University Teaching as E-Business?
Research and Policy Agendas

Case Study: OnlineLearning.net

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CSHE > Research > University Teaching as E-Business > Case Studies > OnlineLearning.net

NB: These draft case studies, compiled by Shannon Lawrence, are an internal resource for the University Teaching as E-business? research project. Originally released in October 2001, they were updated in March 2002. They were gathered from numerous sources, including news articles, press releases, scholarly reports, and company websites. In many cases, information presented herein was taken directly from The Chronicle of Higher Education's longitudinal series of articles on Information Technology and Distance Education, which represents the single best source for information about this evolving universe.

OnlineLearning.net (OLn)-formerly The Home Education Network (THEN), and now a subsidiary of Sylvan Learning Systems--is a private, for-profit organization offering accredited courses from UCLA Extension, the University of San Diego, the California CPA Education Foundation, and curriculum materials publisher Houghton Mifflin. OnlineLearning.net also features courses from Fulcrum Information Services, USC’s Marshall School of Business, Syracuse University, Georgetown University, and offers its own instructor-led Computer Certification Programs and Courses. Since 1996, OnlineLearning.net has accepted more than 20,000 enrollments from students in 50 states and 80 U.S. territories and foreign countries in 1,700 online courses.

Products/Services

OnlineLearning.net (OLn) has developed some unique relationships with institutions, associations and publishers to deliver, market, and provide support and training to instructors and their students. Accredited courses are offered in business, computers, education, general interest and writing. OLn’s own computer programs include Microsoft Certification, Certified Novell Engineer, A+ Certification, Cisco, and Red Hat Linux courses. Though undergraduate and graduate degrees are not offered by education providers, college credits can be earned through some online courses, and those credits can be transferred and applied toward a degree at another institution at that institution's discretion. OLn also offers certificate programs and courses to earn professional development credits (see Table 1).

Over 250 online courses provided by OnlineLearning.net are broadly grouped into five communities: Business and Management; Computers and Information Systems; Education; Writing; and General Interest (see Table 2). Within each community, courses are located in specific neighborhoods. These neighborhoods more narrowly define the curriculum offered in its courses. This organization not only makes it easier for new students to navigate, but allows course managers and other support staff to be far more expert in each of their areas and to become familiar with individual students more quickly.

OnlineLearning.net’s online course instructors are experienced professionals their field of study. Instructors develop the curriculum, conduct the class, give the assignments, answer questions, lead discussions, and assign grades. Instructor-led online courses are interactive, feature specific start and end dates, usually require textbooks, and provide the same levels of academic or professional credit. Most online courses are six to twelve weeks in length. Class size ranges from 15-30 people. The schedule of coursework, assignments and due dates are determined by each instructor. No campus visits are required. Typically, the instructor grades students on assignments, projects, and participation in the course.

Online courses are not taught in real-time. These courses are "asynchronous," meaning that everyone need not be online at the same time. Online courses use a computer-mediated distance learning process. Some courses may use the chat mode--usually at the discretion of the instructor--in which case students do have an opportunity to communicate with the instructor and other students through a "live," text-based system.

Every course has its own Course Manager who acts as the primary contact for questions or problems that involve the mechanics of taking a class. In addition there is live, 24-hour free technical support available by phone seven days a week. Before students commence study, they attend a free online orientation, which brings them up to speed on the technical and logistical aspects of online education. Students also have individual start pages on the OLn website that provide a personalized guide for helping them get started and stay on track. Students have access to the "e-Friends" program at no cost, a service that provides networking opportunities with professional and working adult students from abroad.

Students in OnlineLearning.net’s online courses have the opportunity to fill out an electronic evaluation for the courses in which they enroll. Like their paper counterparts in traditional classrooms, student evaluations elicit responses about the instructor's teaching of the course as well as about the course material and organization, but also, as befits an online classroom, about such issues as the student's experience of the software and support services. An email notifying students about the availability of the electronic evaluation access site is sent to students about two weeks before the course ends, and sent again at the end of the course if the student hasn't yet completed the evaluation. This ensures that a higher percentage of students have the chance to fill out the form and will remember to complete an evaluation. Course instructors receive their student evaluations from OLn once courses are finished for the term. To date, OLn reports that student responses to the online courses show a history of student satisfaction, with 85% of students rating online courses distributed by OnlineLearning.net "as good or better than face-to-face learning. Nearly 90% of students have successfully completed their online courses and 90% say they are likely to take additional online courses distributed by OnlineLearning.net.

