Dawn Davis, Portland Community College
ed2go: What do you feel are the major benefits of offering ed2go online courses?
Davis: There are so many, but I think the greatest is accessibility combined with quality. About 70% of our online students are women. Many have small children at home and simply cannot take an on-campus course. We also enroll a lot of people who want to upgrade their skills but need flexible schedules. Finally, I think that a growing number of our online students are those for whom English isn’t their primary language. It’s often easier for them to absorb an online class because they understand the content better.
ed2go: How satisfied are your students with the ed2go courses and instructors?
Davis: Overall, they’re very satisfied. I know that because we have so many repeaters – not taking the same class again, but taking multiple classes. Many people can’t believe how affordable the classes are, and they’re so thrilled that they’ll get this kind of instruction. They’re pleasantly surprised at the depth and how much they come away with. That’s why they keep coming back.
ed2go: How do you present your ed2go online program to students in your community?
Davis: We have our own Web site that presents the entire ed2go menu. We also send out a printed catalog of about 90 pages (with about a third of those pages devoted to ed2go) to 360,000 homes in the Portland area. We’ve had an incredible response to that.
ed2go: What is the approximate size of your continuing education program?
Davis: Community Education served 41,400 students during the most recent fiscal year.
ed2go: How many of those were online students?
Davis: 3,700, or about 9% of our total enrollment. Last month (April 2005) we verified 624 students taking ed2go courses – a 117% increase over the same month last year.
ed2go: Is your ed2go online program allowing you to serve students you wouldn't otherwise be serving?
Davis: Absolutely. For example, we no longer offer classes on QuickBooks except in an online format. Taking an online class often gives people confidence that they can handle the technology and then they sign up for other classes.
ed2go: So you feel that your ed2go online program is helping you attract new students to your traditional on-campus offerings?
Davis: I think it actually goes both ways, but it definitely happens. Our surveys show that more than 70% of ed2go students are open to coming on campus and extending their learning.
ed2go: Overall, what's the greatest value of your relationship with ed2go?
Davis: I have such a high level of confidence that the product is going to be high quality, that the students will be satisfied. And when I have questions, it’s wonderful to be able to contact the ed2go staff on a daily basis and get such quick and cheerful responses. I never feel that it’s inappropriate for me to ask them any questions.
Donna Burns, University of Cincinnati
ed2go: What do you feel are the major benefits of offering ed2go online courses?
Burns: ed2go gives us a low-risk, high quality way of delivering a large number of new topics in a cutting-edge format to our audience...with ed2go, whether we have one student or twenty signed up, we know the class will be there and that the quality of the teaching will be high.
ed2go: You mentioned quality. How satisfied are your students with the ed2go courses and instructors?
Burns: Judging by the evaluation ratings, the compliments in the evaluation comments section, and the number of students who mention they are looking forward to taking more online classes with us, I would say the satisfaction rate overall is excellent.
ed2go: How do you present your ed2go online program to students in your community?
Burns: I give ed2go three out of each quarterly catalog's 32 pages. Their section is called 'Online Classes,' and there's a Web address that allows a student to access additional courses. ed2go designed the Web site and maintains it, even though it looks like it belongs to us.
ed2go: What is the approximate size of your continuing education program?
Burns: We offer about 125 classes per quarter and in 2004 we served more than 4000 students.
ed2go: How many of those were online students?
Burns: 424, just a little more than ten percent. All of our online students enroll in courses offered by ed2go.
ed2go: Is your ed2go online program allowing you to serve students you wouldn't otherwise be serving?
Burns: Certainly. We’ve had students enroll from as far away as Japan and India. But mainly I feel that online learning just suits a certain kind of person who values the convenience and can’t or won’t fit classes into a fixed location, fixed-time plan.
ed2go: Overall, what's the greatest value of your relationship with ed2go?
Burns: There are several—the positive PR the classes create, the excitement of being able to offer our students a cutting-edge, alternative delivery of education, and offering something that is both high in quality and high in convenience, too. Working with ed2go enhances our standing with students and the community.
Patty Brennan, Cuyahoga Community College
ed2go: What do you feel are the major benefits of offering ed2go online courses?
Brennan: Convenience for students and the quality of the courses. Getting in contact with the instructors is seamless, and many students are surprised how far ed2go instructors will go to help them out. Price is another big plus. The fact that ed2go has been able to keep prices low is a big positive.
ed2go: How satisfied are your students with the ed2go courses?
Brennan: A lot of students tell us how much they enjoy the ed2go courses. They may take some other online classes but they come back to ed2go because of the clear course development and no-hassle course delivery.
ed2go: How do you present your ed2go online program to students in your community?
Brennan: We mail schedule books to students’ homes, have an online catalog/schedule book, and use e-marketing campaigns. We’re often able to upsell past students into new courses. What’s nice about the ed2go Web site is the ability to see upcoming classes, so if I see a course that I think will work for a particular student, I’ll contact them and tell them it’s going to be available. I may have had the student on a list for more than a year, but when I call them there’s no hesitation.
ed2go: What is the approximate size of your program?
Brennan: In the Fall of 2004, there were 8,068 students in all of our continuing education programs. About 230 of those were online students, and 98% of those took ed2go classes.
ed2go: Is your ed2go online program allowing you to serve students you wouldn't otherwise be serving?
