Here's the comment I made on the Four-Eyed Technologist Blog about online degrees. Ryan's entry is well worth a read.
As a prof at a traditional state regional university, it only makes sense that online universities are yet another option. I heard an interesting comment the other day: as historians, we like to train people to be just like us but be forced to enter the unemployment lines in the real world. As you know, this is because we often train people to be just like us and there just aren’t the jobs. The point to this long story is that the teachers I’m working with (both history and technology) that are contemplating higher education assume that their only option is a PhD in History. And my colleagues reinforce that without real regard for the job market and their individual circumstances - is young children, working spouse who can’t just pick up and move, family ties, etc.
The online degrees offer entirely new opportunities to people who are highly motivated but may also be place-bound. I’ve encouraged these teachers to check out online degrees (and meeting Existential Paine and KJ Haxx in Second Life only reinforced that as well as informing me about other alternatives) in a variety of fields: teaching, education, technology, history. Then, they should make an informed choice about what best fits their needs.
Our university has an education technology masters that only went online a couple of years ago - but they finally got there. The problem is that traditional instructors are not comfortable with not seeing their students. They cite the often-quoted “how do you know who’s doing the work”? Well, I think that is largely in the course design. In world professors send students off with generic ID items to answer with no expectations regarding specific sources and then wonder why they get answers they can easily find via Google.
Teaching and online learning is more challenging just by the nature of the beast. (I’ve been teaching online since we first had the option about 7 years ago). It’s more work to be sure everyone is participating. What in-world folks don’t consider is that there is no way to hide in the back row in an online class and just pass a test or two. (I still have to hold my breath when instructors who don’t teach well online talk about how they throw their notes up once and then it’s easy from then on . .. . argh!)
So, thanks for sharing your experiences and I’m hoping Walden and the traditional campus-based universities keep extending their offerings. Our state department of education, in fact, is at least in talks with the University of Phoenix (a large campus in Wichita to name one plus those in the Kansas City metro area) to offer teachers courses when they can take them given that the state universities don’t always have the staffing (and, in some cases, will) to do so.
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