brokerage is an ideal business for truck drivers who want to advance in the industry, entrepreneurs in search of a profitable home business and military veterans, who are provided government subsidies to take the training.

“The fact that Gatlin chose us to work with is an honor,” said BTTS President Jeff Roach. “Freight broker professionals are in high demand, because regardless of the economy, goods will always need to be shipped. A motivated and disciplined freight broker or freight agent with proper training can build up a very lucrative business. If you’re a self-starter who enjoys fast-paced work, you’re perfect for freight brokering. You’ll just need a little guidance, which is where we come in.”

Established in 1989 by Stephen Gatlin, Gatlin Education Services is the largest provider of Web-based, instructor-supported training to community colleges and universities. Gatlin’s courses are open enrollment, allowing interested students to start their desired training immediately. Gatlin’s online career training courses are designed to provide the skills necessary to acquire professional caliber positions for many in-demand occupations.

Brooke Transportation Training Solutions (BTTS) prides itself in delivering the nation’s premier freight broker training. BTTS prepares students to succeed in the freight brokerage industry, as well as in life, by arming them with intense training, motivation and invaluable freight broker and transportation industry contacts.

$1.3 Billion Dollars slated for vocational education.

excellence reported, "lawmakers have approved a bill that guarantees federal support for vocational education through 2012, stymieing White House efforts to funnel the $1.3 billion that goes toward voc-ed programs each year into other areas. That's good news for the roughly 15 million students who take voc-ed classes, many of which increasingly rely on technology to prepare students for 21st-century careers".

Each year hundreds of students eligible for this type of assistance take Gatlin Education Services courses. If you are a Gatlin partner educational education institution and you seeking new avenues for reaching students in your community, contacting your local vocational rehabilitation office is a great way to serve these students in your community.

Gatlin Education Services partners with Walgreens!

Gatlin Education Services announced today it has reached an agreement with Walgreens that will give students an important leg up in the job market. Walgreens will offer its externship program to students in several Walgreens districts who are taking Gatlin’s pharmacy technician online career training program provided basic qualifications are met.

Gatlin’s nationally recognized pharmacy technician program is available at hundreds of continuing education departments at community colleges and universities across the United States. This blended learning online program teaches the necessary skills to gain employment as a pharmacy technician in a hospital or retail setting. The course aims to provide high school graduates and individuals seeking new careers the skills and knowledge that will enable them to qualify for entry-level positions in pharmacies as well as prepare for the mandated national certification.

Walgreens supplies interns with 80 to 160 hours of hands-on experience that includes assisting pharmacists with prescriptions, answering patient questions about medications and a bevy of administrative duties.

Gatlin and Walgreens initially expect to enroll about a dozen students in the internship program every month, with that number doubling in a year’s time. More than 8,600 individuals have expressed an interested in Gatlin’s pharmacy technician course this year.

“The pharmacy technician program is one of our most popular offerings,” said Stephen Gatlin, founder of Fort Worth-based Gatlin Education Services. “The added benefit of having a valuable internship will continue to put Gatlin students a step ahead in an ultra-competitive job market. The partnership with Walgreens will not only open doors for students, but will also pave the way for similar advantages with our other programs.”

Gatlin Education, YMCA & TCU (part 2)

A previous post noted our excitement in working with the YMCA and Texas Christian University to provide free online training for those most in need of improved job skills. We are pleased at the response we have received and note with pleasure this recent media report about our efforts. The video report showcases our VP of Service & Operations, Candice Claxton, and a big thank you goes to all the Gatlin employees who are helping to keep this effort ongoing. Thanks to CBS 11 TV for their coverage.

To view the report please click here.

Computer delivered education may be a key stroke.

Here is a great article by By Jon Boone of the Financial Mail.

