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Community Colleges and Distance Education
By Sharon Joy Ng Hale
A recent study by the Instructional Technology Council, a group dedicated to the advancement of distance education, found growing use of online education in community colleges across the country; faculty skepticism about online education, meanwhile, appears to be diminishing in most disciplines. This growth is prompting many colleges to develop better student services infrastructures with a focus on budgetary issues and training for support staff.
In California, distance education is becoming a common feature of a community college education. The California Community Colleges Distance Education Report for 1995–96 through 2003–04 cited key findings on distance education in the state:
- Distance education completion rates in California have stabilized at 57 percent in the past three years, having risen from 52 percent in 1995–96. This has narrowed the gap between student success in distance education and in traditional classroom settings.
- Institutions are gradually adding full degree and certificate programs that can be completed through distance education.
- Student satisfaction surveys reveal that the most important reason for taking a distance education course is its convenience, followed by the need to fulfill requirements for an associate’s degree or transfer.
- It is estimated that by 2015–16 as much as 20 percent of the total community college system enrollment in California may be in distance education courses.
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