PulsePoint Group Study Points To Evolution Of Hybrid Model For Higher Education

AUSTIN, Texas, June 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the first comprehensive studies to broadly examine student and public opinions about online learning indicates that while interest will continue to grow and must not be ignored by universities, predictions of the demise of traditional four-year schools are overblown.

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The report is based on a survey conducted by the management and higher-ed consulting firm PulsePoint Group, in which respondents showed a marked preference for a more traditional face-to-face experience, both for its educational value and for such intangibles as networking, socializing, and the intellectual benefits of personal interaction.

But they also showed a strong recognition of the potential for online courses to fill specific needs: for people who don't have the time for the more traditional experience, who are too far from the institution they would like to attend, or for other, largely practical, reasons.

Praise From University Presidents

The report was welcomed by educational leaders, including Rodney A. Erickson, president of Penn State University, whose World Campus is one of the largest online efforts in higher education, and Emory University President James W. Wagner. [For the full quotes of each president, click here.]

PulsePoint Principal Debbie Godfrey likened the hybrid model to the "dot-com" boom of a decade ago, when many "pure play" Internet firms gave way to "click and mortar" companies that combined the virtues of online commerce with a physical presence. "Successful universities will be those with strong brands and strong offerings that find the right balance in combining the two approaches," she said.

Key Findings

Key findings of the report include:

• The main perceived benefit for online education over on-campus education is not price – it is practicality.
• Online education is perceived as more relevant to improving specific skills or taking specific courses than to obtaining a degree.
• Certain kinds of courses – those less dependent on personal interaction – may prove better suited to the online experience than others, and that courses that combine both online and in-person elements may be the most successful.
• As a group, respondents were only moderately interested in taking online courses in the next three years and tended not to predict they would become more popular. But roughly a tenth expressed a much greater interest, and these tended to be the respondents who had Master's and Doctorate degrees.
• Young people are expected to become major influencers of their parents and other adults. Nearly 90 percent of the respondents' children who are 14+ years old have taken an online course.
• The market is extremely price sensitive. Interest is high in free courses, but price resistance rises quickly and steeply; over 60 percent wouldn't pay $500 for an online course and nearly 80 percent say they wouldn't pay $1,000. This may reflect online's continuing status as the "second best" choice of most people, and heightened price sensitivity on the part of the people for whom its appeal is greatest.
• Reputation and "brand" remain critical in respondents' interest and willingness to pay. Strong brands will give the best institutions an edge online, but exploiting that edge in a mass market risks diluting the brand.
• There is strong support for the idea that public universities should offer online courses as a matter of public policy.

Methodology

The survey was taken of a nationwide sample of 1,500 people during May 2013. Respondents' ages ranged from 16 to 69, with an equal number of men and women. Incomes ranged from $30,000 to over $250,000 per year, and education levels ranged from high school to post-doctorate.

About PulsePoint Group

PulsePoint Group is a management consulting company focused on marketing and communications with an expertise in social and digital media. Its services combine empirical research on the benefits of "the engaged enterprise" with deep experience counseling Fortune 100 corporations and some of the world's leading educational institutions, including Stanford University, Penn State University, the University of Utah, the University of Texas, the Pac-12 Conference, and the Big East Conference.  For more information, go to www.pulsepointgroup.com.

SOURCE PulsePoint Group