Online Occupational Education in Community Colleges: Prevalence and Contextual Factors.

Discrimination: Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states: " No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. " Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972 states: " No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. " Therefore, the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education project, like every program or activity receiving financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Education, must be operated in compliance with these laws. Executive Summary This study examined the current state of online occupational programs in community colleges and explored issues related to institutional, economic, and social indicators that influence (a) the offering of online programs and (b) the programmatic connection to workforce development needs. This project is the first national study that categorizes and inventories specific types of online occupational programs in community colleges. The study included a national random sample of 321 institutions in the United States. Data were collected through institutional websites, statewide websites, follow-up emails, and phone inquiries to institutions. The following sections summarize key findings. Among sampled institutions with data available (n = 301), 47.5% offered credit-granting online occupational programs. We defined online occupational programs as limited to programs that the institutions identified as being online, with 50% or more of course content available through online communication technologies. Although 47.5% of institutions offer online occupational programs, previous NRCCTE research found that 76.3% of institutions offer credit-granting occupational courses (Johnson et al., 2003). This finding suggests a need for institutions to build and promote online programs in order to create increased accessibility for students searching for cohesive sequences of online courses. Most online occupational programs were in subjects that are more easily taught online. In the sample, 43.6% of all online occupational programs were part of the Business Management/Administration and Marketing fields. Although programs were available in skill-based fields like Health Science, most such programs were in areas such as Health Informatics, which are more easily taught online. Previous NRCCTE research found that courses in skill-based fields like Veterinary Technology and Funeral Service Education can …