The REAL Cost of Online Courses: Critical Challenges in Higher Education Series a teleconference to be held February 26, 2:30pm in E.S. Bird Library
Cost is not just a matter of dollars and cents. Discover the hidden costs of creating online courses "on the cheap," how to calculate the true costs, the resources needed to develop effective online courses, and ways to control costs without degrading quality.
"Thanks, but we already know our costs," you may say. But in the same way that developing and teaching courses online requires new paradigms and methods, "costing" methodology for online courses also requires new approaches.
Colleges and universities understandably want to compare the costs of online and face-to-face instruction, but the way budgets are often built and tracked may make it difficult to know all the real costs.
To make the most of your resources--and achieve your goals--you must understand the true costs. Whether your institution is new to online courses, wants more accurate financial data for the online courses it already offers, or needs tips on how to spend its distance education dollars more effectively, this teleconference will help you discover and understand the true costs and make more informed decisions.
You'll examine:
- ways of calculating fixed and variable costs
- methods for reducing fixed costs
- the impact of "unbundling" instructor functions
- the importance of scalability
- ways the "learning curve" can be a cost factor in converting traditional courses to an online format
- why poor course quality and low retention rates can be a major cost
Panelists
Katherine Cobb is President of the Brevard Community College Virtual Campus in Cocoa, FL, where her responsibilities include overseeing the creation and implementation of over 300 online courses enrolling over 9,000 students each year.
Brian Finnegan plays a key role in evaluating, budgeting for and supporting instructional technologies to be used in online and other courses at all 34 public colleges and universities in the University System of Georgia.
Dennis Jones played a major role in the development of the Technology Costing Method, which is widely recognized as the most authoritative approach to establishing and analyzing the costs of distance education courses.
The teleconference is cosponsored by Syracuse University Library and Faculty Computing and Media Services.
