National Innovation Through Online Scholarship

Research is an important component of both online and ground based professorship. As matter of concern, trying to differentiate the two is dangerous as more universities move online and adjust the expectations of professors to fit online modalities. The institutions of higher learning have an important contribution to furthering knowledge through discovery and it makes no difference what modality they use. Removing this function can slow the pace of development for the nation by slowing new discoveries and innovation.

The nature of that scholarship may be a little different than that which we find in the laboratories of hard sciences. The far majority of new ideas and scholarship activities don’t require a formal laboratory setting and often can be conducted in virtual format. Modern technology allows for data collection, research, and scholarly writing on a new level. 

It could be argued that online tools could allow scholarship to flourish by connecting people, institutions and ideas to expand the body of knowledge. As more research moves online, and virtual libraries expand, information will move from theoretical conception to the practical output as decision-makers become more aware of existing discoveries.  Awareness and implementation in the private sector helps grow the nation.

It wasn’t that long ago that only printed forms of research were available and unless a person paid for, was a student, or otherwise provided with a library card to some a large university they would not be able to engage fully in scholarship. Small schools and adjunct faculty simply were not much part of the process. This appears to be changing as information becomes more available and consolidated in online libraries. 

Online scholarship can be theoretical or applied; perhaps a bit of both. On the theoretical side a mix of practical experience and scholarly writing can lead to new and profound discoveries. On the applied side those theoretical discoveries are implemented to create practical examples of the theory at work. Practical academics, or pracedemics, can do both research and practical implementation.  

Online education doesn’t need to damage, destroy, or negate the function of research in a professor’s life. As a practical matter online education can encourage higher forms of scholarship and at a faster pace than what was seen in the dusty halls of manual libraries by exchanging ideas and information for greater public consumption. The very function of research in today’s society can be enhanced by online education.

What Can't Be Standardized in Higher Education?

Higher education is going through radical changes and struggling universities are moving online to increase their reach and balance their budgets. A number of studies have shown that standardization doesn't lessen educational quality and provides consistency in course instruction. Despite standardization there are two things that still need qualified faculty to complete effectively.

Grading papers and engaging in conversation require a guiding hand to fully function as intended. Both of these course activities are based in qualitative measurements that are very difficult for automated algorithms to calculate. It takes considerable experience and human insight to understand the student's current vantage point and propose new information to push their knowledge.

Each paper comes with a blend of course information, learned experience, thought processes and communication abilities. Professors must try and follow the train of thought and make judgments on the students understanding. For example, the understanding could be high and the writing skills low. The professor can make proper recommendations.

The same thing occurs in grading participation in discussion questions. The individual exists within an online conversation and it is beneficial to determine course understanding by assessing the student as an individual in a group discussion. This requires following complex group ideas and how those ideas build off of each other and create meaning for the student.

Professors ability to effectively grade and further knowledge among students is difficult to assess automatically. Someday this may not be the case yet as of now the qualitative assessments are too difficult for mechanical understanding. Professors skill in assessment and development of their courses is a learned skill that is enhanced over repeated focus and practice. Seasoned online professors are worth their weight in gold bring a human touch to the virtual learning world.

Is it Time the United States Support Online Learning Institutions?

Denmark's minister for higher education Sofie Carsten Nielsen met with Korean officials in an effort to develop new online learning technology (1). She believes that Korean technology matched with Denmark's education excellence will lead to new platforms and media for online education. Such development at the state level is likely to spur innovation in the online educational field making it more relevant for knowledge hungry youth.

American officials should consider the merits of online education and seek to find ways to foster development in that sector to stay ahead of the curve and ensure their place as educational leaders. Failure to develop and innovate the field for relevance could mean loosing our competitive place in the educational fields as other nations put forward the time and effort to grow.

The U.S. has its own field of online education that has spawned from the for-profit industry. Even though such universities are still in the process of development and growth the traditional sector has come to accept online educational models as a method of lowering their cost and possibly improving their educational reach. What was once disdained in the United States as "Cracker Jack" education is now leading the pack.

This doesn't mean we are doing enough to develop and create stronger platforms. Those nations that are able to develop strong online educational systems are also able to influence world education and thought. In other words, as universities globalize through the use of technology they will naturally impact the collection, analysis, and distribution of new thoughts and ideas. They will become leading sources of international knowledge and logic.

This level of information management is only possible if online education becomes a major focus for U.S. educational development. Innovating the system requires the development of technology and supporting online research that is converted to practical ideas. Instead of finding ways to limit online education it is better to encourage the creation of greater technology, more research, and higher levels of functioning that will someday reach across the globe.

There are many universities out there in the for-profit and non-profit sectors that are trying to develop the industry and raise its educational quality. They are putting forward time, effort, and doctors that are researching astounding concepts such as classroom management, information transference, student retention, online research methods, university operations, intercultural groups, and many other important topics.

Even though online education is relatively new and has been on the scene since somewhere around the 1980s it is now the leading growth factor in the field. Institutions that were shunned just as little as a few years ago may find themselves in the near future the point man for global education. Supporting these institutions through intellectual, social and governmental pathways helps in ensure the U.S. doesn't slip behind other nations less opposed to new educational models.

Stanford Study Lends Support to Online Education Models

A study presented at the American Economic Association and discussed in Times Higher Education may just tip the scales in favor of implementing online education programs at cash strapped traditional colleges. According to the large study conducted by Stanford University that included over 100,000 students from for-profit DeVry found that online class size doesn't impact enrollment, grades, or retention.

For years for-profit institutions have been the target of scrutiny and criticism. As these institutions improved their models and curriculum offerings the quality of the education began to rise. Now they are seen as one potential important method of meeting educational challenges in the future where tradition, cost, and practicality clash.

The study has some apparent limitations in terms of the range of students is limited. Very large and very small classes have not been included in the study. This means there could be a potential limit to the upper cap of student size where diminished returns begin to occur. Such limits would need to be found through additional research studies.

At present, the study does seem to point to the idea that it is possible to raise the amount of students in a class while not damaging educational quality. Administrators are likely to find such notions that more students, online courses, and economies of scale are beneficial to state budgets. As additional universities move online the study lends credibility to the strategic importance of their decisions.

A potential large problem does arise. Faculty are an important part of institutions and the generation of scientific breakthroughs within the country. Lowering the amount of full-time faculty may save money in the short run but could also damage intellectual research that has multiple benefits for society in the long run. Scholarship can be limited among adjunct workers who are more focused on their industry careers.

Pressures will likely be felt in locations where budgets are overstretched and faculty unionization is strong. The trend may be to move a percentage of the faculty, or a percentage of faculty course load, into the online world where budget pressures can be lowered without laying off faculty or disrupting faculty representation. The development of online faculty (or split faculty) may become an acceptable compromise.

That could be good news for online faculty positions where highly educated and industry experienced online faculty have been snubbed by traditional educational institutions.  In today's market online faculty that have a decade or more experience should start becoming a hot commodity for schools that are just now moving into the online world and have few current faculty with such virtual skills.

Technology is changing education in much the same way as it is changing government and society. With the speed of information transference increasing, whole societies are becoming connected to the virtual realms, thereby placing additional pressure on traditional universities to change. Those institutions that are willing to watch the trends, make adjustments, and bend will be more likely to not break when additional change is applied.

How Does Chinese Culture Influence Online Education?

Online education is growing and spanning the earth as Internet access becomes more entrenched in people’s lives. The study of culture and its impact on online education hasn’t been studied with any real vigor. According to a study by Zhang (2014) Confucius cultures maintain many of the same attributes when engaging in school online. School administrators should consider the impact of culture on the online education modality and how that impacts learning. 

It is first beneficial to understand what culture is. It can be seen as, “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another” (Hofstede, 2010). Culture is that which we carry with us from our shared social upbringing uniquely tied to our place of origin. 

When students move online the way in which they perceive the information and how they interact with authority figures isn’t likely to change. Those who were raised in cultures that have a high respect for professors are likely to have wider power-distance relationships. This is certainly different than lower power-distance relationships where students challenge the professor. 

In this case, the professor takes a more profound role with higher levels of societal respect. Students are less likely to challenge the professor or question the professor’s knowledge. This will naturally have an impact on the level of interactivity within the classroom as well as the need for quality instruction. 

It is beneficial for online instructors in those countries to focus on trying to engage such students with their classmates more and allow for specific interventions to help students keep their moving forward. Having a higher perception of status is not necessarily a bad thing if that power is used to step in and move the class forward. 

Likewise, it is also beneficial for professors to provide quality feedback that tries to explain in greater detail ways in which the student can improve their learning, writing, or test taking. Because such students are less likely to ask questions it is beneficial to give them as much upfront information as possible. Asking questions and receiving information on improvement are two different things. 

