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Think of the last time you learned something online. Whether you took a required course for a degree or professional development, or you explored topics such as creative arts or finance for fun, you were taking part in our now-ubiquitous option to study almost anything from the comfort of home.

At the Association of American Colleges & Universities Annual Meeting, Dr. Cynthia Kosso (the provost at Moravian College) and I gave a presentation titled “Building Online Capacity at a Liberal Arts College.” In this post I will share some quotes from the 60-minute presentation — giving  you the real-world perspective of a liberal arts college that has successfully embarked on the journey to online learning. 

Since 1742 Moravian College has had a history of providing access to underserved students. It was the first school to educate women and the first to educate Native Americans in their own language. As times have changed, so has the college. A men’s college (a seminary) was added in 1807, and in the 1950s the two colleges merged to become coeducational. Then, as the new millennium progressed (and in keeping with its mission of access), Moravian College faced the need to transition into the digital age. 

As we enter 2019, many institutions that have tiptoed around the digital landscape are coming to grips with the realization that online learning is almost certainly in their future, one way or another. One driver is declining overall enrollments; the latest statistics show a drop of 90,000 students — or a half of a percentage point — during 2017, the most recent period for which we have data. At the same time, enrollments in online learning increased by 350,000, or 5.7%.

Student enrollments in online learning continue to increase but are very concentrated in public institutions and large private universities. Left out in the cold — and seemingly content to remain there — are the smaller private institutions.