An item from the folks at the Digital Learning Collaborative.  One of the things that John overlooks or fails to account for (or reference because it would run counter to his argument) is the inherent differences between adult learners and child/adolescents learners.

One example is travel.  Most K-12 students have some form of travel to and from schools (e.g., school bus or subsidized public transit passes), and even those that don’t have transportation provided live in somewhat proximity to their school (and most of these are exercising school choice options).  Adult learners on the other hand often live 30-90 minute drive to and from their the university they attend.  In addition to arranging and paying for their own travel, they often have to pay for parking at their institution as well.

Another example is non-education commitments.  Most K-12 students don’t work.  Those that are eligible to work (i.e., of legal age to do so), often only work part-time and during the evenings or weekends.  Depending on their age, even if they are legally able to work many are also legally required to attend school, so their work needs to be accommodated around the school schedule.  University students on the other hand are all legally able to work and, given the rising cost of tuition even at public institutions, need to work in order to be able to afford to attend university.  So anything that can make their studies more convenient and flexible to allow them to work to pay to go to school in the first place becomes a necessity (as opposed to a luxury).

Speaking of working and tuition, one of the reasons there is a higher proportion of working university students compared to working K-12 students is due to the reality that K-12 education is free, while post-secondary education is most certainly not.  Add to working the issue of family commitments – particularly for graduate students who make up significant portions of that IPEDs data.  Then there is the whole issue of the student’s ability to succeed in an online environment and the level of additional support and structure (i.e., cost) required at the K-12 level, compared to the university students who is more likely to possess those “adult learning skills” we hear so much about in K-12 online learning.

This kind of comparison that John is making is the same as comparing K-12 students who drive with university students who drive.  Sure there are only a very small percentage of K-12 students who drive compared to their university counterparts, but there is also a very good reason for that!

Actually, to be honest it is like comparing the number of elementary students who drive with university students who drive.  I’m sure there are some, its probably a really small percentage, and there are many very good reasons This isn’t a case of comparing apples to oranges, but more like a case of comparing apples to elephants to get folks behind the pre-determined position that apples are a better fruit than elephants.

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Post-secondary online learning outpaces K-12 BY JOHN WATSON In post-secondary institutions, during the 2021-22 school year (the most recent data available): “Overall, 33% of students in this period took only online courses, and a further 37% took a mix of online and face-to-face courses, totaling 70% of students taking at least some online courses.” This and other valuable data come from Phil Hill and his recent blog post looking at post-secondary online learning trends. The post has lots of additional valuable data that readers will find insightful. Now let’s put this in K-12 terms and touch on why these data points are important. The “33% of students in this period [who] took only online courses” is the post-secondary equivalent to the students in full-time online schools in K-12. Because there is no K-12 national source as good as IPEDS, we don’t know the number of students in all full-time online schools; we only know the number in schools that enroll students from across entire states. That number ranges from 0% in some states to a general high of around 3% in some states, with a possible outlier state at 4%. (We are gathering the latest data now and will release it in early 2024.) Nationally the number is between one and two percent. This number does not account for district online programs that are enrolling students from within district boundaries. We are aware of only a few states tracking this number, and it’s not clear if these states are nationally representative. But it seems reasonable to believe that the post-secondary full-time online number is at least two to three times higher than the K-12 number. The “further 37% [who] took a mix of online and face-to-face courses” is equivalent to the students taking teacher-led online courses while enrolled in a physical school. Again, in K-12 there isn’t a good data source for this number, but 37% is likely at least two to three times higher than the K-12 number. There is a lot more to be said about these numbers in comparison to K-12 data, which we will revisit in our 2024 Snapshot and at DLAC. The other valuable point about the post-secondary data is that students furthering their educations beyond high school are highly likely to be engaged in some form of online learning. The data from Phil Hill shows that the total percentage of students taking one or more online courses is 70% in the most recent data available–and this number is not likely to be highly inflated by the pandemic. In addition, note that these numbers are not touching on blended or hybrid schools or courses. Many post-secondary onsite classes and institutions are using technology at a level that would be considered the equivalent of highly innovative blended K-12 schools. Most students are choosing online schools and courses for reasons related to scheduling flexibility, being able to move at their own pace, and life circumstances such as health issues. We don’t often hear of students choosing an online option to be better prepared for college. That’s probably not a good enough reason to choose an online school, but it might be a good reason to consider an online course.

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