Digital Adoption: University of Phoenix Embraces Digital Technology Beginning in 1990s

Library

University of Phoenix has a rich history of being an early adopter of new models for providing education to working learners. In 1989, for example, the University was among the first to establish an online campus. By the mid-1990s, the University began to implement digital library resources primarily out of necessity, recalls David Bickford, vice president of instructional materials and technologies. As the University began to expand its reach virtually, it needed a way to provide students with access to the same materials, regardless of where students were located or how they were taking classes. 

Technology―and specifically the Internet―made it possible to create an online library by the mid-1990s. The University approached service providers about developing a web-based product that it could test as a beta customer. In 1995, the online library debuted, providing all students with access to the library’s collection 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with an Internet connection. Though it is quite common for colleges and universities to have an online library today, this was not the case in the mid-1990s. “We just embraced it without hesitation very early,” Bickford says.

Digital textbooks

Similarly, a few years after the online library debuted, the University began to experiment with digital textbooks. Again, necessity helped to push adoption. In 1997, enrollment at University of Phoenix surpassed all other private universities in the U.S. and grew to 100,000 students in 2002.⁴  With a widely dispersed student population of online and in-class learners, the logistics of distributing textbooks had become increasingly burdensome, Bickford notes. In 2001-02, the University began to pursue several different platforms to deliver textbooks electronically. Changing to a new model was not without challenges, however. According to Bickford, a few platforms tested did not work and there were some challenging negotiations with publishers about putting material online. In addition, the University wanted to ensure that digital textbooks would provide not only convenience, but a cost savings to both the institution and students. 

By 2003, enrollment had grown to 200,000 students in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada. In addition, the University had ironed out many of the kinks associated with introducing digital textbooks into the curriculum. The University also established a model that used digital textbooks whenever feasible and offered books at a consistent, predictable per-course fee. This model provides several advantages, according to Bickford. First, it helps students’ budgeting by avoiding the peaks and valleys typically associated with textbook fees that vary from term to term. Second, as the University has a centrally-managed curriculum system, it is able to use its considerable buying power to leverage widespread adoption of digital textbooks and negotiate better prices for students than they would pay for traditional textbooks.

eLearning materials

The initial success of digital textbooks helped to spur the adoption of other digital resources for curriculum purposes. While much course content at University of Phoenix had historically been text-based, Bickford says there are situations in which multimedia content is more effective or a better alternative for a portion of the student population. To better serve all students, the University developed rEsource, a platform to deliver electronic course materials and services. The two primary eLearning materials that supplement textbooks are: electronic simulations and virtual organizations. Electronic simulations offer a multimedia approach to illustrating coursework for testing hypotheses and assessing results, while virtual organizations are fictitious organizations populated with a wealth of realistic data to simulate problems. For example, the following simulation demonstrates how changes in selling price, costs and volume of activity affect the bottom line for a fictional company, Aunt Connie’s Cookies.

Prior to the development of these eLearning resources, the University had historically asked students to marry coursework with work experience by bringing real-life examples from their workplaces into the classroom. Following Sept. 11, 2001, however, “this approach was beginning to present complications,” Bickford recalls. Companies had become increasingly security-conscious and, as a result, working learners either did not have access to information or companies would not disclose it to students with lower-level positions. In an effort to make assignments more meaningful, the University created a set of virtual organizations to encompass industries of all types so that students could still solve problems with realistic data. Rather than relying on students to ask employers for sensitive information, Bickford says, University leaders decided to create a virtual environment that simulated organizations with various data sets. As of May 2009, virtual organizations were utilized in more than 500 courses, and simulations received more than 80,000 unique visits per month for the period of January–March 2009 (see Figure 1). Electronic portfolios, which allow students to collect coursework and integrate learning with text and multimedia, are another resource available to students in 183 courses.

Digital Reality: How the University of Phoenix Library and Digital Textbooks Have Matured

Library

Nearly 15 years after the online library debuted, the collection has grown to include a vast array of scholarly and professional research materials. The library is accessible via the eCampus portal and requires no additional authentication. As of September 2009, the collection includes 36,991 unique full-text journals, 28,537 unique eBooks, 114 licensed databases and 20 million articles.^5,6  Materials in the library’s collection are well-utilized by students and some services are even available to alumni. For the six-month period of February–July 2009, the library averaged 5 million document downloads per month (see Figure 2).⁷

Since University of Phoenix began offering doctorate degrees in 1999, it has published 646 dissertations.⁸  University of Phoenix is among only 11% of all U.S. academic libraries that produced electronic theses and dissertations in FY 2006.⁹  In the first nine months of 2009, University of Phoenix doctoral candidates produced 188 dissertations.¹⁰

The University of Phoenix library is staffed by nine full-time and six part-time employees and, of the 15-person staff, nine employees are professional librarians.¹¹  The library staff operates “Ask a Librarian,” a free, daily service to assist students with research inquiries. Multiple librarians spend 190 hours weekly in direct contact with students assisting with “Ask a Librarian” inquiries.¹²  The library fielded 12,435 “Ask a Librarian” requests for the 6-month period of February–July 2009, with an average turnaround time of 3.46 hours (see Figures 3 and 4).¹³  The University is among 72% of all U.S. academic libraries that reported providing library reference service by email or web in FY 2006.¹⁴

The library’s focus on service is reflected in its commitment to identifying and providing the best resources to support academic programs, notes director P.J. Purchase. Despite the library’s extensive holdings, if a student identifies a necessary document not currently in the collection, the library will procure the document at no cost. In July 2009, the library procured 869 documents by request, with an average turnaround time of 2.68 days (see Figures 5 and 6).¹⁵

In addition to providing materials and assistance for research, the library oversees electronic reserve reading pages for courses. Whereas other institutions may set out resources for a specified number of students to use at a particular time, Purchase says, thousands of University of Phoenix students may access the same reserved reading pages simultaneously. As of July 2009, there were 1,791 courses with electronic reserve readings, all of which are accessible through the student portal.¹⁶  Because of the broad services the library provides to students, faculty, and even some alumni, it acts as a “mega library,” Purchase notes. “Providing direct access to research material no matter the modality, the location, or time is really our focus.” 

