First, Ryan Gibbons bought a Hyundai so he would not have to drive his gas-guzzling Chevy Blazer to college classes. When fuel prices kept rising, he cut expenses again, eliminating two campus visits a week by enrolling in an online version of one of his courses.
Like Gibbons, thousands of students nationwide, including many who were previously reluctant to study online, have suddenly decided to take one or more college classes over the Internet.
“Gas prices have pushed people over the edge,” said Georglyn Davidson, director of online learning at Bucks County Community College, where Gibbons studies, and where online enrollments are up 35 percent this summer over last year.
The vast majority of the nation’s 15 million college students — at least 79 percent — live off campus, and with gas prices above $4 a gallon, many are seeking to cut commuting costs by studying online. Colleges from Massachusetts and Florida to Texas to Oregon have reported significant online enrollment increases for summer sessions, with student numbers in some cases 50 percent or 100 percent higher than last year.Although some four-year institutions with large online programs — like the University of Massachusetts and Villanova — have experienced these increases, the greatest surges have been registered at two-year community colleges, where most students are commuters, many support families and few can absorb large new expenditures for fuel.
Hey, it works. It also makes it easier to get into the school and courses you’d really rather have. Even if they’re on the other side of the country.
Part of school and learning is interacting with other people. These programs create social numbnuts.
A friend of mine’s wife did that 25 years or so ago…. Beat trying to find a babysitter for her kids….
My daughter’s doing it right now, too, come to think of it.
IMHO, if you’re already a “commuter” at school, there are a lot of courses that could be done online with no real social penalty. Ever take a course in a lecture hall with 300 other students? (Or even sixty or so?) Been there, too….
I does reduce some social interaction, but it also saves time and money. That said, getting together weekly, or at least some kind of chat room or conference call, is still advisable, IMHO, if the group can be small enough. Sometimes you need to ask a question, and e-mail may not be the best framework.
I once attended a Chemistry “lecture hall” course that would have been impossible if we didn’t meet every few days in small groups. That worked for me…. Could we have “met” in a chat room? Probably….
Regards,
Stu.
I just finished my first on-line college course and it was not as informative as a real experience with a teacher. (I accept that one class is not a good indicator.)
I used to work for a graduate school and I argued for a hybrid system. Like a couple of Saturday-seminars, some audio or video lectures, some on-line assignments, etc. Nobody listened to me.
I still think it would be a richer experience than all-on line but would still accommodate busy people.
My experience was pretty straightforward: If you don’t care about the class, take it online and do the work to get a passing mark. If you do care about the class, take it in person and get the context of listening to a living, breathing presenter.
I agree James. I think research backs this up — the interpersonal interaction (teacher AND peers) of learning increases understanding.
I won’t bother searching for a link but I remember reading a study about commuter colleges. They are simply not as good as residential program when students are immersed in a learning sub-culture.
How much more inferior would on-line be where the student doesn’t even get a few hours in-person exposure?
#5 – At UAA (’98 – ’00), each professor took a different tact with their online courses: Some were all e-mail and almost no iteration, beyond “Got your report. K THX BAI”. Some had four required attendance classes on campus for the course. Some used online chat rooms to try to recreate that group experience.
From my point of view, none of them worked to create the sub-culture you’re talking about, because you have to get past the administrative crap to get into that thinking.
Then again, UAA was a pretty crappy school. I’d like to think some place has this sorted out.
UAA? Anchorage Alaska?
I graduated from both a small private college and a medium-sized public university.
While I preferred the larger university for the variety of activities, I was definitely better educated at the smaller one.
I think on-line education can have it’s place but if I was hiring and saw it on a resume, I would definitely view it as lower than a traditional degree.
#7 “I think on-line education can have it’s place but if I was hiring and saw it on a resume, I would definitely view it as lower than a traditional degree.”
Most MBA’s I see are from distance learning. That just might explain a few things. 😉
Actually I’ve seen some pretty high quality people come from distance learning. I work in an industry where people travel a great deal (yes I know we’re doomed, but that’s another story).
On-line learning has created huge options for us and high quality has also become available for free (thank you MIT). Personally I think this will become more of the norm but people will have to adapt to it. I know face-to-face is still the highest quality interaction but when I look at 1st and 2nd year classes with 250 students per lecture then I don’t think it makes much difference.
This is less than ideal but then so is life. If you need an education and you can’t get to the school now the school can still serve you. I’d say you still need to meet some classes.
A lot is dependent upon the institution itself. Sitting in a classroom at a for-profit diploma mill likely isn’t going to yield the same education one would obtain by attending a traditional four year university. One could expect similar differences in the online offerings of each. I’m constantly amazed by coworkers who decide upon a degree program based on an ad or a commercial, without even doing anything as fundamental as checking on accreditation.
I could never learn from online classes. Then again I did go to art school. And when are we getting the 4 day work week? I want that 10 hour power shift