Like so many other technologies that rode high during the dotcom mania before crashing ignominiously back to earth, e-learning is enjoying a revival. Those who were burned first time round will feel a queasy sense of deja vu at hearing the advantages of computer delivered education: it is easier to tailor around the diaries of busy people and it can be used to train very large numbers of people all at once.

Paul Palmarozza, president of Intellexis, speaks for many in the industry who have less misty-eyed view of its potential. "About 25-30 per cent of training is now done through e-learning. At the time of dotcom people thought it would completely take over but I think we now know it will get to about 20-40 per cent and stay there."

The learning interfaces are improving too with companies making them more interactive and making better use of video and graphics. All of which can add to the cost of e-learning, making it substantially higher than the old classroom model. Estimates vary but developing just one hour's of e-learning can cost up to Pounds 20,000.

In the world of financial training e-learning's second coming has been helped by the belief of US regulators that better trained employees will be less likely to bring the company to its knees in a mire of scandal. The multiple-choice, box-ticking nature of computer learning and assessment at its simplest lends itself perfectly to companies trying to find cost-effective ways to ensure very large numbers of their staff are Sarbanes-Oxley compliant. The same is true in the US for anti-money laundering regulations brought in with the Patriot Act.

At the the higher end of the market technology has become part of financial institutions' basic expectation. Jonathan Shaw of 7city says his company now routinely records classes that can be watched online for those who were not able to make the session.

E-learning also makes it easier for students to take their work wherever they chose. 7city says it has seen a 300 per cent increase in the number of downloads of recorded lectures via podcast and webcast over the past six months. Companies looking to raise the general level of financial competence of their workforce are not, Mr Palmarozza says, interested in squandering large amounts of their employees' time with three-day training courses.

"They want short, sharp courses that are tailored to the specific needs of their company and where the learning process can continue in their own time." But financial trainers are not just disinterring the old thinking and technology of the late 1990s. The best providers have realised that computers do not replace teaching, they merely improve it when it is done with a bit of careful thought. "Blended learning" is thus the buzzword for combining teaching and technology. Experts continue to hold forth in front of classrooms of executives, but some of their traditional functions have been hived off to computers. So, students will be expected to prepare for relatively straightforward subjects by learning from the computer rather than a trainer charging by the hour.

It also allows for continuous assessment of how students are progressing. Mr Palmarozza: "It is now pretty standard for us to run a computer pre-test before the course to see what areas need to be the focus. Another test afterwards can show both the students and their company that they have achieved value for the time spent."

Gatlin Education, YMCA and TCU partner to provide free on-line training.

Gatlin Education Services announced yesterday a partnership with the YMCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth and Texas Christian University that will offer the economically disadvantaged an opportunity to improve their job-related skills. The program began on June 19, 2006. Gatlin provides free access to its series of online career training courses to qualifying participants at the YMCA’s AMAKA Early Childhood Learning Center in the Butler Housing Community, 1501 Stephenson Street in Fort Worth.

The material will be available to students from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday and Wednesday evenings until they complete their coursework. The computers utilized for the program were recently donated by TCU’s Office of Extended Education. Ranging in value from $1,295 to $1,595, Gatlin’s online courses cover a wide array of subjects including healthcare, business, Internet training and design.

“What we’re providing is a golden opportunity for people to better themselves at no cost, and that’s a chance you can’t get every day,” said YMCA Program Director Ronda Broxton. “You can learn how to be a webmaster, graphic designer, pharmacy technician or veterinary assistant with out having to pay the high cost of college tuition. All we ask is that you show a commitment to follow through with the program.”

The YMCA will supervise and administer the program, and TCU will issue completion certificates to participants. The class size is limited to eight students at a time, with spots opening as participants finish the training. The courses are self-paced, and take an average of 90 days to complete, though students are not given a deadline to finish the training.

“We’re very excited to contribute our part to such a worthwhile community endeavor,” said Stephen Gatlin, founder of Gatlin Education Services. “YMCA and TCU are known for giving back to the community, and it’s something we value as well. When this program becomes a success, we intend to utilize our relationships with colleges and universities to offer similar opportunities in neighborhoods all over the country.”

Mt. Everest mountaineer is instructor for Gatlin's new leadership training course.

Gatlin Education Services is pleased to announce the creation and release of “Seven Steps To Leading High Achieving Teams.” This course is our most technologically advanced course to date.

Tom Whittaker, the author of the course, is the first disabled person to reach the summit Mt. Everest. The course features Mt. Everest video presentations from Tom in Flash 8.0. To experience how great and unique this course is click here. You must have Flash 8.0 to view the demonstration. To download Flash 8.0 click here.

You can now receive a Certificate in Leadship and Team Building from a Community College or University near you! To find the education institution nearest you offering this cutting edge course click here.

Employers Warm Up To Online Education!

Online education is entering the mainstream, according to some higher education analysts, and its growing popularity with employers is part of the reason. Increasing the knowledge of their workforce is a prime benefit for employers, and many companies are finding ways to support employees who want to continue their education or earn advanced degrees online. To read this entire article by Kimberly Merriman of HR Magazine click here.

Online continuing education trends blog evolving.

Over the past year we have been pleasantly surprised by how popular our blog has become! Running a corporate blog that is unbiased is very hard to do but we have tried our best to provide high quality information.

A lot of readers have asked us to provide more detail about Gatlin Education Services's products and services. This is in line with the content and trends of most corporate blogs. We are going to continue to provide timely information about on-line continuing education trends but at the same time we are going to give you more insight about our products and services.

If you have comments or suggestions for improving our blog, feel free to visit our web site at Gatin Education Services and send us your suggestions.

Daryl Clark
Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Gatlin Education Services.

Education conference we recommend and will be attending in April 2006.

We recommend and will be attending the following education conference in April 2006.

1. The 91st University Continuing Education Association conference being held April 9 - 12 in San Diego, California.

Elite Universities End Venture to Provide Noncredit Online Courses,

This ariticle originally appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

A nonprofit venture by the University of Oxford, and Stanford and Yale Universities to provide online noncredit courses to the public has closed, citing financial woes. The enterprise, known as the Alliance for Lifelong Learning Inc., or AllLearn, posted a message on its Web site this month saying it had folded because "the cost of offering top-quality enrichment courses at affordable prices was not sustainable over time."

S. Kristin Kim, who had served as president of AllLearn since November 2002, reiterated that message in an interview. "We know what it takes to offer top-quality online education and how much it costs to do that," she said, explaining that AllLearn officials had determined that the organization's costs were becoming unwieldy. AllLearn's federal tax form for the year ending June 30, 2005, shows it incurred a deficit of $783,410, with revenue of $2.5-million and expenses of $3.28-million.

The venture was formed in September 2000, during the dot-com boom. Its courses -- primarily in the humanities and social sciences -- were first offered to alumni of the three universities, but two years later the group expanded its clientele to include the general public. Ms. Kim said AllLearn had attracted 11,000 students from more than 70 countries. The students ranged from recent graduates to retirees, and their median age was in the late 40s. The organization, based in New York City, struggled to boost enrollment and established affiliations with other universities to market courses to their alumni. But professors who taught courses through AllLearn said it became clear to them that attracting students was a persistent problem.

"It didn't seem to me to be a really vibrantly successful enterprise," said David M. Kennedy, a Stanford history professor. He and a colleague had taught an AllLearn course on World War II, but it was eventually dropped from the curriculum for lack of interest. "You would think that would be the kind of subject -- given all the buffs out there that are interested in the topic -- that would have had an even larger and more sustained audience, and it didn't," Mr. Kennedy said. Nora M. Sweeny, a former production director at AllLearn, who is a fund raiser at the University of California at Santa Cruz, said the venture failed to meet alumni's high expectations: Most who signed up for courses wanted to watch television-quality broadcasts online from professors whose talks were delivered just for them.