Moving overseas into Asian countries is an important step for American universities that seek to broaden their reach, encourage sustainable higher education budgets, and use the power of the Internet to enhance learning. The process is not impossible but does require additional research into culture and online learning. Culture will have a natural impact on how information is received ad the level of interaction among students.

Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:SAGE Publications.

Zhang, Y. (2013). Power distance in online learning: experience of Chinese learners in U.S. higher education. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 14 (4).

College Structures that are Changing to Student Needs

It wasn’t long ago that the only option for higher education was to attend classes full-time and put your life on hold. The traditional educational model was implanted from European religious models and existed in the country and unchanged for hundreds of years.  The advent of new virtual information and the interconnectedness of media tools have changed the fundamental way in which colleges operate. 

Retrofitting Traditional Structures:

Traditional structures are based on traditional mediums of learning that rely heavily on face-to-face communication. As technology made its way into the modern educational world such colleges first implemented this technology in individual classes and then into the infrastructure of their universities. Older platforms are in the process of retrofitted to handle more data and virtual learning platforms. 

Newer models do not have large physical infrastructures but are marked by their sleek and cost saving designs. Lacking a physical product like traditional campuses, the new designs provide data driven highways and greater virtual access than traditional universities can provide. Learning is not limited to campus residing students but may reach out over the globe while keeping costs low. 

Changing Demographics of Students:

Today’s world is more complex than it was in the past. A few decades ago a person would either get a job or they would attend college. College was a step into a better life where the ends were limited by the dreams of the graduate. Even though the same fundamental choices exist today, not having a college degree can be seriously limiting for one's lifestyle. College has become the new high school diploma.

Students are likely to be older and return to school at various stages of their life. They may get a bachelor degree, work for 10 years, and then go back for a Master's degree. Virtual education is matched to the needs of changing demographics and learning-living lifestyles. It is not yet a fully explored medium and will someday continue to improve speed making information limited to the capacities of the human mind.

Higher Education on the Cusp of Change

Education is changing faster than many officials and traditional systems can understand. A study by Dr. Starr describes how education in the U.K., U.S., Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand is changing rapidly based on a number of pressures. She conducted semi-structured focus groups with a 199 participants in her target markets to understand how technology is changing everything. 

Pressures in budgeting and financing are apparent. As traditional education becomes more expensive state and national budgets are increasingly strained. This is creating pressure to change and streamline the educational process. New policies and procedures are designed to reign in those costs and educational excesses. 

Universities are also finding themselves challenged by new technology and learning methods. In multiple ways it is making some traditional universities obsolete and they have opted to try and adapt new technology quickly. Despite their best efforts technology is adapting faster than they can find ways of implementing it. 

The nature of work of professors is also going through a tough transition. Professors won’t have the large support of union power going forward, will need to be available 24/7, and will likely have their working conditions changed. This doesn’t mean it will be positive or negative but the way things were done in the past are not likely to be done in the future. 

Higher education is moving through a developmental period in which the seeds were sewn 15 or so years ago. Technology, globalization, budgets and the demographics of students have placed pressures in new places and cracking higher education as we know it. The rapid change of higher education is likely to speed in the near future as new successes and failures in educational models become apparent. 

Starr, K. (2014). Implications of radically transformational challenges confronting education business leadership. Business Education & Accreditation, 6 (2).

The Difference in Recruiting Online and Traditional Employees

Virtual work is becoming a more frequent practice in today’s world. Online workers have some characteristics that make them different from traditional employees. Employers should be aware of the differences between virtual and traditional positions to ensure they recruit the best match. 

Online employees work with higher levels of autonomy and are either very specialized in skill or highly educated in their fields. The work they complete is intellectual by nature and requires a person to be highly focused on their tasks. Such workers are capable of meeting goals on their own. 

Even though online employees must have sufficient verbal communication skills they rely more heavily on electronic mediums.  This means that online workers must be able to communicate and work with others who may be located across the globe. Face-to-face interaction is less often while written communication is more common. 

Online employees also need to be more autonomous and self-motivated than traditional employees. They won’t have a boss standing over the top of them encouraging and guiding them. Instead they will need to have higher levels of internal motivation to keep their work moving forward at a sufficient pace. 

Online workers have slightly different characteristics than your traditional employee. The virtual environment is naturally different and requires higher levels of written communication skills as well as internal levels of motivation. Recruiting managers should consider these difference and adjust their selection criteria based upon the new work models.