Driving Innovation With For-Profit Adult Higher Education Online Institutions

This book focuses on teaching and learning in distance learning virtual universities. The emergence of distance learning virtual universities has provided increased opportunities for adult learners to obtain higher education degrees in a remote teaching-learning environment. During the pandemic, for-profit online learning institutions experienced increases in enrollment while face-to-face institutions experienced decreasing enrollments. Increasing learner enrollments, increasing numbers of courses delivered, and an increasingly competitive environment forces influence how higher education institutions will respond to the anticipated growth in distance learning. Higher education accreditation bodies have legitimized distance learning virtual universities as sites for adult learners, especially part-time adult learners, and made distance education an accepted way to receive a higher education degree. Virtual universities are challenging the supremacy of the land-based university as the only legitimate form of educational delivery. However, little has been published concerning how virtual universities have addressed access, availability, quality, retention, and better life opportunities. As the educational marketplace becomes predominately adult-dominated and higher education institutions compete for adult enrollment, understanding how virtual distance learning institutions are changing the higher education landscape will be an increasingly important issue. This book explores, describes, and questions the role of these institutions in the higher education landscape. Can for-profit education (education as a commodity) also be high quality and serve a societal function of providing adult learners access and opportunity? When critiquing the value and place of the for-profit university, one must ask, is the concern for the profit motive justified, or is it a move by traditional universities to reduce the influence of the virtual university? For-profit distance learning institutions were initially developed to provide access to higher education for adult learners who may experience barriers to attending a traditional university and, as such, tend to address better the needs of working adult learners. These institutions provided increased accessibility and availability for learners who may not otherwise pursue higher education. It is also important to note that distance education is not exclusive to for-profit universities. However, little is known about how learners learn and how teachers teach in these institutions. While sometimes neglected in publications and research, these institutions have been and continue to be disruptive while driving innovations in distance education.