As More Try Online Classes, Tech Issues Arise

NEW YORK, May 15, 2009 -- Online learning is increasingly common at colleges and universities across the country, but some students and professors say there are drawbacks to Web-based education.

"More students are taking online classes. At a lot of universities now, professors are podcasting lectures and putting them online," says Jim Wenzloff, a consultant for November Learning, a company that focuses on technology for educational use.

A study from the National Center for Educational Statistics released in 2004 investigated the development of distance education courses, which rely on communication through the use of video, audio, or computer technologies.

The report indicated that in 2000–01, 56 percent of all postsecondary institutions offered distance education courses, up from 34 percent 3 years earlier. The numbers rose once again in the center's most recent study, released in December 2008, which illustrated that during the 2006-07 academic year, 66 percent of two-year and four-year degree-granting postsecondary institutions reported offering online, hybrid/blended online, or other distance education courses for any level or audience.

Another 61 percent of 2-year and 4-year institutions reported offering online courses.

Yet even as these numbers continue to increase, many students and professors alike are having problems with the technology at universities that aren't strictly Internet-based. Students at regular colleges now must juggle the need to keep up with advancing software while still developing their own skills.

Though some programs, such as PowerPoint, remain standard in most classrooms, students are expressing concern about the need to keep up with newer software,

"I'm not great with technology but I can use basic Office programs with no problem," Michaela Fraser, a student at Hendrix College in Arkansas, said. "Once it gets more advanced than that though, I'm lost."

Professors also indicate that as students become increasingly dependent on technology, they devote less time to using and improving their own skills.