Review by: Zellweger, Franziska (2005-03-24)

This report was motivated by the publication “Thwarted Innovation” of Zemsky and Massy, which unveils a widespread disillusionment because of unfulfilled premises from educational technology. The author Rob Abel set out to his research with the hypothesis that there exist great differences in how higher education institutions are approaching online learning, which explain the varying levels of success in online learning. The report is based on data collected from 21 heterogeneous American institutions who describe their individual approach to online learning to be successful. Case study data was collected through extensive background web research, follow up phone interviews with key informants, and a final web survey.

The study provides interesting insights on the original motivation of each institution to foster online activities, the applied measures for success, the particular mode of online teaching and learning perceived as successful, circumstances that supported the change process (e. g., role of leadership, faculty, and student support), particular challenges and future priorities and expectations.

The outcome of the study is a broad array of results and explanations both on the macro- and micro level. Following conclusions are among the most interesting ones:- Successful institutions have a strong motivation to adopt online learning since it aligns with the institutions’ missions, it is critical to persist in a competitive market, or since elearning allows growing enrolments.- The participating institutions define their success to a large extent through student program completion and the quality of the learning outcome and only secondarily through enrolment growth. Course quality is also a major focus of most institutions in the near future.- The study unveils a strong correlation between success and a “programmatic” approach. Those institutions moving online whole programs instead of single courses seem to perceive their approach as successful.- Surprisingly most successful institutions provide fully online formats of elearning although hybrid courses are a wide spread model, too.- Marketing is one of the top priorities in the coming three years.

Many of the study findings are neither surprising nor new: the importance of leadership endorsement combined with attention to faculty grass root approaches, a sound support process for faculty and students, or the primacy of educational goals over technology centred approaches are widely accepted success factors that have been confirmed in this study.

In the final discussion of the results, the author takes up the question whether elearning is a thwarted innovation or in the stage of entering mainstream. Certainly for the US market of adult education clear signs of market reception point to the long term success of elearning.

To sum up, the study is based on a sound methodology and provides many insights on how quality online learning can be achieved. However, from a European perspective, the success of these institutions seems largely to be based on the exceptional demand of adult learners for online learning in the US. To a certain extent, this seems to be a country specific phenomenon inherent to the American higher education system, which holds an unmet backlog demand for education of adult students, in which students are used to pay market prices for quality education and in which continuing education is closely knit to the university system. Still, the study sets a well researched counterpoint and contains many interesting insights that gain relevance well beyond any systemic or cultural boarders.