Enrollment Report

Online course enrollments account for 87% of all distance education enrollment with 145,740 out of the 167,781 total enrollments for Spring/Winter 2007 .

Distance Education Enrollments
A survey completed by the Illinois Virtual Campus shows that there were 167,781 distance education enrollments in 10,511 distance education courses for the Spring/Winter 2007 term. This is a 16% increase in enrollment from Spring 2006 when there were 9,922 courses and 144,610 enrollments.

Online Course Enrollments
Illinois colleges and universities reported offering 8,143 online class sections that generated 145,740 enrollments during the Spring/Winter 2007 term. This is an increase of 975 online course sections (14%) and 25,523 enrollments (21%) from the 7,168 online course sections and 120,217 enrollments reported for the Spring/Winter 2006 term.

Phone interviews with selected institutions sharpen the focus to provide a deeper understanding of distance education enrollment trends in Illinois.

The phone interviews were conducted in June 2007 and included three community colleges and a state university. College of DuPage, Lake Land College, Southwestern Illinois College and Southern Illinois University Carbondale were chosen.

The interview consisted of five questions. The questions and individual responses are interspersed with the numerical enrollment data within this report.

To view the entire "Sharpen the Focus", see http://www.ivc.illinois.edu/pubs/Sharpen.asp

Enrollments in Online Courses

Will your institution be offering any new completely online programs in the next academic year? If so, in what area(s)?

College of DuPage – College of DuPage currently offers the Associate in Arts and Associate in General Studies degrees fully online.  Several certificates are currently available online including: Management, Supervision, Marketing, Consumer Marketing, Office Technology Information Essentials, and Word Specialist. New online certificate programs in 2007 will include Administrative Assistant and Executive Assistant. 

Lake Land College – We will not be offering any new completely online degree programs within the next academic year. However, we offer approximately 15 newly developed courses each year.

Southwestern Illinois College – SWIC continues to develop and grow its distance learning program.  Online instruction has experienced the greatest growth of its three distance learning formats (telecourse, online and video conferencing).  In addition, Web-enhanced instruction has experienced tremendous growth in the traditional classroom setting at SWIC.  Today, 356 traditional courses are enhanced with WebCT supplemented instruction.  As society has evolved, SWIC instructors and students have tended to gravitate to technology-enhanced instruction whether it’s online or Web supplemented.  Currently, SWIC is a few courses shy of offering a complete online degree.  However, new courses are being developed each semester to continue to better serve students.

Southern Illinois University Carbondale – Some programs are currently under discussion. However the plans are not finalized.

Describe your typical distance education student.

College of DuPage – The majority of enrolled distance learners at College of DuPage are between the ages of 18 and 24 and are primarily female.  Online courses, telecourses, and print-based flexible learning courses are the most heavily enrolled formats.  Many students complete individual courses leading to degree or certificate completion.  Nearly 70% of online students surveyed in Spring 2007 indicated that the primary reason they took an online course was because the flexibility of the online course allowed them to choose the time and place to participate in the course.   Fewer than 10% indicated that they enrolled in an online course because the classroom version was closed or scheduled at an inconvenient time. We interpret these findings to mean that students are enrolling in online courses based on their preferences and needs.

Lake Land College – The average age of our distance education student is between 18 and 40.  Most of the students are females who live in-district and are part-time students.  Our students are taking individual online courses working toward a degree or certificate.  Their degree or certificate may or may not be an online program.

Southwestern Illinois College – The profile of our typical distance education student is: 

• Female
• Single
• Mostly in her twenties and then thirties
• Mostly in-district
• Returning student
• Works full time (the next largest group works part-time of 15 hours or more)
• Students are usually preparing to transfer classes to a 4-year college or university (the next largest group is preparing for a future job after attending SWIC)
• Students are taking individual online classes only because we do not yet offer a fully online degree. 

Southern Illinois University Carbondale – I would say we have a broad spectrum of students. We have an online sequence of 5 courses in Behavioral Analysis Therapy that leads to certification.  These are older, professionals.  Our other students range between18-60.

Changes in Enrollment by Delivery Mode

Online Enrollment Percentage
Online enrollments accounted for 87% of all distance education enrollments in the Spring/Winter 2007 term compared to 83% of the total enrollments in the Spring/Winter 2006 term.

All Other Delivery Mode Percentage
While enrollments in Internet courses increased significantly, enrollments in Interactive TV and stored media decreased. Enrollments in Interactive TV decreased 6% and enrollments in stored media decreased by 19% from Spring 2006. Table 2 in the appendix shows the change in distance education enrollments by delivery mode from Spring 2006 to Spring 2007.

What is the process at your institution for creating new online courses? Do your instructors need approval in advance? Is there a staff to help them with the technology and pedagogy of online learning?

