 "Photo: Sarah Hardy")
 "Photo: Sarah Hardy")
Go ahead. Wear your pajamas, kick up your feet and leave on those embarrassing duck slippers. It’s time for school. Of course students want to take online classes. It’s a no-brainer. Right?
Although this picturesque option has some students racing to sign up, others say it’s an unrealistic mode of education.
“I think it’s useless to have an online class because you don’t even get the one-on-one experience with the teacher,” said freshman social work major Maura Vega.
Her disdain roots from an online psychology class she dropped last semester. “I couldn’t understand the material,” she said. “I still have those questions in my mind.”
Vega added that the in-class psychology course was too full again this semester leaving the online class as her only option.
Thousands of organizations and colleges around the country that are working towards improving online education have joined the Sloan Consortium. The Sloan Consortium is an organization dedicated to promoting the use of online education into the mainstream. A study they released last year said at least one in four higher education students are taking one online class minimum.
So what about teachers? How tempting is it to stay home to teach? The Consortium found that, “Less than one-third of chief academic officers believe that their faculty accept the value and legitimacy of online education.”
Stephanie Burkhalter, a professor in the Department of Government and Politics, has no apprehension on whether online courses are a more efficient way for education.
She said that during six years of teaching online classes at a community college she noticed better outcomes. She believes people are more attentive while logged on to the computer compared with sitting in a lecture hall.
Burkhalter adds that she will only advocate for more online classes at HSU if the programs are well-developed options for students, and the school’s technological support system can meet the demands.
“We need to have forward thinking,” said Burkhalter. “It could be a big attraction and serve the region if it is done right.”
SRI International for the Department of Education is a nonprofit research institute sponsored by government agencies, commercial businesses, and foundations. Last May, it released the results of a 12-year study that said students were shown to perform better in online classes compared to those in traditional lectures.
Director Dan Saveliff of Student Services and the Educational Oppurtunity Program (EOP) agrees with Burkhalter that online classes could have a future at HSU. He said if “an engaging collaborative online learning community is established” it will be beneficial.
However, he added that independent learning isn’t for everyone. “It creates unique challenges and another set of academic skills,” he said. “Unless we’re teaching those strategies independently, it’s not going to transfer well.” Without the faculty guidance, it takes away from the hands-on aspect that HSU offers he said.
Burkhalter counters this notion and said that answering students’ questions is just as effective online. “You can do a lot by e-mail.”
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(couldn't help it...had to bounce in again) Chas Moffett