"We didn't get the faculty members to go into a studio and give a 40-minute lecture in a sound room," Ms. Sweeny said. "We went and audiotaped them in the classroom. It's very expensive to edit that stuff down to a sound bite." Still, Ms. Kim and Charles L. Junkerman, dean of continuing studies and associate provost at Stanford, who was a faculty liaison for AllLearn, said the organization's writing courses were popular. AllLearn stopped offering courses at the end of December, and Ms. Kim said officials are in the process of making its dissolution official.
Some analysts attribute AllLearn's demise to the fact that it offered only noncredit courses. Most people who consider taking online courses are seeking a degree, said Sean R. Gallagher, a senior analyst at Eduventures Inc., a consulting company that tracks trends and investments across the education industry.

"One of the major challenges associated with marketing online noncredit courses is how high the marketing and advertising costs are compared to the tuition revenue," Mr. Gallagher said. A college can spend thousands of dollars to recruit a student for a degree program, but at least the payoff is potentially tens of thousands of dollars in tuition revenue, he added. Commenting on AllLearn's demise, Mr. Gallagher said, "If Oxford, Yale, and Stanford can't succeed offering online noncredit courses, then who can?"

He noted that Global Education Network, a for-profit venture, also offers noncredit online courses partly developed by college professors, but its clientele includes high-school students.
Ms. Kim agreed that AllLearn's financial troubles were related to its business model of offering only noncredit courses. In general, institutions command a higher tuition for credit courses, she said. But Ms. Kim declined to comment on whether AllLearn's board ever considered offering such courses.

E-Learning—A Financial and Strategic Perspective.

Institutions can consider different options in shaping a long-term strategy for achieving acceptable financial returns from e-learning. Read this excellent article by Stephen R. Ruth oF EDUCAUSE by clicking here.

One of the conclusions of this article is, "Accept that e-learning is costly but crucial." They do not take into consideration the affordability of using third party content providers like Gatlin Education Services. No wonder more than 500 educational institutions worldwide are now partnering with GES.

Online Colleges Receive a Boost From Congress.

Online Colleges Receive a Boost From Congress - SAM DILLON, New York Times this great article was provided to us by Ray Schroeder's online learning update blog.

Gatlin launches new Microsoft ASP.net course.

Gatlin Education Services in partnership with community colleges and universities around the world is now offering a new Microsoft ASP.NET Online Training Course that teaches the skills students must acquire to be successful as a web development professional. Tutorials and projects will teach the student the practical uses of HTML & .NET web technologies. Enrollment is open daily.

Auto repair programs crank up recruitment!

According to USA Today, the auto repair industry is, "Facing a shortage of auto technicians — people formerly known as mechanics — the auto industry and the federal government are pumping money into education programs aimed at attracting high school students to the jobs. " To read more about this shortage click here.

Gatlin Educations Service' s new on-line, Modern Automotive Service Technician course is a perfect way for aspiring mechanics to learn this great in-demand career.

Gatlin Education Services leads in search engine referrals as searches grow exponentially.

"People in the U.S. use the Internet for more everyday research than any other medium, a fact proven by the 55 percent year-on-year surge in online searches in December 2005, according to market researcher Nielsen/NetRatings. The number of online searches in the U.S. soared to nearly 5.1 billion searches in December from 3.3 billion a year earlier, despite just a slight uptick in the total number of Americans connecting to the Internet, according to Nielsen/NetRatings." To print their detailed PDF click here.

This means more and more students are searching online for their courses. Gatlin Education Service's extensive penetration in organic search is stronger than all of the other online curriculum service providers combined. GES has over 200 top ten positions in the three major search engines for our courses. This in turn allows us to refer over 100,000 potential students directly to our partner institutions annually. Search terms like, continuing education classes and online career training (which we are both #1 for at Google) allow us to send high quality and a high quanitity of potential students on to our partner organizations. With the continued exponential growth of online searches, GES will remain the market leader in search optimized content that results in hundreds of free leads each year for individual partner institutions.

