Eduventures Online Higher Education Learning Collaborative
The Eduventures Online Higher Education Learning Collaborative (OHE-LC) is a member-based research consortium designed to help universities and colleges grow their online enrollments, develop strategies for online higher education, and make their online operations more efficient and effective. It provides insight and direction to identify best management practices, benchmark performance, and improve core processes through research, analysis, and networking opportunities.
The OHE-LC provides Collaborative Research, Custom Analysis, and opportunities for interactions with our analysts and decision-makers at peer institutions. Research is organized into four themes: programs and markets, marketing and recruitment, operations, and teaching learning and outcomes.
Recent and upcoming Collaborative Research topics include:
Competing in Online Higher Education 2008
The objective of this study is to provide OHE-LC members with an in-depth and updated review of positioning and differentiation trends in the U.S. online higher education market. This study builds on the previous OHE-LC collaborative research report Competing in Online Higher Education: Positioning and Differentiation Strategies, which appeared in February 2006. The new study will examine the full range of positioning points for online delivery by taking into account the growing diversity of higher education institutions offering variations of online programming. This will help OHE-LC members define and evolve their own positioning and differentiation strategies.
Benchmarking Online Operations
This study aims to address a major knowledge gap facing OHE-LC members – namely, how to assess investment, infrastructure, and practices associated with online operations. Online operations might include aspects of marketing, admissions, program development, staffing, services, back office, outsourcing, and technology. This study will create a cross-institutional data set focused on online operations, allowing OHE-LC members to compare themselves to industry norms and trends, as well as by institutional type and nature/maturity of online activity. In addition to OHE-LC members, the aim is to include a significant number of non-members.
Survey of Online Program Students and Alumni
To cement the online higher education value proposition, the short- and long-term impact of online study on the graduate must be evaluated. Given the strong career orientation of many online programs and students, career impact is particularly important. This study will survey alumni of OHE-LC members’ online programs, seeking before- and after-job and salary information, as well as alumni views on the value of their online education. A separate survey will ask current online students about their experiences with the academic and administrative aspects of online delivery at their institutions. Although online student satisfaction surveys already exist (e.g., the Noel-Levitz PSOL), the ability to compare current student and alumni responses will be uniquely valuable. On a voluntary basis, OHE-LC members will be asked to provide the OHE-LC with student and alumni contact details. Without the OHE-LC membership, this kind of study would be all but impossible.
Taking Stock of Employer Policies and Attitudes Toward Online Education
This project will survey a large and diverse group of employers to better understand the evolving attitudes in different industries to online delivery and the capacity for enhanced fit between employer needs and online programming. The scope of the investigation will encompass employer needs, in terms of both content and services, and employer education policies, in regard to delivery mode, institutional type, tuition assistance, and insitutional accreditation. Survey data will be supplemented by in-depth interviews with selected employers. In addition, this study will review examples of online programming tailored to particular employers.
Some examples of other topics covered by Collaborative Research include:
- Understanding the National Online Higher Education Market
- Online Higher Education: Retention Benchmarks and Practices
- Online Higher Education Market Update 2006
- Expanding Demand for Online Higher Education
- Competing in Online Higher Education: Positioning and Differentiation Strategies
Some examples of topics covered by Custom Analysis include:
- The Cost of Online Degree Programs Among For-Profit, Public, and Private Schools
- What Factors Drive Successful Online Students to Drop Out Before Program Completion?
- Orientations for Online Students: Current and Best Practices
Please contact us to explore how membership in the Eduventures Online Higher Education Learning Collaborative can help you make better, more-informed decisions.