Nova Southeastern University: A Diffusion of Innovation Analysis of Distance Education Free

The purpose of this article is to examine the success of Nova Southeastern University’s early implementation of distance education through Rogers’ (2003) four main elements of diffusion of innovations. Rogers argued there are four elements involved in the diffusion of new ideas: innovation, communication, time, and the social system. He succinctly states that “diffusion is the process by which (1) an innovation (2) is communicated through certain channels (3) over time (4) among the members of a social system” (p. 11). These elements are identifiable in any diffusion process. In this particular case, distance education is the innovation we will examine within NSU’s history through Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory.

Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is inarguably a leader in distance education. Starting with the first doctoral distance education program in the country in 1971, NSU pioneered an era in distance education that very few could have imagined (Gibson & Herrera, 1999; Initial spark, n.d.; Mizell & Pina, 2014). However, to understand how NSU became a nationally recognized distance education university, we must first go back in time to the year 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik and the Space Race began. This unprecedented event in history essentially redefined the educational agenda of this nation, prioritizing science and technology. Shortly thereafter, President John F. Kennedy challenged the greatest academic minds in the country to make going to the moon a reality within a decade (Goldstein, 1989).

In response to the national agenda, with nothing more than a humble storefront office on Las Olas Boulevard, the university began its ambitious quest to become the “MIT of the South.” On December 4, 1964, Nova University of Advanced Technology was charted by the state of Florida. Almost 3 years later, on September 25, 1967, the first class of doctoral students started at the newly acquired Davie campus (Goldstein, 1989).

In 1970, Nova University of Advanced Technology entered into a federation with the New York Institute of Technology that would last 15 years. It also changed its name to simply Nova University. It was during this decade that NSU’s Abraham S. Fischler College of Education pioneered an era in field-based distance education that was truly revolutionary (Pleasants, 2013; Santilli & Beck, 2005). In 1971, under the new direction of university president, Abraham S. Fischler, the first doctoral distance education program in the country was launched, making NSU the “first fully accredited distance learning institution” (Mizell & Pina, 2014, p. 421). Finally, in 1995, in perhaps the most pivotal event in the university’s modern history, Nova University merged with Southeastern University of Health Sciences to officially become Nova Southeastern University (Pleasants, 2013).

According to Rogers (2003), an innovation is an idea or practice perceived as new. In 1971, when Fischler introduced the first doctoral distance education program, it certainly was the first of its kind. Fischler’s new ideas centered around student clusters, traveling faculty, renting classroom space across the country, and catering to students’ needs for evening and weekend programs (Goldstein, 1989). In essence, these alternative features to conventional instruction were precursors for the expansive and modern distance education program that NSU prides itself upon today.

There are five qualities that make up the most important characteristics of any innovation in assessing the rate of adoption. These qualities are relative advantage, compatibility , complexity, trialability, and observability . They are important to examine since, the greater individuals perceive relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, and observability to be within innovations, while having a lesser degree of complexity, the faster an innovation is likely to be adopted (Rogers, 2003).

For an innovation to be successfully diffused and adopted at the institutional level, there has to be a perceived relative advantage of the new innovation over current technologies in place (Rogers, 2003). From the very start of NSU’s first distance education program, the innovative cluster and field-based teaching practices were perceived as a step up from practices that only centered on residential cohorts, having a relative advantage over the latter. Cohort-based teaching was itself previously an innovative approach that NSU was an early advocate for in doctoral programs. The field-based distance education program launched in the early 1970s, which involved instructors flying country-wide to conduct classes, had relative advantage over teaching practices of the time, as it allowed both students and instructors a greater degree of flexibility in the learning experience (Goldstein, 1989).

Regardless of how innovative the existing framework was considered at the time, as forms of distance education at NSU began to evolve to fully online academic programs, relative advantage was still a factor, and it was rightly perceived at the time that there was a competitive advantage to NSU offering one of the first fully online undergraduate curriculum in the nation (Gibson & Herrera, 1999). The innovation itself, distance education, had a relative advantage over more traditional methods of lesson delivery, as it appealed to a marketable sector of the student population who preferred asynchronous methods of earning their degrees, thus helping to diffuse distance learning at the institutional level.

Compatibility is an essential reason why an innovation may or may not be adopted at the institutional level (Rogers, 2003). The diffusion of innovation of distance education programs within NSU was made possible due to its inherent compatibility to the existing framework that was already in place. Distance learning was a natural extension of the innovative cluster and cohort format that was already implemented within the university’s doctoral programs. Increasing the level of selfdirected learning required by the student was not incompatible to the level of independent study already exhibited by students who elected the cluster and cohort format. The compatibility of an innovation to the already existing systems in place cannot be overstated when it comes to the rapid diffusion of an innovation at the institutional level (Rogers, 2003). Due to its inherent compatibility with effective, more flexible lesson delivery methods already in place, distance learning was able to achieve a relatively rapid level of diffusion universitywide, as more academic programs saw the value of offering fully online options (Mizell & Pina, 2014).

