How to scale enrollment for distance learning courses?

Following the COVID-19-induced transition to remote working, students and professionals increasingly turned to digital learning to obtain the skills needed to navigate through the ever-evolving workplace. In 2021, Coursera issued its Impact Report, indicating that over 20 million learners enrolled for courses in the year. These gains reflect the expanding global acceptability of online education, including a rise in distant learners enrolled in higher education courses, both from metropolitan and rural regions.

Distance Learning: Distance learning is a method of educating pupils over the internet. The internet is used to provide lectures and learning resources. Students work at home rather than in a classroom.

Advantages of Distance Learning: Distance learning has several wonderful advantages. For one thing, it is less expensive to support. Another advantage of online education is that it is not geographically constrained. For example, you do not need to be in the United States to attend classes at an American institution.

Because of the coronavirus, distant learning, which colleges and institutions generally use, is now being used by elementary and high school students. Entire school districts and campuses are being compelled to develop and implement successful online learning possibilities.

Disadvantages of Distance Learning: However, this strategy may disadvantage some kids. Students who do not have access to a computer or the internet may suffer. Those who require extra assistance with motivation and organization may also struggle when separated from a regular school setting.

Types of Distance Learning: Distance learning falls into synchronous learning and asynchronous learning.

Synchronous Learning: Synchronous is defined as “at the same moment.” It refers to a way of delivering instruction in real-time. It necessitates online live conversation. It does this through the use of technology such as teleconferencing. Synchronous learning is less adaptable than other types of online education. After all, students must meet with their teacher and sometimes their classmates at predetermined times. This method restricts a student’s capacity to learn at their speed. Some students who like the independence of an asynchronous classroom may be disappointed.

Asynchronous Learning: Students in asynchronous distant education are given a series of weekly deadlines. They are allowed to work at their own pace. More chances for student involvement are included. Students can access course information outside planned meetings or classes and engage on their own time through online dialogues, quizzes, or video comments. The flexibility of asynchronous learning benefits both teachers and students since it allows them to generate and consume material when it is convenient for them.

What does a typical distance learning course look like?

Distance learning courses at several higher education institutions have the same length as face-to-face ones – eight weeks or a complete semester.

The teacher will:

1. Establish the theme for each week.
2. Provide ideas for discussion.
3. Distribute tasks with explicit instructions.
4. Capture lectures, short movies, or presentations.

The pupils then spend the next week:

1. Attending lectures, videos, or presentations
2. Investigating potential conversation topics
3. Making discussion posts
4. Assignment submissions
5. Participating in video conferencing
6. Emailing the teacher

Are distance learning degrees certified?

While online learning was formerly seen as a poor alternative to traditional education, many today believe it outperforms formal classroom instruction.

This is primarily due to video and technology.

Video makes remote learning more personable and keeps students interested. Students not only perform better, but they also prefer remote learning. Online education is rated as equal or superior by 77 percent of academic leaders. And 69% of chief academic officers concur.

Long-term education methods must include distance learning. Distance learning has grown in popularity in recent years. 3.1 million higher education students enrolled in online programs in the autumn of 2017.

In addition, a growing share of students learning entirely online is enrolled within 50 miles of their homes. Distance education has also garnered significant legitimacy and acceptability. Top online universities compete with on-campus counterparts.

5 proven strategies to scale enrollment for distance learning courses

1. Use technology to bridge the gap and foster inclusion.

• Campus tours, prospective student weekends, and live events, as astute admission staff knows, are among the most powerful and persuasive enrollment marketing techniques for converting engaged students.
• However, just because everyone is at home does not preclude institutions from using successful strategies to bring these activities to their prospective pupils.
• According to a recent Thinking Cap Agency report, slightly more than half of the transfer students are likely to choose virtual tours instead of attending campus open houses.
• Using technology solutions such as Skype, Zoom, live social streaming, and more involved video solutions to provide their students with access to campus tour guides, admissions staff, and campus tours—particularly for students interested in hybrid programs or returning to campus in the spring or beyond.
• Making potential students feel welcome and enthusiastic about what their university has to offer, both online and in person.

1. Open remote learning enrollment early

• During a time when high school seniors should have been focused on their final year experience, many became stranded at home and are now mourning the end of their high school careers.
• They are ready to go forward, they want to get ahead, and they want something to look forward to.
• The following is some advise from Reggie Hill, Vice President of Marketing and Enrollment at the University of the Ozarks:
• “Enrollment teams should collaborate with academic teams to begin registration as soon as possible.” Now is the moment to firmly establish your university’s students. Your enrollment team will then be free to work the phones and fill the second half of your class.”
• Institutions should use this opportunity to showcase their online courses as a method for high school grads who are already interested in their institution to jump-start their college education and prepare for a bright future.

1. Adjust your audience and messaging strategy

• Prior to the epidemic, the typical online learner was 34 years old. The bulk of these students (81 percent) were working, and 84 percent were non-traditional students.
• Before the world turned virtual, their education marketing approach most likely revolved around the demographics of online college students, advertising their remote learning courses as a solution for busy, working individuals with families to care for.
• However, their online education courses are now a viable option for a far larger audience. Traditional students are altering their plans significantly, staying closer to home, attending smaller and more economical universities, taking gap years, and, yes, enrolling in online college courses.
• This implies it’s time to adapt their remote learning enrollment approach to include a whole new population of online learners who want to make informed decisions about their academic careers.

1. AI- and Analytics-Driven Student Support and Teaching

• Machine learning, SMS messaging, and artificial intelligence (AI) are also having an increasing influence on improving student services and support.
• Many universities, like commercial businesses, are beginning to deploy blended and fully AI-based chatbots to support students and answer questions — integrating with learning management systems, enabling blended use cases that empower student service personnel with data, or using pattern recognition to assist students in navigating key admissions, enrollment, and course deadlines.
• These ideas are also spreading into campus service digitization via smart speakers in student residences – fundamental self-service technologies that make higher education more customer-centric while lowering costs.
• Institutions such as Georgia Tech, which pioneered the use of an AI-based teaching assistant in its online degree programs, are also leveraging AI.

1. Digital Credentialing and Data-Driven Education-Workforce Alignment

• Another major trend is the digitization and proliferation of educational credentials, which is characterized by a rapid shift from static educational records and transcripts, which were previously an extremely analog process centered on degrees, to online, digital credentials focused on certificates and certifications that summarize achievement, skills, or competency.
• Employers and industry certification programs are driving this movement in collaboration with community colleges, extension schools, and university graduate programs — and it is key to the “unbundling” of degrees into shorter-form micro-credentials that may stack into a wider lifetime curriculum.
• Many elite business and extension schools have welcomed this trend and the potential income streams represented by new sorts of digital credentials.

Conclusion

• Students are ready to take the next step, so institutions should make sure that their communication approach tells them that they are, too.
• Students are asking themselves realistic questions such as, “Will enrolling in college right now be worthwhile?” What will the autumn semester entail? Will online college courses be a more cost-effective alternative for me right now?
• Enrollment teams must strike a balance between articulating their reaction to COVID-19 and motivating prospective students to look forward to their first year and beyond with excitement and hope.
• Institutions should maintain a good attitude and concentrate on the solutions and possibilities provided by their school.
• They should prepare to answer questions regarding their distant and online learning programs’ efficacy and highlight the unique opportunities they provide.