OnlineLearning.net also places a strong emphasis on instructor preparation and development. OnlineLearning.net (OLn) works in conjunction with its education providers to offer and teach a six-week Instructor Development Training Program. The training program is conducted entirely online and successful completion is mandatory for all instructors who intend to teach online. It is a comprehensive program that combines software training along with lessons in the methods, approaches, and practical techniques for teaching online. OLn gives progress reports to the education providers on the status of instructors going through training and certifies their successful completion. This six-week training program offered elsewhere for several hundred dollars per person is a valuable professional development opportunity provided to instructors at no cost by OLn.

The Instructor Development Team at OnlineLearning.net (OLn) has created a full-featured Instructor Community Web site providing the latest information instructors need to know, as well as continued training and professional development opportunities from OLn. The OLn Instructor Community website, includes professional development and networking opportunities for instructors. This site includes links to information on teaching strategies, instructional design, classroom management, technical skills building, and more. Additionally, there are links to short online tutorials, online refresher courses and seminars, and virtual guest speakers. OLn's education partners provide instructors an opportunity to network and exchange ideas with fellow online instructors through discussion forums. In addition to an Open Forum for all instructors, there is a Technical Q and A area, as well as separate forums for those in Technical Communication, Writing and Humanities, Computer and Information Systems, Business and Management, and Education. The OLn Instructor Development Team and OLn Department of Online Teacher Education moderate each discussion forum. Instructors are also provided with an online handbook that lists policies and procedures and whom to contact with possible questions as well as guidelines for online teaching and classroom management.

Governance/Management

OnlineLearning.net has partnered with education providers for content, professional associations and course software providers (see Table 3).

OnlineLearning.net helps market and publicize its educational partner’s online courses nationally and around the world. OLn also assists in recruiting efforts for its education providers but prospective instructors are actually hired by the respective providers, who are ultimately responsible for providing contracts and payment to instructors. Houghton Mifflin approves the hiring of its instructors but OnlineLearning.net issues the contract and payment to instructors, while University of San Diego issues the credit for the course, sends out grades, and issues transcripts to students. Each institution has additional policies and conditions that may be stipulated in their contracts or through handbooks distributed at the time of hiring.

OnlineLearning.net does not claim any intellectual property or copyrights for the course materials offered by the institutions, associations, or instructors whose courses they deliver and support. Each institution and association has its own policies, procedures and arrangements with its instructors regarding intellectual property and copyrights. Likewise, OnlineLearning.net does not act on the instructor’s behalf to secure copyright clearance and permissions for use of third-party materials, nor does it provide legal advice.

Finance/Strategy

The Home Education Network (THEN), later renamed Onlinelearning.net (OLn), was established in January of 1993 as a private for-profit company. THEN was the brainchild of Alan Arkatov, a TV Producer and political media consultant who, according to distance education critic David Noble, also enjoyed very close ties to the entertainment industry and higher Democratic political circles. Arkatov planned to develop a method of distributing extension courses electronically beyond the classroom. THEN officially signed a 10-year contract with UCLA in 1994 that granted the company exclusive rights to distribute and market video recordings of UCLA's extension courses. In 1996, the agreement was amended to include on-line courses as well.

David Noble claims that UCLA originally expected great financial windfall--in the millions of dollars--from their relationship with THEN and, as a result, "adopted the posture of a venture capital operation, expending public funds and offering THEN the use of its public resources. UCLA appears to have afforded Arkatov privileged use of the UCLA brand name, access to its marketing and publication facilities and staff, and even mailing lists…" (Noble, 2001) Later it became apparent through contract negotiations that expected returns were significantly less than expected.

From the beginning, the issue of content and distribution ownership was much in debate between instructors, UCLA extension, and THEN. Though attempts were made to secure contracts with instructors that waived the rights to ownership and gave THEN the ability to distribute the materials electronically, instructors would not sign. By 1996, THEN shifted its emphasis to online delivery without a signed contract from instructors, and piloted extension courses online during the spring term. UCLA extension, at that time, claimed publicly in a press release that their agreement with THEN "ensures that all intellectual property rights ... are appropriately protected" (as cited in Noble, 2001). John Kobara, vice-chancellor of UCLA for marketing and public relations, became the president of THEN in January of 1997. In May 1998, THEN was renamed OnlineLearning.net.

