Online courses pursued by undergrads, grad students

BY JACK MURTHA
Staff Writer

Think back to your college years. Heavy textbooks, in-depth lectures and grueling nights in the library might come to mind. Current scholars must overcome the same challenges. But for a growing number of students, the road to a college degree includes a drive through a promising, new frontier — the virtual classroom.

Distance learning programs enable undergraduate and graduate students to earn college credits, and sometimes full degrees, through the Internet. Online courses allow participants to work when and from where is most convenient for the individual, experts told Greater Media Newspapers.

“In an online course, you can do many of the things you can do in a face-to-face class, depending on how you design your online class, depending on what kind of tools you have,” said John Pavlik, chairman of Rutgers University’s Department of Journalism and Media Studies.

Virtual classrooms engage students through a slew of modules, including discussion forums, text and video lectures, readings, interactive quizzes, and games, Pavlik said. He said most online courses test students through term papers and assessments.

Many schools began to craft courses for the web in the 1990s, but online education exploded in the new millennium. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 8 percent of all undergrads in the 1999-2000 school year had enrolled in at least one online course. In the 2007-08 school year, which offers the most recently available data, that number had jumped to 20 percent.

Administrators cite flexibility as one reason for the rise in popularity. Asynchronous courses, the most common of three online formats, have concrete deadlines for assignments, but do not require students to log in at set times.

“Most people who are taking things online are doing it because they want the ability to do the material whenever they want,” said Michael Gross, the Associate Provost for Academic Program Development at Georgian Court University, Lakewood.

Government statistics show the majority of undergrads enrolled in online courses and degree programs are either 24 years or older, married, employed full-time, disabled, or care for at least one dependent.

Karen Novick, the associate dean of Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information, said that description fits many graduate students, which makes the Internet a solid avenue for continuing education.

The accommodating nature of distance learning entices traditional undergrads to pick up online courses as supplements to their regular course loads, Gross added.

Another draw for students is that the coursework is always at their fingertips, Gross said. He said the ease of access enables students to review the content as often as they please.

Some learners function better online, Pavlik said. While the structure of a face-to-face class might pose a problem for some people, online courses forge environments “where having learning in smaller, little bursts throughout the day” may be more suitable for those individuals, he said.

Class sizes are often smaller online, Novick noted. Some lectures at Rutgers include hundreds of students, but Novick said the institution strives to keep the size of a single online session around 20 people.

“We think that’s a good size,” she said. “People seem to be able to get to know each other well. We want them to interact.”

But not every student should ditch the notebook for a netbook.

Because independence is a key component of online learning, students must be self-disciplined, motivated and confident in their time management skills, Novick said.

“There is something about knowing you have to be in a classroom on Tuesday at 2 p.m. that focuses you,” she said. “And even though there are deadlines for assignments online, there is something about being online that seems to be a little harder for people to push themselves on those deadlines.”

Those who are either tech-illiterate or do not have reliable access to a computer should not take distance courses, Gross added.

Administrators from the institutions interviewed by Greater Media Newspapers said students should not expect to save money by registering for distance courses.

“I believe everybody at Rutgers who is offering online classes stands by the idea that what they are doing online is of the same quality at least, if not more, as what we are doing in a classroom. It is not a different, lesser product,” Novick said, and that was a position echoed by others.

Ed Christensen, the Vice President for Information Management at Monmouth University, West Long Branch, noted that infrastructure, software and professional development are just a few expenses associated with distance learning.

While university officials tout their online programs as being of equal value to traditional courses, employers have mixed opinions on the matter, Christensen said. He said some hiring managers might view online credits as a sign of technological understanding, while others may disregard potential employees who studied online.

“It may or may not exist at the company level, but it certainly exists at the individual level,” Christensen said, adding that if a hiring manager had a bad experience with someone who holds an online degree, that could affect the outcome for future job candidates and vice versa.

Employers in hands-on fields like biology might not want to hire distance learners, Gross said. On the flipside, online credits could be a positive for students with certain majors, like computer science, he said.

Despite a belief on the part of some people that an online education is inferior to credits obtained through a physical classroom, Christensen said, there is solid evidence that people can learn just as well through the web.

Academia is still adapting to its online presence. Administrators must tackle issues such as academic integrity, transferring face-to-face courses to online formats, preparing professors for the web, cultivating meaningful social interactions between participants, and student engagement.