An analysis of newly available federal data shows that a far larger proportion of college students take at least one fully online course than was previously understood.
The analysis, first conducted by the ed-tech consultant and blogger Phil Hill, shows that based on 12-month reporting — which the Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System only recently began collecting for distance learning — 51.8 percent of students took at least one online course in 2019-20. This number is much higher than the 37 percent reflected in the fall 2019 enrollment data that has been cited in the past, and on which most estimates of the prevalence of online learning have historically been based. Continue reading.
Professor Van Ry 