In September 2000, OLn added new marketing and content partners including Fathom, HiFusion.com, Edukos.com, and Fulcrum Information Services in an effort to strengthen a nationwide network of marketing channels for OnlineLearning.net while tapping into an unprecedented number of new users in the U.S. and abroad. In May 2001, citing a response to a changing economy and increased enrollment in traditional business and management courses, OLn shifted its marketing strategy to a "back-to-business" basics approach and teamed with the California CPA Education Foundation to offer two new professional certificates online.

In July 2001, Sylvan Learning Systems acquired OnlineLearning.net as part of its recently launched Online Higher Education division. After a series of acquisitions in higher education, Sylvan now owns all or part of four business units that are managed under the new division. The businesses-Canter & Associates, Walden University, Sylvan Teachers Institute, and OnlineLearning.net -have retained their own names. Paula Singer, a senior Sylvan executive since 1993 who had been serving as president of Sylvan's Education Solutions division, has been named president and CEO of the Online Higher Education division. Sylvan has annual revenues of about $175-million from its elementary- and secondary-education services, and projected revenues of $300-million this year from its postsecondary education business units.

References

• Noble, David. "Digital Diploma Mills Part V: Fool's Gold." March 2001. http://www.communication.ucsd.edu/dl/ddm5.html
  
• Noble, David. "Digital Diploma Mills: The Automation of Higher Education." First Monday, 3:1, (1998). http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue3_1/noble/
  
• Olsen, Florence. "Sylvan Creates Division for Online Education." The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10 August 2001. http://chronicle.com/weekly/v47/i48/48a04904.htm
  
• "OnlineLearning.net Debuts New Online Mergers & Acquisitions Accounting And Tax Course From Fulcrum Information Services." OnlineLearning.net Press Release. 17 January 2001. http://onlinelearning.net/CorporateInformation/PressReleases/index.html?s= 324.0030v911x.1704013w00&PRID=10000594
  
• "OnlineLearning.net Extends Reach in Key Markets with Four New Strategic Alliance." OnlineLearning.net Press Release. 26 September 2000. http://onlinelearning.net/CorporateInformation/PressReleases/index.html?s= 324.0030v911x.1704013w00&PRID=10000513
  
• "OnlineLearning.net Helps Working Professionals Get Ahead with More Than 40 Online Business & Managment Courses and Programs." OnlineLearning.net Press Release. 6 March 2001. http://onlinelearning.net/CorporateInformation/PressReleases/index.html?s= 324.0030v911x.1704013w00&PRID=10000603
  
• "OnlineLearning.net Launches Site to Meet Unique Continuing Education Needs of Computer Professionals." OnlineLearning.net Press Release. 21 March 2001. http://onlinelearning.net/CorporateInformation/PressReleases/index.html?s= 324.0030v911x.1704013w00&PRID=10000648
  
• "Sylvan Learning Systems Announces Formation of Online Higher Education Division; New Division Will be Headed by Sylvan Veteran Paula Singer." Business Wire, 17 July 2001. http://onlinelearning.net/CorporateInformation/PressReleases/index.html?s= 324.0030v911x.1704013w00&PRID=10000675
  
• "Turn in Economy Reflected in Back to Basic Business Offerings at OnlineLearning.net." OnlineLearning.net Press Release. 30 May 2001. http://onlinelearning.net/CorporateInformation/PressReleases/index.html?s= 324.0030v911x.1704013w00&PRID=10000666
  
• Young, Jeffrey R. "David Noble's Battle to Defend the 'Sacred Space' of the Classroom: Jeremiads against online education attract followers; critics say he's an ill-informed Luddite." The Chronicle of Higher Education, 31 March 2000. http://chronicle.merit.edu/free/v46/i30/30a00101.htm
  
• Young, Jeffrey R. "UCLA Contract Shows Complexity of Issues Involving Ownership of On-Line Courses." The Chronicle of Higher Education, 5 June 1998. http://chronicle.com/che-data/articles.dir/art-44.dir/issue-39.dir/39a02301.htm