Virtual campus draws virtually no students
Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:51PM EDT
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Gotta give them some credit: The University of Illinois put together an audacious program designed to wean students from the crutch of having to actually, you know, go to classes and stuff. The Global Campus is a $3 million program that offers coursework through the Internet instead of in person. The University is now using it to offer several degree plans... to a total of 10 students.
U of I's leadership is massaging the accusation that its virtual coursework is a failure, saying that it's too soon to draw any conclusions about the three-month-old program since it won't be heavily promoted until September, when several new classes will be added to the online offerings. By then, admins say, more than 100 students should be using Global Campus.
But even that may be optimistic: Global Campus had 3,000 inquiries into its online nursing courses, but only three people signed up. (The administration responds that the requirement that students already be registered nurses may have had something to do with that.)
Global Campus is perhaps the first major, accredited institution to offer full Bachelor's and Master's degrees online, rather than simply offering prerecorded videos and audio of old classes to the public (without interaction with a professor). Many of its programs have additional, offline requirements, too. To earn an online BBA, for example, you need 60 hours of prerequisites first.
More casual students looking to further their education without the pressures of earning grades can look to some of the other highly-touted online programs. Check out MIT, which drew raves for offering some 1,800 courses for free through its website (though many of the courses are now five or more years old and some date back to 1996). Berkeley also offers webcast and podcast versions of a handful of its courses, though many of the courses are equally dated.
Is online learning still ahead of its time? Sound off in the comments.
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7 Posted by gruntsdotnet on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:13PM EDT Report Abuse
I actually never said that online education was more effective. In fact, all of the research (and I've read a lot of it for this course) indicates that online education is AS effective - not better nor worse - than classroom education. As for my degree, it's actually an M.Ed with a concentration in e-learning. I'm studying about how to use the Internet and networking in education. I believe that it'll make me a more effective teacher if I can learn to use other methods of delivering instruction that can be found in a classroom. You see, in the end, Internet technology is simply a communication tool. Why is sitting in a classroom listening to a lecture, and then going off and completing the readings and writing a paper inherently more beneficial and educational than doing the same thing after watching a webcast of the lecture? A classroom does not magically make education happen. Education comes from properly created learning activities and the proper communication tools selected to accomplish the activities. Distance education will not eliminate my job in a traditional high school. However, the use of Internet and computer technologies in education is growing by leaps and bounds. Even if we dismantle all of the schools and put all education online, properly trained teachers will be needed to create learning activities and curriculum for the classes. However, you don't have to take my word for it... here are some web sites you can go to review some of the research and literature on comparing classroom and online education. http://www.nosignificantdifference.org/ http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/TheFutureofOnlineTeaching/40000
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8 Posted by kupriaa1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:54PM EDT Report Abuse
I will say this- good luck with that online degree- Proper education is not a multitasking process where you can balance life, kids, jobs, and everything else. Students who have persevered through a four year doctoral program or masters program where every ounce of their life has been dedicated to their degree deserve a different degree than someone who has achieved the same "diploma" for nothing.
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9 Posted by kupriaa1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:54PM EDT Report Abuse
I would also go further and reiterate the importance of my last comment- lets remember that education is not designed as classroom only- it is augmented by outside assignments such as reading, writing, projects, critical thinking, discussions, and other assorted activities. A proper education would have the student engaged in these activities throughout the week leaving little time for work, family, and other activities. To become a scholar in a given subject matter, the student should embrace the subject matter with every ounce of their life. This perspective for learning is not very popular in America right now since students are rarely given homework assignments anymore and structured classrooms have become more of a social gathering. Does this make online learning any better than the traditional classroom? The answer to this maybe yes because of the reasoning I stated above- however, I would conjecture that if the traditional learning model improves (or we get back to the roots of education at some point in this country) traditional learning provides a better vehicle for learning than online learning- that is my two cents. I am not saying online learning doesnt work- its just that structured classrooms offer more options. Also there is the problem with validation of a students learning- how do we ensure that the student doesnt cheat on a test or writing assignment? This is difficult to do in a classroom environment and even more of a problem with online learning. If this process was so easy with tools such as WebCT and others why do computer software companies who proctor certification tests never provide an online test? You would think they would. They know how easy it is to cheat on a test or writing assignment that is why they require in person tests in many cases (proctored by a computer of course).
