Students Go the Distance Learning Route

Sept. 1, 2000 -- Some students are heading back to school this fall without ever having to set foot on campus.

Jim Unice, 40, of Uniondale, Pa., a rural community outside of Pittsburgh, wanted to return to school to advance his career in social work. But working on a master’s degree while working part time posed some logistical challenges. Community colleges near him didn’t offer the degree, and the Pennsylvania schools that did proved too far away to be feasible.

But then he found Canyon College in Caldwell, Idaho, which offers a full degree program online. “A friend of mine got her master’s degree online,” says Unice, “and is now working on her Ph.D. online.” Unice decided to follow suit.

Digital Degrees Multiplying

Universities across the country are embracing the digital age and courting students like Unice through virtual learning programs. According to Ecollege.com, an online education Web portal, colleges are offering a variety of bachelor’s, master’s and even Ph.D. programs online.

While online courses differ in the details, there are some fairly standard basics. Students work largely at their own pace, usually from a course syllabus posted on the school’s Web site; they e-mail homework to professors by certain dates and receive grades. Tests are administered through the Web site and usually incorporate technology that tracks how long it takes students to complete them. And students and professors form virtual discussion groups and tutorials through chat and e-mail sessions.

For Unice, the setup is perfect: Instead of spending time commuting, he can dedicate his school time to studying.

Proponents of distance learning cite timesaving examples and point to students like Unice who might not otherwise be able to go back to school.

“This is a great way for working women to get their degree in teaching or in nursing,” says Patricia Potter, vice president of marketing at San Diego-based National University, which offers a variety of degree programs, including nursing, teaching credential and business administration.

“There is a shortage of nurses, and many who don’t have a bachelor’s degree and [are] being pressured to [get one], this is a way for them to fit it into their schedule.”

An Offer You Can’t Refuse?

Convenience isn’t the only perk making online schooling a desirable choice. Online education programs tend to be economical, in some instances costing less than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. At Canyon College, classes start at $400 for the online version compared to more than $1,000 for traditional courses.

“Many universities are charging less tuition for online classes,” says Richard Clark, a professor for educational psychology and technology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

USC even offers several courses required to complete a master’s in instructional technology for free online, according to Clark.

The idea behind this was not only to encourage more people to try out an online academic experience but also to give educators in the Los Angeles area a chance to get a leg up, especially since the high cost of continuing education is too steep for many public school teachers.

“The most important thing [to educators] about taking classes is the cost,” says Clark. “Learning how to use technology in the classroom is an important skill for these teachers to learn, so we thought we’d give them a chance to learn it for free.”

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

But while online courses may be appealing to self-motivated people who live too far from a college campus or who have full-time jobs, educators argue that it may be impossible to duplicate the level of interaction between the students and faculty, as well as among students.

“Too many distance and virtual education programs are poorly designed, read-and-take-a-test [classes],” says Clark.

Scott Johnson, professor in the Department of Human Resource Education at the University of Illinois, says the focus of an online class has to be on learning, not on information or content. “It’s not a correspondence course. We want students to understand new concepts, and how they relate them to their work.”

Trying to keep students actively involved in the lessons seems more difficult over the Net than in a classroom setting, says Johnson, who is researching how well students perform in online group projects.

So far, Johnson has found some profound differences between virtual and traditional teaching environments.

“What we saw [with one group project] was a rotation in leadership, which is something different that we don’t see in a classroom setting,” he said. “How students determine who is a leader and come up with standard protocols for meeting deadlines in an online environment is something we don’t know much about.”

Here to Stay

At the University of Maryland’s University College in Adelphi, educators are trying to emulate the entire classroom experience online.

The key is to make sure students don’t feel left out in the cold, says Gerald Heeger, president of University College, where 50 percent of undergraduates and 72 percent of graduate students take classes online.

“Each class has about 25 people in size, and the instructor may post lectures, threaded discussion groups, group project assignments, and we provide infrastructure so students can easily interact with students, and with the faculty structure.”

The school also gives students easy online access to many resources such as some 85 different research databases of texts and supplemental materials as well as the library. An e-reserve lets professors post special text excerpts, and a special service allows distance learners to buy books online. The books are sent express using next-day service — with a container so students can send it back for bookstore buyback at the end of the semester.

The latest thing Heeger’s working to develop is incorporating online degree programs for career tracks such as teaching and nursing, with practical, hands-on mentoring through partnerships with different hospitals and schools.

But Heeger knows that there are skeptics out there.

“Online eductaion is here to stay,” he says. “And it’s going to be absorbed into different institutions, in different ways.”