Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
College is a corporate business model today. The upper-admin ranks love everything online because you can pack a 1,000 seat online "lecture" course full with an adjunct taking home $2K for teaching the class. You can also capture a lot of non-traditional students in this business model. More online = more easy money for colleges. So yes, the trend will continue with online growth.
Will it replace brick and mortar university? Feels like online education is all the rage.... but most parents are still sending their kids to the best on campus program they can afford.
Edx and coursera seem to be the two big platforms. You can now get masters degrees. Is it worth it ? Seems like everyone is obsessed with credentials and degrees and getting skilled for life. Does it ever end?
Edx is trying to get corporations on board for employees to take courses. With the way employees are worked it’s rare to have much time for classes especially if you have a family. The courses still take work. Seems like the online platforms just want people’s money.
Depends HEAVILY if your child plans on working full time right out of high school. This can be an advantage.
Not "working your way through college" in the classical sense, but starting at an entry-level employee somewhere for, say, a $5000 or $8000/year tuition assistance. Find a cheap enough remote program w/ a state school and you might graduate debt free. Upside is, NONE of what you take home has to be allocated for education! Take a loan, pay it off with your reimbursement check.
I find online learning to be a fantastic supplement to classroom learning, but not a replacement for it.
I get a tremendous amount out of the classroom discussions I have in my MBA program. When I am struggling with a concept, Khan Academy is amazing, but it doesn’t replace being able to ask a professor a question in real time.
I agree, and I think a lot of depends on the nature of a particular course and/or course of study.
I think it's not unlike my geology program back in the 1970s. The two intro course were huge lecture halls with well over 100 students per class. Those types of course -- where all it is is lecture form with some audio-visual -- could easily be transferred to online learning. The other courses involved labs and were much more hands-on. And, as you mention, the nature of class discussions is key to many courses.
I obtained my Masters in Engineering via a Distance Learning program sponsored by a highly regarded 'Brick & Mortar' University in 1997. I may qualify as being an early adopter. Students met in late afternoon following the work day in unused conference rooms. A Proctor was assigned to each class to validate attendance and oversee all tests. Lectures were video tapes of on-campus lectures held two days earlier and lasted 2-1/2 hours each day for two days per week. Class sizes ranged from 6 to 30 students. A few courses were available live, whereby the University would fly-in the Professor to teach in person, over a full weekend, to a group of 60-100 students. I was enrolled from Jan '95 thru Dec '97, taking 6 classes most years, (2 Winter, 1 Spring, 1 Summer, 2 Fall). At least one year I took no classes during the Summer semester.
Pluses:
My employer paid 100% of the cost.
Less intrusive on my home life than traditional night classes.
My Diploma does NOT indicate I matriculated via the University's Distance Learning Degree Program.
Minuses:
With exception of the rare Live Classes there was no immediate Student to Professor dialogue.
Extremely limited course selection.
Required that I work from 6 am to 2:30 pm daily to attend the 3pm to 5:30pm class times.
All homework/reading/research was completed late at night after the family was in bed, giving me very little time for sleep before rising for the next day's early work shift and afternoon classes.
Will it replace brick and mortar university? Feels like online education is all the rage.... but most parents are still sending their kids to the best on campus program they can afford.
Edx and coursera seem to be the two big platforms. You can now get masters degrees. Is it worth it ? Seems like everyone is obsessed with credentials and degrees and getting skilled for life. Does it ever end?
Edx is trying to get corporations on board for employees to take courses. With the way employees are worked it’s rare to have much time for classes especially if you have a family. The courses still take work. Seems like the online platforms just want people’s money.
Online education has great value but it can’t replace a full immersion learning experience.
I work at a college. We've been doing online education for about 17 years now, so it's not new. Some colleges started doing it almost 25 years ago.
At a basic level, online courses are not that different than what used to be called correspondence courses in the pre-internet era. There is somewhat more interaction, but not that much more. It is the same basic model that is dependent on the student's commitment, but at least now we have ways to connect students more quickly and thoroughly. It does not replace a classroom environment, though, no matter how hard you try.
The technology since the 2000s has become faster, more immersive, and more aesthetically pleasing. When I do an online class now, I am basically a youtuber or podcaster. The tech at my disposal greatly enhances my ability to present, share, and solicit student participation. Improved online library access makes all kinds of cool research projects possible that were not 10 years ago. There are also somewhat better assessment tools now for administering tests, etc...
But it's still at its base a kind of independent study model. Students who are not quite self-disciplined should not take online courses. Also, if you are looking to interact with other students, I don't recommend online. I've found that group work is almost impossible to organize online, unless I set it up where students can contribute asynchronously, which means they don't actually talk to each other at the same time.
There is actually more interaction between individual students and the instructor than in a classroom where it's sometimes hard to get questions or comments in. But there is much less interaction between the students themselves. There is not someone in the chair next to you that you can ask about the homework.
It's best used as complementary to in - class learning. Classes that incorporate elements of online learning in addition to meeting as a class tend to utilize the most diverse instructional methods.
I've had coursework, through the graduate level, where online components were very well-used, and others where it was an utter joke. It's all in how the course is constructed.
I guess it all depends on how much respect employees have for college degrees attained online.
This is the key accreditation and certification. We are living in a time with unprecedented access to knowledge for free. Unfortunately companies are forcing more and more people to get a degree for any job and universities are gouging students. It really doesn't need to be this way. Low cost online learning + certification could be a huge boon to the workforce of the future unfortunately we have stagnant thinking HR in charge of hiring.
It could put a lot of useless marxist professors out of work.
This is the key accreditation and certification. We are living in a time with unprecedented access to knowledge for free. Unfortunately companies are forcing more and more people to get a degree for any job and universities are gouging students. It really doesn't need to be this way. Low cost online learning + certification could be a huge boon to the workforce of the future unfortunately we have stagnant thinking HR in charge of hiring.
It could put a lot of useless marxist professors out of work.
That technological capability existed well over 10 years ago and hasn't disrupted the college market yet.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Personal experience