Brennan: Most of our students are adults, but I’ve had home-schooled 8th graders take Introduction to Algebra because their parents weren’t prepared to teach them the subject. We’ve had lots of high school students enroll, as well. Online appeals to an audience that may not be available for traditional classroom instruction, and if we have an instructor-led class that cancels on campus, we automatically let the students enrolled know about the online alternative because we don’t want to lose them.
ed2go: Do you feel that your ed2go online program is helping you attract new students to your traditional on-campus offerings?
Brennan: Yes, we have actually seen that students may take an introductory course online and then go on to an instructor led class that’s more advanced. For example, some of our students have taken general courses about small business and then they want to find out how things work specifically in Ohio. So the ed2go courses have really been a great steppingstone.
ed2go: Overall, what's the greatest value of your relationship with ed2go?
Brennan: The turnaround on new course offerings, and the fact that they keep up with popular trends are both great assets. For instance, ed2go brought on many classes about diet and wellness, for which there’s a huge interest. ed2go courses are interesting and affordable and varied. And the employees of ed2go are fantastic. If I call with a question, I don’t have to wait a week for an answer. It’s like we’re a partner, not just a customer.
Shannon Crupi, Kennesaw State University
ed2go: What do you feel are the major benefits of offering ed2go online courses?
Crupi: For certain subjects, ed2go is the ideal solution. There are many times a single student, or just two or three, might want to take a certain course in a specific time period. In a traditional classroom environment, we’d have to have enough students interested to cover the instructor’s fee and other costs. But with ed2go, we simply pay a per-student fee. Even if you have just one student, they’re not going to miss out. Plus, ed2go is easy to deal with administratively. The ed2go systems make it easy to find out who has paid, who has completed the coursework, and who should get certificates.
ed2go: How satisfied are your students with the ed2go courses and instructors?
Crupi: I think on the whole the students are satisfied – we get a lot of positive comments. A lot of them have never taken an online course before and they find ed2go very easy to deal with. It’s not hard for them to figure out what they’re supposed to do and how to do their lessons. The ed2go writing instructor is very popular and we have students that come back again and again because they want more classes with her.
ed2go: How do you present your ed2go online program to students in your community?
Crupi: We put out a quarterly catalog listing all our courses, along with ed2go’s, that reaches about 125,000 people. We use e-mail marketing to reach former students, as well. We also have a link on the University’s home page to our Continuing Education page, where you’ll find a link to online classes right at the top. We also promote to businesses in the area.
ed2go: What is the approximate size of your continuing education program?
Crupi: We serve about 23,000 people a year.
ed2go: How many of those were online students?
Crupi: About 1,800.
ed2go: Is your ed2go online program allowing you to serve students you wouldn't otherwise be serving?
Crupi: Yes, absolutely. We’ve enrolled students from California, Texas, Wisconsin, Michigan, England, Africa and Belgium. The person in Belgium was overseas with her husband while he was in the service. She had been a teacher in Georgia, wanted to keep her teaching certification current and used online classes to do it. So she was able to get what she needed with minimum fuss and keep her teaching certificate from expiring.
ed2go: Do you feel that your ed2go online program is helping you attract new students to your traditional on-campus offerings?
Crupi: I haven’t done a formal evaluation yet. My anecdotal experience tells me that a lot of the students coming in through ed2go stay on line, either because they like the convenience or because they are too far away.
ed2go: Overall, what's the greatest value of your relationship with ed2go?
Crupi: The biggest benefit is that we can fill niches in our course offerings that we couldn’t afford to do in a classroom setting on a regular basis. ed2go draws students to us who probably wouldn’t enroll here otherwise and as far as the overall program goes, there’s nothing I can think of to improve on.
Catherine Luzier, Macomb College
ed2go: What do you feel are the major benefits of offering ed2go online courses?
Luzier: I can’t say enough about the relationship we have had with ed2go. Working with ed2go is easy - both for the students and for me. The ed2go Web site is extremely user friendly. It generally has everything I need, but if I have any questions I call and the response time is very good.
ed2go: How satisfied are your students with the ed2go courses and instructors?
Luzier: Our students are very satisfied. I know most of them are happy because of two programs I have instituted myself. First, I have a lot of personal contact with teachers who take ed2go classes to keep their certifications current. Second, I have direct contact with a couple of the UAW corporations in both Michigan and Ohio and the UAW reps tell me that their members are very happy with the courses.
ed2go: How do you present your ed2go online program to students in your community?
Luzier: Our ed2go courses are listed in a catalog that is sent out to the community every semester – summer, winter and fall. We also have a college Web site that lists the online classes. The Michigan Department of Education site lists the ed2go classes available for CEUs, and the UAW Web sites have a link to all the ed2go classes.
ed2go: What is the approximate size of your continuing education program?
Luzier: We serve more than 12,000 people a year.
ed2go: How many of those were online students?
Luzier: About 600, of whom 400 are enrolled in ed2go classes.
ed2go: Is your ed2go online program allowing you to serve students you wouldn't otherwise be serving?
Luzier: Absolutely. I have applied to the Michigan Department of Education and have 60 of the ed2go courses approved for State Board Continuing Education Units for teachers. Teachers can use these courses to earn the credits necessary to renew their teaching certificates. We have also worked with the UAW to have TAP and voucher funds accepted as payment for the ed2go courses, and the UAW has advertised our courses in both Michigan and Ohio.
ed2go: Overall, what's the greatest value of your relationship with ed2go?
Luzier: ed2go offers students a large variety of courses with a system that is quick and easy to use. It is also simple to track the students and assist them because of ed2go’s user-friendly Web site.
