Institutional perspectives for online learning: Policy and return-on-investment

Abstract

An analysis will be presented about why, at the institutional level and in particular at the university level, online learning is being introduced. This will be done in the context of a general design approach to steer innovation in education. Costs and financial-benefit issues will be explored, including costing models, measurement of productivity increases and return-oninvestment. Although the article focuses on the university context, it can be predicted that similar issues will soon confront secondary schools. © 2001 by Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.