In order for an innovation to achieve a faster adoption rate at the institutional level, it cannot be perceived as too complex or intimidating when it comes to implementation. As far as complexity, distance learning was not in and of itself a revolutionary concept at NSU when it was first introduced. The lower the complexity of a new innovation, the more rapidly that the innovation is likely to be adopted by an institution (Rogers, 2003). The university’s philosophy of student centered teaching is essentially the pedagogical foundation upon which the learning institution was built; therefore, a paradigm shift was not required to fully appreciate the notion of distance learning at the institutional level. From its humble beginnings, NSU has always focused on fulfilling the educational needs of working professionals, and the student population has always been comprised of nontraditional, more independent learners (Gibson & Herrera, 1999). Thus, the innovation of distance learning lacked complexity at the institutional level, making it all the easier for the university to adopt the innovation.

When it comes to trialability, in order for there to be widespread adoption of an innovation, there needs to be a way for the use of the innovation to be monitored and evaluated, so that lessons and best practices can be gleaned on how to implement the innovation at the institutional level (Rogers, 2003). NSU created a robust framework over the decades as various distance education programs within the institution built upon one another, serving as de facto learning trials and pilot studies. The field-based programs, which had instructors flying across the country to lecture in person, as well as rely on telephones for their lessons, yielded experiences and feedback which then informed the creation of the first set of fully online programs in 1983 (Kontos, 1995; Mizell & Pina, 2014). The 1980s and

1990s saw a rapid evolution of distance education programs within NSU and the Fischler College of Education specifically, as challenges were addressed and best practices were gathered in order to assess what would constitute more effective distance education within the university, culminating in the 1998 pilot program for the online bachelor of professional management program (Gibson & Herrera, 1999).

Finally, in order for an innovation to be successfully diffused within an institution, there must be a level of observability present. This means that there must be real, observable, measurable improvements and benefits as a result of adopting the innovation (Rogers, 2003). As distance education became more popular worldwide as a result of the age of personal computing and faster, cheaper Internet connections, the university was able to observe revenue increases within its hybrid and fully online distance education programs (Gibson & Herrera, 1999). It rapidly became evident to the university, at the institutional level, that adopting the innovation of distance education, and expanding their services in offering more options of degrees via this educational format, would provide observable profits, and would become essential to the université s business model.

According to Rogers (2003), the second element in the diffusion process is communication. Essentially, communication must take over for innovation to spread and ultimately become widely adopted. Although mass media, such as newspapers and television, can be the fastest means of communicating the existence of an innovation to an audience of potential adopters, they may not always be the most persuasive. Rogers (2003) argued that interpersonal channels appear to be at the heart of diffusion of innovation since the direct experiences of close peers seem to weigh the heaviest on the likelihood of potential adoption.

Interestingly for NSU, there was a paradoxical dynamic that took place in the early years of the distance education diffusion process. As the success of NSU’s nationwide distance education programs grew, in large part due to a market niche they had tapped into—the unconventional college student—their success gave way to negative national press coverage fueled by disgruntled colleges across the nation they were taking business from via their fieldbased programs (Goldstein, 1989).

From the student perspective, interpersonal channels of communication peer to peer were encouraging adoption of NSU’s distance education programs since enrollment continued to rise. However, mass media channels of communication were disseminating harmful accusations about NSU’s innovative educational practices that put the university in a litigation battle, fighting for its reputation. As a result, NSU spent more than a decade trying to dispel the bad press of being called a diploma mill college (Goldstein, 1989). Considering the relative skepticism that ensued until present regarding the legitimacy of distance education, it is easy to fathom the mainstream opposition to NSU’s distance education programs.

In the more formal channels of communication within the university’s social system, there was also a process of diffusion taking place among educators and administrators. The innovation of distance learning was championed by thought leaders such as Fischler—and Ray Ferraro a generation later—who were instrumental in communicating the benefits of implementing the innovation of distance learning, whether through formal or informal channels. Alongside a welcome positive change in prospective students’ and the media’s perspective on the legitimacy of distance learning as an innovation, educators began to see the value in the added flexibility of more asynchronous learning experiences that could be delivered via ever evolving technology. More importantly, serious thought, consideration, and research focus was given to how to improve the distance learning experience, with decades of practical insight into how to continue evolving this innovation (Dringus & Scigliano, 2000; Mizell & Pina, 2014).

The element of time is the third element involved in the diffusion of innovation. According to Rogers (2003), the innovation-decision process, the innovativeness of the unit of adoption, and the innovation’s rate of adoption, are all part of the time dimension. NSU’s distance education innovation-decision process first started with its adoption in 1971. Spearheaded by what we call today the Abraham S. Fischler College of Education, the successful implementation of cohort-based doctoral programs throughout the country established a persuasive favorability to continue with the adoption and expansion of innovative distance education programs. The confirmation of the innovation solidified through student interest and enrollment numbers led to further expansion of the innovation. In 1983, NSU was the first to launch the first two online doctoral programs in education—the EdD in information science and the EdD in computer education (Kontos, 1995; Mizell & Pina, 2014; Pleasant, 2013).