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10 Posted by semarzolph@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:12PM EDT Report Abuse
To kupriaa1: My son is a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (he lives on campus and goes to classes there). He was a computer science major for two years, but just recently switched to a similar major with a CS minor. This is to address your concerns about monitoring cheating on tests taken online: for many of his computer science classes, he would go to a lecture hall or classroom, and read the textbooks, but many of his professors gave their tests online. The students would log onto a site to take their exams, and they just had to be done with a test before midnight on the date the test was due. I also wondered about cheating, but they must not be overly concerned with it. By the way, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is ranked as one of the top computer science universities in the country and a CS degree from there is very well-respected.
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11 Posted by kupriaa1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:54PM EDT Report Abuse
If cheating is plausible- then is learning achieved? Where is the validation? Where are the principles of Western Civ education? Why is Urbana-Champaign ranked as one of the top CS schools? Marketing, Branding, Money.
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12 Posted by kupriaa1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:54PM EDT Report Abuse
If cheating is plausible- then is learning achieved? Where is the validation? Where are the principles of Western Civ education? Why is Urbana-Champaign ranked as one of the top CS schools? Marketing, Branding, Money.
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13 Posted by kupriaa1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:54PM EDT Report Abuse
also one more thing- the problem of cheating is not just online schools- (I think that was your point) this is a problem all schools are dealing with now. Online courses will have a tougher time curbing cheating- all the traditional teachers have to do is proctor the test in class. But then I dont want to get into that either. There is so much to uncover and so few people do something about it.
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14 Posted by semarzolph@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:12PM EDT Report Abuse
kupriaa1: UIUC is ranked as one of the top CS schools because of its professors and its facilities. Check out their website and don't forget click on "about us" and then "Siebel Center," which is a state-of-the art facility which opened in 2004. Tom Siebel, a U of I alumnus, donated 30-some-million dollars of his own money to help build it, so obviously his degree has served him well. I find your comment a bit offensive that its ranking is because of "Marketing. Branding. Money". We checked out many, many universities before he decided to go to U of I, but he was really impressed with the university and thought he would get the best CS education there. I have never seen the university promote itself as a top CS program; we found that out through research, that it was up there as one of the best. Again, back to the idea of cheating, in a major like computer science, if you don't learn the basics in your 100-level classes, you're not going to have the knowledge to get through your 200-, 300- and 400- level classes, and you're certainly not going to be able to use your degree in the real world if you didn't put in the effort to actually learn anything while you were in college. There are probably some majors in which it would be easier to get away with cheating on online tests, but, believe me, students have always and will always find ways to cheat on tests whether or not they are in a classroom or in their dorm room. And I do agree with you that cheating is a problem. But in the end, the student only hurts himself if he spends four years cheating his way through college, because some day, he's going to get a job and if he didn't learn anything in college, it's going to be embarrassingly apparent to his coworkers.
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15 Posted by kevinwongii@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:50PM EDT Report Abuse
Personally, I believe that real classes are far more effective then distance learning of any kind. You cannot experience what unique things happen in classrooms that disappear online
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6 Posted by kupriaa1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:54PM EDT Report Abuse
Hey John, once again where is your evidence to prove that online education is more a effective learning model? Where? As i stated before- just because it is convenient for you, does not mean that the education is effective. BRAND NAME University does not mean quality. And to you John, you are in education- keep these points in mind- if this online model continues- you will be without a job. The "best" (of course not the best but the celebrity style) teachers will be the proctor for a prerecorded classroom. You will be without a job. Also- how could you ever consider your degree to be on the same level as someone who has actually earned a masters degree in education by going to a traditional classroom for the Masters degree?