Arizona State University (ASU) has gone from a big state school to a digital leader. US News & World Report agrees. Early on, ASU President Michael Crow realized that the only way to educate more students better and for less was to go digital. His goal was create an inclusive, not an exclusive, school.
ASU Online's staff of 100 includes 25 instructional designers who help professors produce appealing, web-ready classes. Gone are traditional lectures. Instead, the site favors an interactive approach.
From Online to On Campus
Chief Academic Technology Officer Adrian Sannier estimates that 25% of ASU classes are flipped classes. Another innovation is eAdvisor, an online personalized advising service created in 2007. Thanks to this tool, the four-year graduation rate has reached 50%, up 20 points since 2002. There are also 70,000 students on campus today, a 43% increase over ten years ago.
Adapting for Success
ASU has also become the U.S. leader in adaptive learning. To develop this approach, the school has signed partnerships with key companies such as Knewton, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Smart Sparrow and Acrobatiq and secured funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. ASU only has a few adaptive learning courses but has plans to expand.
Sannier observes, "It's very effective for people who struggle with math. The math exam pass rate has gone from 25% to 70%." Dean Philip Regier notes, "We're testing it out for economics, chemistry and biology. It's just getting started."
A First for Freshmen
In September, ASU and EdX launched the Global Freshman Academy (GFA) to much media fanfare. Anyone can complete the eight GFA MOOCs to earn freshman year credit that is accepted at ASU and other schools. This is a first in the U.S. The MOOCs are free but students pay roughly $6,000 – half of ASU Online's annual tuition – to obtain the credits. The fees are then split between EdX and ASU.
The first GFA class was a hit. 13,000 students signed up. 500 took the exam and 200 paid to receive credit after passing the exam. Regier is convinced of the model's potential. "We plan to grow very fast."
