Online Classes

This week's blog topic has to do with online classes. Throughout my educational career, I have had the opportunity to take many online classes, satellite classes, and hybrid classes. Overall, I have to say that I think there is a huge potential for these nonconventional types of classes to be more efficient and effective than their traditional counterpart, however my experience with them can be described as mixed (positive and negative) at best.

Most of the online courses I have taken were at the community college level. At the time, it was very obvious that teachers and students were both in the initial stages of adapting to this online classroom environment. Likewise, the majority of these classes consisted of little more than an exchange of emails on a weekly basis. Basically, the instructor would give out the syllabus, post due dates on the online calendar, and the assignments were to be emailed back by the due date. Additionally, there would usually be two or three exams throughout each course. In order to take these exams, the students would have to schedule an appointment at the college's testing center within a one week timeframe, and take the exam in a strictly monitored environment. Finally, If the instructor was REALLY savvy, he or she would setup a discussion page and force the class to interact on various topics throughout the semester.

The fact is that the impersonal nature of these classes is very hard to overcome. I think for most students, online classes were the easy way out since participation and attendance was a minimal factor in grading, if at all. For others, such as myself, online classes presented a new challenge without the bias of a professor's lecturing style. I found that I truly did learn quite a bit in these classes because I was basically forced to read the book page by page, and basically teach myself the material. This really begs the question though, "why not just buy the book and teach yourself and save yourself the tuition fee?".

I think this is the real issue for the online classroom of today and for the future. Instructors need to be able to utilize the incredible efficiencies of the internet to reach students more effectively. I'm not sure if the solution lies in new software or proper use of current online classroom software.

In the past, I think institutions have relied on online classrooms as a way to enroll more students without erecting new buildings. Today however, it is quite apparent that online teaching is an incredibly competitive landscape, with new online teach institutions entering the marketplace all the time. It will certainly be interesting to see how online classes utilize IT advancements in the future. I have a feeling that traditional schools might be facing a bigger threat than they realize.