WASHINGTON – The Internet has opened new windows of opportunity in virtually every industry and area of life. Should it come as any surprise that it now offers a way to gain an education without ever having to step inside
WASHINGTON – The Internet has opened new windows of opportunity in virtually
every industry and area of life. Should it come as any surprise that it now
offers a way to gain an education without ever having to step inside a school?
Within the past few years, many online universities have popped up
offering courses on a wide array of subjects. OnlineLearning.net, for example,
offers accredited courses in business and management, as well as computers,
information systems, education and writing, and courses from
UCLA-Extension.
The program boasts more than 12,600 paid enrollments and
more than 1,000 courses offered since 1996. Its courses are limited to a
maximum of 20 students and are instructor-led. Students take turns e-mailing
the instructors, who develop the curriculum, assign homework, lead discussions
and give out grades.
UNext.com is another learning community. It has
partnerships with Stanford and Columbia Universities, as well as Oracle and
IBM. UNext.com offers its clients the ability to access information from a
variety of world-renowned universities in a single course.
The advantages
of an online university are many. It offers a way for busy professionals to
further their education without intruding too much on their jobs. Students can
work from home, at their own pace. They download course syllabi from a school’s
Web site and e-mail their assignments to instructors to receive their
grades.
Another advantage is the cost. Courses offered online are usually
more economical than the same courses at a university. The University of
Southern California in Los Angeles is one such school.
Another university
offering a full classroom experience online is the University of Maryland’s
University College at Adelphi. Fifty percent of the university’s undergraduate
and 72 percent of its graduate students take online courses. Gerald Heeger,
president of University College, said that, “Each class is about 25 people
in size, and the instructor may post lectures, threaded discussion groups,
group-project assignments, and we provide infrastructure so students can easily
interact with students, and with the faculty structure.”
Public and
private universities and colleges in Kentucky have banned together to create a
Web site with all of the information necessary to gain a degree online. Even
the United States Army has hopped on the bandwagon. A new program costing $600
million dollars will equip recruits with laptops and printers so that they can
access a worldwide online learning system.
Online learning has its critics,
however. Many argue that online courses do not offer the same level of
interaction as traditional courses. Richard Clark, professor of educational
psychology and technology at USC, has remarked that, “Too many distance
and virtual education programs are poorly designed, read-and-take-a-test
(classes).” Moreover, it is harder to keep students interested in the
lessons via the Internet.
Is online teaching better than one-on-one
interaction between teacher and student in a small class of students? Probably
not. But is it better than drowsing off in a 300-student lecture devoid of
almost any interaction? Clearly, yes. The likely result of this will be a
combination of one-on-one and online methods that will accrue to the benefit of
students and teachers alike.