Digital textbooks

Like the library, the digital textbook program has grown in scope since University of Phoenix adopted it nearly a decade ago. As of May 2009, 90% of courses were using 1,250 digital textbooks and reference materials as part of the curriculum.¹⁷  Digital textbooks are available to all online and on-campus students, with a flat, per-course fee that is assessed each term. As a result of this cost structure, digital textbooks provide a significant value to students, according to a 2009 study by the University’s Academic Affairs department. For example, a bachelor’s student in business administration saves nearly $3,400 using digital textbooks purchased through the University’s resource fee versus purchasing textbooks a la carte (see Figure 7).¹⁸

In addition to considerable cost savings to students, the University’s adoption of digital textbooks has also helped to encourage publishers to deliver content electronically. Two characteristics of University of Phoenix―its large enrollment and its centrally-managed curriculum system―create significant buying power, resulting in cost savings to the University and students, according to Bickford. These features provide a compelling incentive to suppliers to take risks with adopting different pricing models, distribution models, and licensing terms. The University is better suited to negotiate the best possible price than smaller institutions because a textbook for any given course could be used by as many as 50,000 students. “When you deliver that type of volume to a content provider, it becomes pretty compelling,” Bickford says.

Digital Revolution: The Future of Digital Resources at University of Phoenix

University of Phoenix has demonstrated its willingness to adopt new digital technologies earlier than many of its peers, but more change is on the way. One dilemma that is not unique―or new―to the University is user expectations for accessing information from the library’s collection. “People get confused about convenience and easiness,” Bickford notes. While ubiquitous Internet access has made research more immediately and conveniently available, retrieving the best content is not necessarily easy. Some librarians want to teach students to think more like librarians when it comes to accessing research, but Bickford and Purchase believe that search tools also need to be more receptive to how people think. 

In response to student desire for a more “Google-like” search experience, the University is looking to expand its current search capability, according to Purchase. The University currently utilizes a federated search, which is the simultaneous live search of multiple databases or platforms to access research material. There are time and technical limitations to this search method, and therefore it is not the optimal solution for students, Purchase notes. Instead, the University is exploring the possibility of integrating indexed search capabilities. This process creates an index of library content and alleviates the need for a live search, which Purchase says increases the speed of searching and exposes more rich content to the student.

Looking forward, Purchase says the library is exploring the use of newer technologies, such as social networking, which will provide a virtual space for students and librarians to exchange information. Social tagging or ranking could be used to allow students to rate or recommend particular research found to be useful. In addition to traditional email services, a chat feature will allow librarians to assist students with research needs with immediacy. Once implemented, the chat feature would mark the first synchronous technology used in the library. Finally, the library is exploring alternative sources for the document delivery service which could reduce the turnaround time for ad hoc document procurement to hours, instead of days. Purchase recognizes that the University’s students are busy multitasking learners and says the library is constantly looking for efficiencies to provide students with high quality research materials quickly, thus meeting the “Google” expectations of Internet users.

Similarly, University of Phoenix is exploring ways to use other technologies to deliver digital content and enhance the student learning experience. In the past, Bickford says the University tended to assume a Microsoft® Windows-compatible personal computer was the main device used for viewing course content. Now, the University is striving to be as device and platform-agnostic as possible, he says. The University is also exploring how to provide content on mobile devices in a manner that will be useful for students, while recognizing the limitations of such technology.

Technological advances provide additional opportunities to serve a growing population of working learners. As the University has demonstrated in the past, it is up for the challenge of adopting new technology so that it may provide consistently high-quality services to cost-conscious students. And unlike other institutions that offer both online and on-campus learning, Bickford is confident that University of Phoenix will continue to push digital resources as aggressively as possible. Unlike other institutions, the University provides consistently high-quality and affordable resources to students without differentiating between online and on-campus students. “We’ve tried from the beginning to offer the same suite of materials in the same way to all students,” Bickford says.

1 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). July 2005. College Textbooks: Enhanced Offerings Appear to Drive Recent Price Increases. GAO-05-806.
2 Young, Jeffrey R. This Could Be the Year of E-Textbooks, if Students Accept Them. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Sept. 7, 2009.
3 The Voice of America (VOA) News. Going Digital: The Future of College Textbooks? Transcript of radio broadcast from Sept. 3, 2009.
4 About University of Phoenix – History: Legacy of Innovation.
5 University of Phoenix Library, September 2009.
6 University of Phoenix Institutional Snapshot, June 2009.
7 University of Phoenix Library, September 2009.
8 University of Phoenix Library, September 2009.
9 U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Academic Libraries Survey (ALS). 2006.
10 University of Phoenix Library, September 2009.
11 University of Phoenix Library, September 2009.
12 University of Phoenix Library, September 2009.
13 University of Phoenix Library, September 2009.
14 U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Academic Libraries Survey (ALS). 2006.
15 University of Phoenix Library, September 2009.
16 University of Phoenix Library, September 2009.
17 University of Phoenix Institutional Snapshot, June 2009.
18 University of Phoenix Academic Affairs, 2009.