Some UA students are spending less time on the campus and more time at their computers, as online courses become more popular at the Capstone.
Rebecca Pow, associate dean of the College of Continuing Studies, said there are approximately 12,000 enrollments in online courses this semester.
“That is not a headcount, but an enrollment count,” Pow said. “Because some students may take more than one online course in a term, we are not able to provide an exact headcount.”
Zac Head, a senior majoring in communication studies, is currently enrolled in two online computer science courses, CS 205: Web Site Design and CS 302: Computerized Database Systems. He said he has an easy time balancing his online classes with regular classes because he doesn’t have to physically go to some of them.
“At the beginning of the semester each student is given a course schedule and a syllabus. The schedule gives strict deadlines for the upcoming assignments,” Head said. “Both of my online classes for this semester have one textbook and one online system for turning in assignments and completing quizzes. Once every one or two weeks students are required to turn in assignments and take quizzes.”
(See also “Online classes: For better or worse”)
Henk Both, a senior majoring in chemistry, said he has also taken online classes and highlighted the differences in meeting together, in person, as a class versus completing classes alone.
“Regular courses have a communal nature to them, but online classes tend to be completed in solitude. Regular classes are inherently a group experience,” Both said. “Even if you never collaborate with anyone on anything, you and everyone else still meet at the same time and place to attend lectures. Online courses give you much more leeway to cover coursework at a personal and convenient pace at the price of interacting with a computer screen instead of a human.”
Both said online classes have been helpful with managing scheduling conflicts that may occur with regular classes.
“Online courses have been helpful supplements to regular courses, allowing me to work around scheduling conflicts in order to graduate on time. Completing material at my own pace has been a huge bonus, letting me compete entire courses with only a few days of binge-working,” Both said. “This helped me appropriate useful regular-semester time to studying for regular courses, doing undergraduate research, and being involved in organizations on campus.”
Pow said the University offers over 400 sections of online courses each semester and there is no difference between the cost of an online course and a traditional class for campus-based students. She said courses are approved for online delivery by the home academic department. Once approved, faculty members then work with instructional designers from the College of Continuing Studies to build the course in Blackboard.
“That process can take between one and two semesters,” Pow said. “There are design standards and ‘best practices’ used to ensure quality. The final course then goes through another review and approval process with the academic department before it is offered to students.”
Head said he didn’t think his online classes were any more difficult than his other classes when it comes to content, but they certainly require more responsibility on the part of the student.
However, Both said students give up the personal experience with other students and an instructor for online classes, which can have its downsides.
“The most important thing to remember is that online courses cost the same as regular courses and are essentially cash cows for the University, which is why they are allowed. An online course takes very little of an instructor’s time compared to a regular course,” Both said. “I’ve had to trade a personal, human learning experience for a checklist of assignments on a computer – at the same price. There have been occasions where I contacted online instructors with time-sensitive material and haven’t received responses for weeks.”
Head said he wouldn’t want to exclusively take online classes, but is happy that he has them included in his schedule.
“I think that the University does a good job of offering classes online,” Head said. “The classes that I have wanted to take online have all been offered.”
Although online classes assist students with scheduling conflicts, Both said online classes are not comparable with regular classes on campus.
“Both systems have merits, but online courses are absolutely no replacement for regular courses. I’ve only taken ancillary courses online, not anything crucial to my major,” Both said. “If I had tried to take high-level math or physical science courses online, I would probably have missed some hugely important insights that only regular courses can provide.”
Leading in today’s Crimson White:
WRC to hold auditions for ‘The Vagina Monologues’
