Most College Students To Take Classes Online by 2014

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2009/10/28/most-college-students-to-take-classes-online-by-2014.aspx

by gbookman • 17 years ago

15 13 17 years ago

campustechnology.com

chris123• 17 years ago

Where are the best places to see "top lists," such as best online _____ programs (design, CS, etc.)?

willhf• 17 years ago

Good question. People love rankings. What is the most prestigious online degree ?

RK• 17 years ago

And almost all of them will have to endure shitty software...

human_v2• 17 years ago

It depends. I don't think a web interface will cut it. Professors will still need office hours or a chat interface. If this was actually the case, don't you think students could just as easily sit at home and read the book instead of going to class? At some point, the lack of teacher-student interaction is going to cause the quality of education to suffer. I imagine this would be unacceptable to universities that take their reputations seriously.

nfnaaron• 17 years ago

One of the roles of a good teacher is to be able to look at the face and body language of a student and think "he's not getting it, I'll try another approach."

Another is to draw a student out, or egg someone on, like a conductor.

There's also the subtle communication and enthusiasm that races around a small group of engaged people, that I doubt we'll ever be able to replicate online.

Giant 101 classes taught in auditoriums by RAs are probably good for online teaching, but I would generally feel that you better be cutting me a break on my tuition if I never see my professors' eyeballs.

"Oh, you went to the U of Whatever? When? What major? Hey, I think I was your professor! What'd you think of that blackboard app? Yeah, pretty shitty. So hey, did you pass my class?"

Not saying we shouldn't, just that we'll lose something valuable if we go all in.

adamc2• 17 years ago

I don't think there is much question that one-on-one tutoring is superior to small classes which are superior to large classes. I agree that, initially, large classes will be the target. But in the longer term, it comes down to economics. Universities keep getting more expensive -- their costs rises faster than inflation. Much of the cost of a university is the salaries of faculty and staff. The only real way to keep the cost down is to teach students in a different, more efficient way. So I wouldn't be surprised if most students end up being taught in ways that don't allow for things like assessing body language. I agree that it's better, but it's expensive.

buugs• 17 years ago

I took a hybrid course which is online but you meet with a real teacher once a week and my biggest problem was that we used blackboards software to do discussions and such and it was a terrible experience.

It made me wish I had just taken a normal course.

gbookman• 17 years ago

When I was a student at the University of Washington I worked at the Business School's IT department for a couple years.

One of my jobs was to set up Blackboard course websites for instructors. It was about as much fun as filling out a tax return. Nothing but filling out forms, selecting options, and other monotonous things like that.

Using it in my classes was about the same experience. We really just used to it download the syllabus, assignments, and other documents the instructor posted. No one used the Discussion Board or any of the other Blackboard features.

jrockway• 17 years ago

Why not just cut out the whole "teaching" thing and mail the student a diploma based on payment of $70,000 and submission of SAT scores? If you get a 1600, your diploma will say "MIT". If you get a 1400, it will say "University of Illinois", etc.

That will save millions of dollars on writing software for online course administration (and associated support staff). Then the professors can focus on doing free corporate research instead!

And of course, the student is just as prepared for "the real world", and the Universities can build up their billion-dollar endowments and live off the interest. Everybody wins!

Most College Students To Take Classes Online by 2014

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