GES releases our new online "Modern Automotive Service Technician" course.

Gatlin Education Services is pleased to announce the release our new, "Modern Automotive Service Technician" online program. This new program teaches the construction, operation, diagnosis, service, and repair of late-model automobiles and light trucks. This comprehensive program uses a building-block approach that starts with the fundamental principles of system operation and progresses gradually to complex diagnostic and service procedures. To learn more about this program and to be notified when the course goes live please visit Gatlin Education Services: Online Career Training Courses.

Rule Change May Spark Online Boom for Colleges.

Dr. Ray Raymond W. Campbell the Director of the Center for Lifelong Learning and Professional Development at Kutztown University sent us this great article about pending changes to federal student aid programs and eligibilty for institutions with more than 50% of the enrollments coming from on-line students. This article originally appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

End of federal restriction on distance education could also aid diploma mills by DAN CARNEVALE.

Congress is poised to remove a controversial restriction on distance education after more than a decade of heated debate. Supporters say the move will spark a boom in online programs at traditional colleges, as well as the creation of for-profit businesses specializing in cybereducation, while critics argue that it will lead to an increase in diploma mills.

Lawmakers originally passed the rule in 1992 to counter a rash of fraud perpetuated by diploma mills and some correspondence programs in the 1980s. Known as the 50-percent rule, the regulation prevents any college that enrolls more than 50 percent of its students at a distance or provides more than half of its courses via distance education from participating in federal student-aid programs.

Back then, before the popularization of the Web, few traditional colleges offered online courses. Now many colleges that never imagined they would enroll many online students are nearing the 50-percent limit. For instance, Bellevue University, a traditional institution based in Nebraska, says it is likely to have more than half of its students taking courses online within the next year or two.

"We are getting to the point that more of our students are choosing online," says Mary B. Hawkins, Bellevue's provost. "It's the direction that the industry is moving." In response to the growing demand for distance courses, and after an eight-year experiment in which a few colleges were given waivers of the rule, Congress is expected to do away with it in the next few weeks.

Congress had planned to take that action as part of the extension of the Higher Education Act this year. But with that legislation stalled, Republicans included an item to end the rule with other higher-education provisions in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (S 1932). That bill has passed the Senate and awaits a vote by the House of Representatives shortly after lawmakers reconvene in late January. Observers expect the distance-education provision to survive and for the bill to be signed into law by President Bush.

The rule will be eliminated only for distance education offered through telecommunications such as the Internet or satellite broadcast. The rule would still apply to correspondence programs. In order for telecommunications programs to provide federal student aid, they would have to be accredited by an organization that, according to the bill, "has evaluation of distance-education programs within the scope of its recognition." That would probably apply to most major accrediting agencies, including all regional accreditors.

With the 50-percent rule on its way out, colleges are likely to ramp up their online offerings, and investors could spend big money creating new for-profit online colleges. Some businesspeople are looking into buying small colleges to expand their online programs, and some investors might put money into new for-profit virtual institutions.

But some critics fear that Congress may be going too far in relaxing the rule and could open the door to more of the fraud and abuse that led to the passing of the regulation in the first place. "Congress has responded more to the needs of trade-school lobbyists than to the needs of its constituents," says Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. "I anticipate a financial bonanza for the online companies." 'A Lot of Interest'
Michael B. Goldstein, a higher-education lawyer in Washington, says colleges are anxious to increase their online offerings now that the 50-percent rule is going away.

"There's a lot of interest because the 50-percent rule has been seen as an artificial limitation," Mr. Goldstein says. "A lot of people have felt that their hands were tied." Institutions are likely to either expand their current online offerings significantly or spin off established online programs as independent institutions. He says even large, mainstream universities may want to split with their online programs, so the two separate institutions can concentrate on improving their delivery models.

