Online Learning Trends and Highlights - Fall 2024
The following overview of online learning trends at NIU offers a glimpse into the current state of online learning and highlights a few of the current online learning trends as of Fall 2024.
Online Program Enrollment
Online program enrollment remains strong, with 1,245 students enrolled in NIU online programs in Fall 2024, up slightly from the enrollment of 1,162 in Fall 2023. Online program enrollment trends over the past seven years are provided below, along with online program enrollment by college and department in the Fall 2024 semester.
Enrollment by College
Enrollment by Department (Top 10)
Student Preferences for Online Courses
Online Course Enrollment
Considering student preferences for taking online courses and compare pre-pandemic vs. current enrollment and student credit hours in online courses, it’s clear that student demand for online courses remains strong. Looking at student enrollment in online courses, in Fall 2019 (pre-pandemic), 32% of NIU undergraduate students and 14% of NIU graduate students took at least one online course. In Fall 2024, 62% of NIU undergraduate students (7,040) and 19% of NIU graduate students (704) took at least one online course.
6 in 10 undergraduate students and 1 in 5 graduate students took at least one online course in Fall 2024
Percentage of NIU Students Taking At Least One Online Course
Program Format Preferences
NIU students still predominantly prefer in-person and hybrid programs to fully-online programs. In Fall 2024, only 7% of undergraduate students (817) and 30% of graduate students (1,113) graduate students took only online courses. This remains up from 3% of undergraduate students (414) and 16% of graduate students (666) pre-pandemic in Fall 2019.
Percentage of NIU Students Taking All Online Courses
Online Student Credit Hours
Similarly when looking at student credit hours (SCH) by mode of instruction, we continue to see a similar trend for students completing a higher percentage of credit hours through online courses as compared to pre-pandemic years. In Fall 2019 (pre-pandemic), 12.9% of all SCH were from online courses and 1.8% were from hybrid courses. In Fall 2024, 27.2% of SCH were from online courses and 4.1% were from hybrid courses.
Student Credit Hours (SCH) by Term and Instruction Mode
Faculty Teaching Online Courses
As expected when looking at faculty teaching online courses and comparing pre-pandemic offerings of online courses to current, we see a significant increase in the number of NIU faculty who are teaching online and hybrid courses. In Fall 2019 (pre-pandemic), 37 faculty taught hybrid courses and 237 faculty taught online courses, as compared to Fall 2024, in which 108 faculty taught hybrid courses and 400 faculty taught online courses.
Of all 1,151 faculty (including all categories of faculty and teaching staff) who taught during Fall 2024, 34.7% (400) taught at least one online course and 9.3% (108) taught at least one hybrid course.
1 in 3 faculty taught at least one online course and 1 in 11 faculty taught at least one hybrid course in Fall 2024
Faculty of Record by Course Mode of Instruction
Professional Development and Support for Online Teaching
Faculty who teach online courses continue to utilize available online teaching support at NIU. In reviewing faculty participation in professional development and support for online teaching, of the 400 faculty who taught at least one online course and the 108 faculty who taught at least one hybrid course during Fall 2024, 71.0% have received some type of individualized support for their online teaching, 51.4% have attended faculty online teaching workshop(s), and 24.4% have completed the Online Course Design Academy during the past five years.
Percentage of Faculty Teaching Online in Fall 2024 Who Received Individualized Support During the Past 5 Years
Percentage of Faculty Teaching Online in Fall 2024 Who Attended Online Teaching Workshop(s) During the Past 5 Years
Percentage of Faculty Teaching Online in Fall 2024 Who Completed Online Course Design Academy During the Past 5 Years
Recognition of Excellence in Online Teaching
Quality Essentials Course Review
With the launch in Fall 2022 of Quality Essentials Course Review for online courses, CITL provides faculty with additional feedback, course development partnership support, and recognition for courses that meet Quality Essentials Design Standards. We’ve thus far recognized 23 courses and look forward to that number of courses steadily growing in the coming year. We encourage faculty to use the Quality Essentials Review Tool to conduct a self-review of their courses and then submit for additional review and feedback by a CITL staff member.
Excellence in Online Teaching Award
The Excellence in Online Teaching Award (EOTA), established in 2021, encourages and honors outstanding online and hybrid teaching at NIU. It recognizes NIU faculty and instructors whose performance exemplifies a commitment to excellence in online teaching, course development and student engagement. Three faculty were recognized with this award in 2023.
2024 Award Winners
Therese Clarke Arado
College of Law
Susan Bowers
Family and Consumer Sciences
Nominations for the 2025 Excellence in Online Teaching Awards are due January 31st and are presented at the university faculty awards celebration in April. Find more nomination details.
Congratulations to all our faculty and teaching staff who were recognized for their online teaching excellence and commitment to student success!