From this article from Inside Higher Ed, “More Online Enrollments:”
More students than ever are taking courses online, but that doesn’t mean the growth will continue indefinitely. That’s the takeaway from the Sloan Foundation’s latest survey, conducted with the Babson Survey Research Group, of colleges’ online course offerings.
With results from nearly 4,500 institutions of all types, the report, “Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning�, found that in fall 2006, nearly 3.5 million students — or 19.8 percent of total postsecondary enrollments — took at least one course online. That’s a 9.7-percent increase over the previous year, but growth has been slowing significantly: last year, the jump was 36.5 percent.
But compared to the growth rate for enrollment overall (1.3 percent), the report notes, the online sector is still rapidly expanding. Most of that expansion is happening where online classes are already being offered.
I don’t really have time right now to read through the article in detail or the report its based on, but as someone who teaches online, I’m sure it’ll be useful later on.