Considering the technological limitations and NSU’s financial challenges at the time, the rate of adoption was impressive during the first decade. After the first year of adoption, online master’s degrees for both programs were implemented, followed by an educational specialist degree in computer education. By the early 1990s, residential graduate programs at the Fischler College of Education began to introduce online distance education alternative programs and by the year 2000, NSU’s president Ray Ferrero began pushing the Fischler College of Education’s distance education initiatives throughout the entire university (Pleasants, 2013). In NSU’s strategic plans from 1999-2004, the commitment to advancing an education curriculum that supported and expanded online distance education was clearly delineated in their vision for the optimal learning environment (Dringus & Scigliano, 2000).

Now, with over 80 certified online programs available to prospective students, NSU continues to look to the future and how education will continue to evolve in both traditional and virtual settings. The university’s administration and faculty seem to operate under the understanding that in order for the university to remain competitive in the current state of higher education, online education must continue to be the main focus when it comes to educational content delivery (Portugal, 2006). The rapid adoption of this innovation over time resulted in fast enrollment growth at NSU, signaling the relative advantage of the innovation of distance learning to prospective students over more traditional options (Gibson, Tesone, & Blackwell, 2001).

According to Rogers (2003), the last element in the diffusion process is a social system. Since diffusion of innovation occurs within a social system, aspects of the structure have an influence on facilitating the diffusion process. Important variables within the social system are opinion leadership and type of innovation decision. Opinion leaders and their authority decisions generate the fastest rate of adoption in the diffusion of innovation. The diffusion of distance education within NSU’s social system was led by Fischler. Serving as president, he was the primary opinion leader in the implementation, adoption, and expansion of distance education within the university. Later, within the université^s social system, it was President Ferrero’s authority decision to adopt distance education throughout the university that solidified NSU’s current position as an exemplary leader in technology and distance education (Mizell & Pina, 2014; Pleasants, 2013).

The innovation of distance learning was disseminated throughout the social system of the university, with humble beginnings as professors conferred with President Fischler in an effort to implement the innovation. When Fischler initially approached the various deans of the university’s academic programs, they were resistant due to the perceived high cost of implementing distance learning (Mizell & Pina, 2014). With the university President’s full support—and his authority decision favoring the implementation of the innovation— distance learning began its evolution and diffusion throughout the social system, as more academic programs perceived the innovation to have value to students, educators, and the social system as a whole (Dringus & Scigliano, 2000).

There was a virtual domino effect within the university’s social system, as program after program began to see value in adding hybrid (face-to-face/online instruction), as well as fully online distance courses to their rosters (Mizell & Pina, 2014). Over time, as the innovation was diffused within the social system, NSU’s role as a pioneer and leader in both synchronous and asynchronous distance learning became widely apparent. With over 80 certified fully online programs, the diffusion of distance learning was successfully achieved within NSU’s social system.

This article examined NSU’s path to becoming a leader in distance education innovation through Rogers’ (2003) diffusion of innovations theory and its four main elements: the innovation itself, how it is communicated through certain channels, requiring a period of time, and shared between members of a social system. Today, NSU is the 10th largest independent university in the country and 83 of the university’s online programs have been certified by the Southern Regional Education Board’s Electronic Campus (Distance Education, n.d.). NSU is considered one of the nationwide leaders in distance education, proving that the innovation of distance learning was successfully diffused within the institution, and has had far-reaching effects on students, instructors, the organization, and the community.

From an institutional adoption perspective, the rapid diffusion and widespread implementation of the innovation of distance learning was made possible due to the innovation’s perceived compatibility with already existing educational formats, such as cohort and field-based programs, as well as providing a relative advantage over these lesson delivery methods. Due to the lack of perceived complexity of the new innovation, the trialability of the innovation after decades of building and improving on successful distance education programs, and the observability of profits as a result of implementing fully online programs, distance learning as an innovation achieved swift adoption at the institutional level at NSU.

As far as communication, the innovation’s advantages and benefits were disseminated throughout the institution via both formal and informal channels, as distance learning became recognized by administration and faculty alike as a promising innovation that could provide even more flexibility to the university’s non-traditional student demographic. Once the innovation of distance learning took hold in certain programs, it diffused steadily over time from its first implementation to its current offering of over 80 fully online programs, with a rather rapid rate of adoption from its inception. Within NSU, thought leaders pioneered the innovation’s diffusion institutionally throughout the university. Abraham S. Fischler led the charge in implementing, adopting, and expanding the innovation across various academic departments, becoming an integral part of how the innovation was effectively diffused to potential adopters within the educational social system.