William J. Husson, vice president and academic dean of the School for Professional Studies at Regis University, says the institution's online program is growing at a rapid rate, and he expects Regis to pass the 50-percent mark within five years. Just a few years ago, about 17 percent of Regis's enrollment was through online education. Now more than 40 percent of its 16,500 students are enrolled online. Regis has just about tapped out its local market, in Denver, for traditional students, Mr. Husson says. The only area for significant growth is to go online, he says.
"Classroom-based numbers are flattening out and in a lot of cases declining, and the online numbers are continuing to grow," Mr. Husson says. "If you aren't involved in the online education, you're going to be hurting."

One institution that may benefit from spinning off its online program is Touro College. Touro operates bricks-and-mortar campuses in New York and California and has an online campus based in California. The online and traditional campuses offer their own separate academic programs and are accredited by different regional agencies, but they are run as one organization, partly to satisfy the 50-percent rule.

Yoram Neumann is chief executive and provost of Touro University International, the online campus. He says there have been preliminary talks about splitting off that campus as a separate institution, although he stresses that the question is far from decided. If the campuses were to split, he says, the online institution could establish its own identity and make its own decisions under a separate board. "Our mission is so much different," Mr. Neumann says. "I am a staunch advocate of the online revolution."

Some Smell Money Business investors are interested in helping start new online institutions to tap into the growing market, says Mr. Goldstein.
"There have been conversations going on for the last several years in preparation of the rule going away," Mr. Goldstein says. "I don't see this as a floodgate being open, but an opportunity for new activity." One businessman enticed by the online-education market is Michael K. Clifford, founder and managing director of Significant Ventures, a business-development consulting firm in California. He recently oversaw a buyout of Grand Canyon University, a for-profit institution in Arizona, after it ran into financial troubles. He is in talks with two other institutions about buying them as well, though he would not disclose which ones, other than to say they were both small colleges with regional accreditation. He added that both have online-education programs, which he says he would like to expand.

"That's why we're buying them," he says. "I am a huge believer in online education." He expects other investors to buy small for-profit colleges and strengthen their online programs. Many small colleges are in financial trouble, and it will be difficult for them to stay afloat without aggressively moving online. Distance education, he says, can give them the money to stay solvent. "We are subsidizing the land-based campuses," Mr. Clifford says. "The land-based campuses would close without the online component." John C. Higgins, a partner at the investment firm Huron Capital Partners, says online education is going to be an inviting market for venture capitalists, although he says his firm has no plans to invest heavily in it. "It's a market that will clearly continue to grow," Mr. Higgins says. "I suspect that you will see more start-ups."

Long Political Battle

The debate over the rule in Congress has largely broken down along party lines. Republicans have been pushing to ease regulations that govern higher education to promote new investment in the field. Many Democrats oppose loosening those rules, including the 50-percent standard. Rep. Howard P. (Buck) McKeon, a California Republican who is chairman of the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees higher education, says the 50-percent rule is unnecessary because accrediting agencies are capable of controlling fraud.

"The accreditors have the main responsibility to make sure that they don't have any bad apples out there," Mr. McKeon says. "There's always going to be some people, whether we have the 50-percent rule or not, to get around things." With the cost of college continuing to spiral upward, he says, easing regulations will allow more competition in online education, resulting in improved accessibility for students. "The current law limits schools on how much education they can provide," Mr. McKeon says. "The ones that get hurt the most are these minority students and these nontraditional students." But Tom Kiley, a spokesman for Rep. George Miller from California, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, says Congress is going too far. "The 50-percent rules helped stem fraud and abuse, but also could have been more flexible," Mr. Kiley says. "Scrapping the 50-percent rules without putting something meaningful in their place — which Congress has done — may create flexibility, but it will lead to increased fraud and abuse."

