In the past decade, the rate of growth in online enrollments has been “extremely robust,” but holding steady, according to the report, Changing the Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States. When the Babson Survey Research Group of Babson College, a private institution in Massachusetts, and the College Board released the report in January, close to 70 percent of administrators surveyed said that online education was critical to the future of their institution. In 2002, that number was less than half.
At the same time, the number of students enrolling in at least one online course in fall 2011—more than 6.7 million—increased by 570,000 over the previous year. The increase may signal why advocates of online learning say they are optimistic about the potential of technology and distance education to offset declining enrollment among traditional students with older, nontraditional ones. It may also mean new opportunities to reach and teach more students and to generate needed revenue for colleges and universities.
When Dr. Roy L. Beasley takes the pulse of HBCUs, which he does weekly when he scours and analyzes the websites of the 105 Black colleges and universities, he’s assured that the growth of online courses and degrees being offered this academic year is moving at just the right pace—“moderate and sensible.” Since 2005, Beasley, manager of Howard University’s Digital Learning Lab, has reported on their progress in “HBCU Online & Blended Degree Programs,” a series of studies that he authored.
With 17 online degree programs to offer students—far more than any other HBCU surveyed—Hampton University’s presence in the online education arena is not new. Hampton President William Harvey ushered in the focus in the late 1990s with a handful of courses. Two years ago, all university courses and programs available online became Hampton U Online. For this, Beasley says, Hampton deserves distinction.
“At this point in time, Hampton University is clearly the ‘Real HU’ when it comes to online programs,” he says of the Howard rival. “Hampton developed its impressive array of online programs using its own resources and its own faculty, expanding its offerings step-by-step, year-by-year.”
While all HBCUs aren’t where Hampton is, they are on a course that’s steady, but not too slow, Beasley says. In fact, he says, HBCUs are merging into the distance learning lane at a pace that mirrors the broader higher education community described in surveys like Changing the Course.
Beasley’s report, considered the only one of its kind focusing on web-based education programs at HBCUs, offered these key findings in 2012:
