Article about Online education - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Jan 26, 2005

Article about Online education

Date: Jan 26, 2005

Wow!

Date: Jan 26, 2005

This may be old hat for you folks on campus, but it was an eye opener for me. "Wow" is right, E/J.

Date: Jan 26, 2005

A couple of observations come to mind. If you do it right (lots of faculty/student interaction), online education is expensive and time consuming. Talking to 50 students at once in a traditional classroom is actually pretty efficient.

Online education probably doesn't produce a lot of "eureka moments."

The kid who goes to Milsaps is getting something that Phoenix University will never deliver.

Date: Jan 26, 2005

Shadow, you do have a point. While I am an advocate of distance education, I've never thought distance ed should be more than a way to extend and supplement, particularly for people who just can't meet certain classes. I haven't read the article, but to me an online course is sort of like the green veggie with your meal; while they can be great, you couldn't eat green beans three times a day.
(And I agree about the "eureka" moments -- my reward has always been those students who come up at the end of the semester and say "I never liked writing before . . .")

Date: Jan 27, 2005

Actually, I think online classes are like a dessert...you shouldn't eat too much of it, you should only have it in conjunction with a healthy meal (in-class classes), and if you do eat too much of it, you'll get sick or fat or have rotten teeth, all of which are not good.