With the rise of online schools, virtual classes are becoming a norm in higher education. And not only in online schools. Many traditional colleges are now offering some of their courses online. But should colleges try to compete with these online schools?
Online schools primarily attract adults with full-time jobs and families. The students are able to “attend” a school without having to leave home and they can work classes around their busy schedules. Traditional colleges attempt to attract the same demographic by offering some of their courses online too. By doing this, colleges get more tuition money from students who want to attend their school, but live hundreds of miles away, or students with too busy schedules to attend class every day. However, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, it cost a lot of money to get an online course up, running, and maintained. The tuition does not always compensate the cost of running the course and some schools have had to abandon their online programs. But because online classes are so popular among students it is doubtful that they will fade out completely, despite the issues with cost.
However, online classes are not popular among professors. According to Elayne Clift, professors are not compensated for the extra work they must put in to teach an online course. She also claims that the courses in general are grossly ineffective. The inability to give instant feedback makes it difficult for instructors to be clear in their meaning and expectations. The students, in turn, drown their professor in e-mails asking for clarity, advice, and help and sometimes misinterpreting the response they receive. This often leads to students submitting subpar work, but receiving high grades for them.
There is no doubt that the online classes will continue to be available and students will want to take advantage of them when they can. But nothing can replace face-to-face interaction between students and professors.
No comments:
Post a Comment