The Department of Education has supported ending the 50-percent rule, arguing in an April report to Congress that ditching the rule would increase accessibility to higher education. In the same report, the department estimated that getting rid of the rule could result in $697-million in additional loans over 10 years. Jane Glickman, a spokeswoman for the department, says it will be difficult to tell how many more institutions will seek to participate in Title IV of the Higher Education Act, which governs federal financial aid. Some colleges that will be made eligible may not be interested because of the paperwork and personnel required to comply with Title IV regulations.

"We will not know until such time as these institutions become eligible to apply for the federal student-aid programs," she says. "We expect a relatively small number of new institutions to apply to participate."
Shifting Oversight Leaders of accrediting groups say they are confident they can handle their new responsibility of online oversight effectively.
"The accreditors are doing a good job at looking at it now," says Judith S. Eaton, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. "Based on what we know now, I think we're OK." The Distance Education and Training Council has accredited distance-education programs of various types since 1955. If the 50-percent rule is dropped, many of the institutions accredited by the council will want their students to be able to apply for federal student aid.

Michael P. Lambert, executive director of the council, says the lifting of the 50-percent rule has been a long time coming, and the responsibility of quality assurance is back where it should be — with the accreditors.
"Our institutions have been waiting for this, but we are going to be approaching this with great diligence and care so that we don't have a repeat of the 1980s," Mr. Lambert says. "We welcome that challenge. We think it is our job."

Mr. Lambert says institutions accredited by the council that want to participate in federal student-aid programs will have to satisfy requirements that are tougher than federal laws governing for-profit institutions. For the first year after an institution accredited by the council is accepted into the Title IV program, for instance, the institution can only earn half of its revenue from Title IV money. In subsequent years, the institution can only receive up to 75 percent of its revenue from Title IV.
That way, Mr. Lambert says, fraudulent institutions will be kept at bay by not being able to rely solely on federal money to exist. "It's not going to be a walk in the park," he says. "Of course, we waited a long time, 14 years, for this, and we're not going to abuse their trust."

Even with such safeguards in place, some college officials worry that Congress is easing the rules too much. Mr. Nassirian, of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, says the 50-percent rule has been effective in reducing the number of diploma mills. Getting rid of it now, he says, is just inviting trouble. "Congress is putting us on autopilot and hoping the plane doesn't crash," Mr. Nassirian says. "A whole bunch of people will be victimized in the interim." A Telling Precedent? Critics expressed similar misgivings when the Department of Education debated whether to get rid of a previous distance-education regulation, called the 12-hour rule. That rule required higher-education programs that did not operate in a standard semester, trimester, or quarter system to offer a minimum of 12 hours of course work a week if their students were to be eligible for federal financial aid.

College officials clamored for the rule to be killed, arguing that it was inhibiting instructors from being innovative in online-education programs. But since the regulation was cast aside, in 2002, there do not appear to be any college programs that have taken advantage of the change, nor has there been any fraudulent activity reported, despite critics' fears.
But Mr. Nassirian says fraudulent behavior could be going on undetected. Besides, he says, nibbling away at these safeguards will eventually cause big problems.

"We are slowly gutting the integrity framework," Mr. Nassirian says. "What Congress has done, in effect, is it made fraud easier." Sally Johnstone, executive director of the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, says it is time for the 50-percent rule to go away, but she is concerned that Congress has not put any significant safeguards in its place. She expects fraudulent behavior to result from the ending of the rule, which will lead Congress to tighten the rules once again. "With losing the 50-percent rule, it basically means that a start-up organization can start immediately in an online environment without any history in education," Ms. Johnstone says. "Now on the one hand that might be really good. On the other hand, it's also possible that people who want to take advantage of the system can do that."

But Ms. Hawkins, of Bellevue, says students are becoming savvier about avoiding diploma mills than they were only a few years ago. They have been asking Bellevue more questions about its accreditation and the quality of its programs before enrolling. While the Internet has made it easier to defraud people, she says, it is also serving to spread information about how to avoid shady institutions.

