In times of exploding enrollments, and limited classroom space, many institutions have increased capacity by offering more online courses. There has long been debate about online courses and whether they best serve the needs of students. A recent study, highlighted in The Chronicle article “Community-College Students Perform Worse Online Than Face to Face”, evaluated the academic performance of over 50,000 community college students in Washington State in online and face-to-face courses and found a couple of very interesting things:
- Students who took online courses early in their studies, were more likely to drop out than those who took on-ground courses
- Of students who took online courses, students with the most online credits were less likely to graduate or transfer to a four-year institution
At my institution, the debate about how many online courses / sections to offer in a given semester rages. Proponents of increasing online offerings claim that to meet the needs of today’s students, courses must break away from the traditional structure of physically attending class one to three times per week for a full semester. They cite the demands placed on students in terms of professional and personal responsibilities, the increased availability of technology, the ability to increase course capacity (and thereby increase the average class size), and our ability to reach students in the more remote parts of our service area as the primary reasons to offer more courses in an online format.
Others see online education as one piece of an overall pie of course offerings at a higher education institution (and admittedly, some would like to see online offerings cease to exist entirely). But, they suggest a more judicious and thoughtful approach, offering those courses proven to produce successful results for students, academic rigor proven to match that of on-ground courses, in subject areas that are appropriate for online instruction, and with well-developed support systems in place and available to these students.
Our own institutional data reflects what the results of this study show…overall, student performance in online courses is lower than in on-ground courses. Looking at an average of the last three semesters, the success rate for online courses was 70% compared to 77.6% for on-ground courses. It is very interesting that this spread of almost 8% roughly matches the difference identified in the Washington study.
While I understand the value of certain online courses and the access the it provides to many students, some who may not have access to higher education without them. I struggle with supporting increasing our online course offerings when I see data over and over that reflects the lower success rates for students. As a community college, we have long focused on our mission of access; we are open enrollment and at the start of each semester encounter the group of students who apply very close to the first day of class and since most courses filled-up when registration first opened, they are generally left with only online courses from which to select. When I’m working with any of these students, I try to steer them away from online that start that same week, and into late-starting courses that may start two to six weeks later. While not ideal, I believe short-term (courses that run less than the full semester) courses are better options for new students when compared to online courses.
I would be very interested in hearing from people at other institutions; what is the attitude on campus about online courses; are they embraced? Reviled? Somewhere inbetween?
Last semester I had the opportunity to work as a TA for an on-line, masters level statistics course. This experience afforded me the opportunity to embark on a "behind the scenes" look at on-line education. Throughout the semester I found that students who were attempting to simply fulfill the requirements of the class were able to do so with little to no consequence. I experienced many patterns of behavior that raised my level of concern in regards to on-line education. Some students made a habit of re-stating ideas previously offered by peers and consistently avoided sharing their own ideas and insights. Likewise, many students were able to hide behind the computer screen instead of actively engaging in on-line discussion boards.
ReplyDeleteI trust that one of the most vital skills for a student to possess is the ability to interact with others in a professional setting. After all, there are few jobs where one can spend their day behind a computer screen free of interaction with others. I am reluctant to believe that students can develop the ability to interact with other professionals in an on-line setting.
Although I do see some strengths in on-line education (access, technology, affordability) I feel that it may take away from the overall college experience. I believe that institutions should take a closer look at what courses are being offered in an on-line setting. Courses that rely on peer-to-peer interaction and sharing of experiences should avoid the on-line setting. If these courses are taught on-line, students run the risk of missing out on invaluable opportunities to learn from others in a classroom (face-to-face) setting.
Much like the blogger and commenters on this topic, I too, have similar feelings about online education and struggle to see the benefits. I must admit, however, that I have never taken an online course or been on the teaching end that Aaron saw. However, I do know many others who have taken online courses and it seems to me that the experiences that have been shared with me were that the courses were a "joke" or "really easy" or that the student didn't learn anything.
ReplyDeleteWith that being said, I do wonder if online education is one of those things in life that you're going to get out of what you put in. The example that Aaron used about students rewording other's posts is a great example of this; those students didn't/couldn't take it upon themselves to go find a new point, so they used that of their classmates and therefore, learned nothing (I'm guessing). There is also the role of the professor teaching the course in these situations though and what grades they are giving to students who don't make much of an effort.
From an institutional standpoint, I can understand why there is a desire to provide online courses. In a time where budgets are decreasing and the demand for online is increasing, why wouldn't an institution want to jump on the online bandwagon? Even working at a public university, as a Transfer Admission Counselor, I am constantly being asked what online options are available at UNC.
Overall, I think if institutions are going to provide online learning, the course and curriculum should be well thought out, and there should be more consistent and rigid standards across the board.