Research-Based Benefits of Online Education for Students Taking College Credit Classes

College Credit Classes and Education Online

Different people from varying walks of life and ages seek to achieve academic progress by earning college credits. Consequently, colleges and universities in the United States, Canada and other industrialized nations use prior learning assessments (PLA) in order to assess learning that students had acquired outside of the classroom. Simply, PLAs are conducted for the purpose of assigning academic credit, and many individuals welcome this opportunity since this enables them to accelerate a degree or certificate in a cost-effective manner. The different ways through which individuals have obtained college-level learning outside of traditional classrooms are through corporate or military training, work experience, civic activity, or independent study. There are also certain advanced high school students who strive to earn college credits before they could enroll in colleges or universities.

Indeed, for some time now, the granting of credits for prior learning has been practiced in the United States. For instance, the American Council on Education's Credit Recommendation Service (CREDIT), the largest national program making credit recommendations for workplace and other training, has been providing college credits for prior learning since 1974. A number of colleges that specialize in the practice, including, Excelsior and Empire State in New York, Thomas Edison in New Jersey, and Charter Oak in Connecticut, have been operating since the early 1970s.

In today's technologically advanced society, PLAs have been considered as important pathways that may be integrated in open courseware and open learning, as well as into existing frameworks of accreditation and assessment. Thus, obtaining a college degree has become more affordable and accessible to increasing numbers of people. It must be emphasized that there are two fundamental truths about people seeking college credits. First, not all students start and finish at the same college; and second, significant learning can occur outside of the traditional classroom. A relatively recent development in the earning of college credits is for individuals to enroll in online colleges and universities.

Research Problem

However, not much is known about the benefits that students seeking college credits derive from online education. Numerous studies have been conducted on students seeking college credits and individuals seeking education through online platforms, but there seems to be a dearth of information about the benefits that students seeking college credits derive from online education, particularly those benefits pertaining to research. Against this backdrop, the proposed study seeks to fill this gap in literature by undertaking such a study.

Scope of the Problem

Specifically, the proposed study seeks to address these research questions:

1. What research-based benefits can students seeking college credits obtain from online education?

2. What are the possible barriers to the attainment of these benefits?

The scope of the study will cover only secondary research, through the use of databases such as EBSCOhost, ProQuest, SAGE and ERIC.

Significance of the Problem

The phenomenon the proposed study seeks to investigate is highly important. Only 15% of students who start their higher education at a community college complete their degree within three years. Moreover, only 57% of those who start at a four-year college complete their education within six years. Roughly 65% percent of postsecondary learning, in terms of spending, does not occur through colleges and universities but through workplace and other training, including, learning enabled by digital media and online platforms. In light of these, it is anticipated that the proposed study will provide insight to students who are seeking college credits through online education, education policymakers, administrators at colleges and universities, educators, libraries and curriculum designers.

Literature Search Criteria

Inclusion criteria that will be used for the study are (i) published in the English language; (ii) qualitative, quantitative or theoretical in approach; (iii) published in peer-reviewed journals; and (iv) focused on research-based advantages of online education for students taking college credits. Exclusion criteria for the study are (i) full-text article had not been translated to English; (ii) older than 2007 except for seminal works; and (iii) studies that involved unethical practices such as the use of human subjects for experimentation. Cross-referencing and searching from other peer-reviewed publications will be conducted in order to acquire more articles pertaining to the topic being investigated. However, cross-referenced articles will only be used to provide further information and support to the main studies.

References

Brigham, C., & Klein-Collins, R. Going Online to Make Learning Count.

International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 12(1), 111-115.

Carnevale, A. P., Smith, N., & Strohl, J. Help wanted: Projections of jobs and education requirements through 2018. Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce.

Kamenetz, A. The Transformation of Higher Education through Prior Learning Assessment. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 43(5), 7-13.

Rodriguez, C. MOOCs and the AI-Stanford Like Courses: Two Successful and Distinct Course Formats for Massive Open Online Courses. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning, 1-13.