"The 50-percent rule hasn't stopped fraud, and people will always find their way around that," Ms. Hawkins says. "Establishing your reputation as quality is becoming easier in the market."

Mixed Results

The 50-percent rule has already been waived for a select few institutions, including all-online colleges such as Capella and Jones International Universities, which are part of the Distance Education Demonstration Program. Congress created the program, run by the Department of Education, in 1998 to allow some institutions to bypass the 50-percent rule as an experiment. In addition to all-online institutions, program participants include mainstream universities that are nowhere near having 50 percent of their enrollment online, such as Texas Tech University, which act as a type of control group for the experiment.

Some of the institutions that participated in the demonstration program saw significant growth in their online enrollment. Western Governors University, an all-online institution, saw its enrollment jump into the thousands since it was created in the late 1990s. University of Maryland University College's online enrollment surpassed its traditional enrollment several years ago.

However, the demonstration program did experience problems. The Masters Institute, based in San Jose, began enrolling more than half its students online shortly after receiving a waiver through the program. But soon afterward, the institution closed down, leaving its students in a lurch.
The Education Department found that Masters had committed fraud in its dispersal of student aid, but department officials determined that the fraud was not related to the institution's participation in the demonstration program. Some California education officials, however, maintain that it was the university's foray into distance education that caused many of its problems (The Chronicle, February 1, 2002).

Several online institutions that were not part of the demonstration program have been anxiously waiting for the 50-percent rule to be lifted. Previously, many of those institutions relied on students who were in the military or worked for private companies that would reimburse them for the cost of their education.

Grantham University, an online institution based in Kansas, plans to become Title IV eligible, but officials are going to make the move slowly. Tom Macon, chief executive of Grantham, says the university should become eligible by mid-2006 and then, if it appears to be ready, may begin letting students use federal financial aid at the beginning of 2007.
"As we get comfortable, we'll dip our toe in that pool," Mr. Macon says. "We're really going to be very methodical about this. We're not going to jump in."

The last thing he wants to do, Mr. Macon says, is make a mistake. So the university is going to spend the coming months setting up its infrastructure and getting outside help to make sure students don't run into problems when they apply for federal aid. "I know a lot of people are going to jump into it, and they're going to make mistakes," Mr. Macon says. "There's no margin for error when it comes to Title IV. None."

Accounting for non accountants blog added to our blog roll!

We are always looking for new resources. We just added the, "Accounting for non-accountants blog" to our blog roll. John Day the author has been a practicing accountant for over twenty-seven years. Currently, he maintains an active accounting and tax practice in Santa Barbara, and Sonora, California. We hope you enjoy this and our other great recommended blogs and web sites!

Just steps from campus, some students still prefer classes online.

This is a great article written by Justin Pope who is an Education Writer for The Associated Press. To read the article click here. We found this great article on Online Learning Update Blog by Ray Schroeder. A link to his blog is on our blog roll. Thanks Ray!

Online learning update blog is added to our blog roll.

We are always looking for more learning resources to share with you. We also want to make sure the content of blogs and links we recommend will be helpful to you. We are pleased to announce the recent addition of the Online Learning Update Blog to our blog roll and links list.

This blog is written and maintained by Ray Schroeder, Professor Emeritus/Director Office of Technology Enhanced Learning University of Illinois at Springfield. Thanks Ray for your great blog!

State of Michigan considers requiring high school students to take one online course.

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported, "The Michigan State Board of Education is set to approve a new graduation requirement that would make every high-school student in the state take at least one online course before receiving a diploma.

The new requirement would appear to be the first of its kind in the nation. Mike Flanagan, the Michigan state superintendent of public instruction, said he proposed the online-course requirement, along with other general requirements, to make sure students were prepared for college and for jobs, which are becoming more technology-focused." To read the entire article click here.