College of DuPage – New online courses are developed at College of DuPage primarily through an annual Request for Proposals process. Proposals must be aligned with institutional, division or discipline goals. Faculty may submit a proposal to develop a new online or flexible learning course in fall semester and, if approved, complete course development in the spring semester using reassigned time.  Faculty submitting proposals must have the approval of their Dean or Associate Dean and support of the discipline faculty.  A unique partnership exists among the Office of Instructional Development, Information Systems and Teaching and Learning Center in support of college-wide course development. The Office of Instructional Development coordinates the course development process and provides instructional design consultation to faculty who are developing new courses or revising existing courses. The area of Information Systems, including an instructional design specialist and programmers, support faculty in online course development.  The Coordinator of Faculty Development arranges ongoing faculty development opportunities through the Teaching and Learning Center. 

Lake Land College – There is a step-by-step process for course approval.  First the instructor gets approval from the division chair of his/her department, then the Director of Learning Technologies checks to see that the course meets the requirements set and the instructor has the technological ability to teach online.  After these steps are complete, approval must be granted by the Associate Vice President of Educational Service and the Vice President of Academic Services.

Our instructors have access to our Center for Technology and Professional Development which offer courses on the use of the learning management system, pedagogy of online learning and training on media for distance education such as Camtasia, Elluminate, and Respondus.

Southwestern Illinois College – Instructors who are interested in teaching an online course simply coordinate with their department chair/dean.    

Our college has an excellent instructional design team to help faculty get their online courses up and running. They support faculty in the design, development and implementation of the course materials.  Professional development workshops are provided for faculty in addition to customized, individual training. 

Southern Illinois University Carbondale – To create a new online course the first step is to obtain departmental approval.  The instructors do need approval in advance.  Staff is available through the Instructional Support Service at the Library as well as an instructional designer in the Office of Distance Education. They assist faculty with pedagogy, instructional design and technology.

Changes in Enrollment by Sector

Community College Enrollment
During the Spring 2007 term, community colleges reported offering 3,829 online course sections that generated 51,539 enrollments.

Public University Enrollment
Public universities reported offering 952 online course sections that generated 18,902 enrollments.

Independent For-Profit Colleges and Universities
Independent for-profit colleges and universities reported offering 2,508 online courses that generated 61,193 enrollments.

Independent Not-For-Profit Colleges and Universities
Independent not-for-profit colleges and universities reported offering 854 online courses that generated 14,106 enrollments.

Institutions with the largest enrollments
The Illinois institutions reporting the largest online course enrollments during the Spring 2007 term in each sector of higher education in Illinois were:

Parkland College (3,573) and College of DuPage (3,440) from the community college system.

University of Illinois at Chicago (4,903) and University of Illinois at Springfield (3,509) from the public universities.

DeVry University (59,875) from the independent for-profit colleges and universities.

DePaul University (5,204) from the independent not-for-profit colleges and universities.

What is the most important trend in distance education at your institution?

College of DuPage – An important trend in distance education is the continued growth in online course enrollment, including general education and career areas.  Also, the age demographic indicates an increasing number of traditional age students are enrolling in online courses.

Lake Land College – The most important relational data we are seeing involves the retention rates for online students.  Lake Land College has been consistent in retaining online students, averaging around seventy-seven percent.  We will be looking at ways to increase the retention rates of students taking online courses.  One way we are looking to increase the retention rate is by creating a peer mentoring program for online students.  The mentors would be students who have taken the course online in the past and been successful.  The mentors would help students in the course succeed in the online environment by helping them through the mechanics of the learning management system, modeling effective behavior, appropriately communicating with the instructor and fellow students, and offering advice about the course in general.  This program has been successful at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Southwestern Illinois College – Online courses, combined with Web supplemented traditional instruction, are paving the way for hybrid instruction which also appears to be a growing interest at SWIC.  Most recently, the use of iPods and podcasting in online instruction is being explored.   A pilot group, known as the “iPod Innovators” was created in Spring 2007.  The purpose of developing the pilot was to promote discussion, collaboration, and exploration among leaders in instruction, technology, and distance learning in the use of iPods and Podcasting in education at Southwestern Illinois College.

Southern Illinois University Carbondale – There is a trend toward offering more certification and degree programs rather than individual courses

Online Enrollments by Residency

The vast majority of all online course enrollments reported by Illinois public colleges and universities and independent not-for-profit colleges and universities were students residing in the state. Independent for-profit colleges and universities had a higher percentage of students residing outside of Illinois.

The residency of students enrolled in online courses varied by sector with community colleges having the highest percentage of Illinois residents (97%), followed by the public universities (88%), and the independent not-for-profit colleges and universities (69%). The graphs below show the distributions of online enrollments at all Illinois public universities, public community colleges, independent for-profit colleges and universities, and independent not-for-profit colleges and universities by residency.

Online Enrollments
at Illinois Colleges and Universities
by Residency
Spring 2007

Public Universities	Community Colleges
Independent For-Profit Colleges and Universities	Independent Not-For-Profit Colleges and Universities

List of Tables for Spring 2007

Table 6
Distance Education Enrollments
at Illinois Colleges and Universities
by Institution
Spring Term 2007