Home grown

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the data compiling-massaging-distributing arm of the US Department of Education, released a report in December 2008 titled "Distance Education at Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions: 2006–07."  This report is a comprehensive collection of responses to distance education questions posed to the almost 4200 Title IV degree-producing post-secondar institutions in the US.

The report's statistics are derived from academic year 2006-07.  You can view the entire report here, but the following bullets are notable extracts for 2- & 4-year institutions:
-66% offered online or blended courses
-65% offered college level credit granting distance education courses
-68% identified flexible schedules as a primary reason for offering distance education courses
-67% identified providing access to students who otherwise would not have access (i.e., geographic, family, or work-related)
-75% delivered distance education via asychronous Internet-based technologies
-94% developed courses in-house as compared to using commercial vendors

The 94% is significant in that this number clearly represents the fact that institutions are overwhelming not out-sourcing course development.  Institutions are retaining course development control.  In other words, instructors or course development staffs are producing the products distance students are accessing. The report does not mention or detail at all who is developing the courses, but savvy instructors would be well advised to have a vested interest in course development.  Instructors may not need to know how to create a course, but they definitely to know what material is presented and, most importantly, how.  A little technical knowledge may assist is producing the right home-grown product.