CAN E-LEARNING IMPROVE THE COST AND EFFICACY OF REMEDIAL EDUCATION?

Remedial or developmental courses provide a corrective outlet that remedies educational disparities experienced throughout primary schooling and secondary education by developing the competencies needed to complete college-level work, particularly in mathematics, English, and foreign language. Analysis by the U.S. Department of Education shows 78% of all American higher education institutions offer remedial courses. Over 20% of all entering students enroll in one or more remedial classes. Twenty-four percent are admitted into at least one remedial mathematics course. 17% take at least one writing course; 13% enroll in at least one reading course. Many critics find that remediation programs are too expensive to fund at the taxpayers’ expense and do not improve scholastic aptitude. Funding estimates are as high as $2 billion a year. The Higher Education Act of 1985 specifies the amount of federal aid designated for funding remedial activities yet it does not mandate how programs should be provided. This article examines e-learning paradigms that could increase the efficacy of remediation programs while reducing the cost to the university system. First, the most promising e-learning techniques are reviewed: lecture-capture technology and Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs), programs that enable students to acquire, store, and retain targeted instructional material for ongoing competency-based development. The paper concludes by describing the import/export model. This method creates large-scale virtual campuses at little to no cost to the student while reducing university labor and administrative costs.