Advantages of DL

[Herbert Spencer]

She left out "no bedbugs," but otherwise some interesting if sometimes contradictory comparisons.  It can save money, or it may cost more?  

No face to face contact with the instructor is a bad thing?  Depends on the instructor, I guess.  For most profs, "no need to dress for success" has been the rule for decades.

Use common sense?  There's a thought.  Isn't that cultural imperialism?  Aren't we just supposed to do what the people in charge tell us?

Advantages and disadvantages of online education classes
by Carol Smock

Whether a student wants to pursue a degree, develop work related skills, or simply learn a new skill, online courses are increasingly presenting options that were not possible only a few years ago. Several options are available.

Many well known universities offer “minimal residence” degrees that allow students to remain in place, working their usual job, and take most of the course work online. Then they take 2 or 3 weeks of intense study on campus each semester. This allows them to experience instruction that would not be practical over the internet and provides for a well thought out and executed course of study.

Some college courses are offered online without any requirements for meeting on campus. Assignments and tests are submitted via email. The student may never meet the professor face to face. Either part or all of a degree may be earned this way.

Employee education that will help the individual advance in her career can be offered through online courses .

Finally, some students want to develop a specific skill, such as learning a new language that is not available in their particular place of residence. An online course, with conversations conducted via the internet and assignments made and completed by the student can be useful for this.

Advantages:

It can save money

Taking online courses can be more economical than traditional campus life, especially if the student would have to move to a different area or commute.

Lectures can be viewed more than once

For a student whose attention wanders or who has to miss a class due to illness or work pressures, the lecture is still available for viewing. It can be reviewed as often as needed so the student is able to better grasp the subject matter.

Diverse student body

Online students can come from any area of the world to participate in the class. Meeting students from different cultural backgrounds and experience will broaden the knowledge and skills acquired in the online course.

Go to class as you are

Unless you use a camera to visibly attend classes, you can study in your pajamas on Saturday morning or after work. No need to dress for success.

Increases available options

If a course cannot be provided at the student’s location, it may be offered online from another place. This will greatly increase the options available to students.

Flexible schedule

For a nontraditional student juggling class, work and family responsibilities, this may be the best way to pursue studies.

Less intimidating
Some students have difficulty with face to face class discussions and prefer the less intense online style of class participation.

Geographic flexibility

No matter where the student happens to be; at home on the other side of the continent or even traveling on a business trip, she can download and complete assignments, check email to keep up with class, take tests, and conduct research.

Disadvantages:

Requires organization and persistence

An online student is fully responsible for time management. This can either work well or become a disaster. The student has to have self discipline and be able to work out a schedule that will allow enough time to absorb the material and complete assignments as required.

You need a good computer. You need to know how to use it.

Not everyone is technologically savvy or has the money to invest in a good computer. If the student’s computer is more than 5 years old, it will be completely inadequate for the required work. The computer will need to have a way to back up the student’s work so assignments are not lost in the event of a crash. It will need at least 2 GB of memory and a high speed internet connection.

No face to face contact with the instructor

Some shy students may prefer this less intimate arrangement, while others thrive more on personal interaction in a classroom setting. Those who are more outgoing and like to engage this way may feel isolated in online courses.

Not all online courses are created equal

It is the student’s responsibility to carefully research the courses being offered online. Quality varies widely, and once you have paid for a course it will be nearly impossible to get your money back. If you have used grant money for the course, you cannot then use the same grant money to pay for something more suitable.

Carefully check if you will want to transfer the course. Make sure the school is accredited, and the school you want to transfer to will accept the credits.

Also use common sense. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. An online course that promises to prepare students for a career that requires a great deal of hands-on training is usually not a good bet.

It may cost more

Some online courses are more expensive than the same type of class taken locally. In addition, the student has to invest in the computer equipment and internet connection needed for the class. Figure in the cost of tuition, books and supplies, software upgrades, electricity, babysitting, loss of overtime pay, and travel to attend any required practicum.

Financial aid issues

Carefully consider what, if any, financial aid to use for an online course. Once you use it, it’s gone. If it’s a loan, you will have to pay it back with interest. Check with school counselors (ones not employed by the online school); hiring personnel; the Better Business Bureau; and other sources to be sure the school maintains a good reputation and will lead where you think it does. If no job is available at the end of the course, it isn’t a very good investment.

References and further information:

http://www.educationtraininginfo.com/art...ourses.htm

http://www.distance-learning-college-gui...rning.html

http://www.suite101.com/content/online-c...rses-a9807

[ham]

Computer equipment?! WTF?! You can purchase a used Intel coreduo with 4GB memory & all the stuff for under $300...
Internet connection?
You mean you are seriously comparing a monthly fee (in this locale) of $20 a month for unlimited broadband with commuting by car or bus?!

Figure in the cost of tuition, books and supplies, software upgrades, electricity, babysitting, loss of overtime pay, and travel to attend any required practicum.

WTF...
I thought those were costs associated with B&M traditional university...

Perhaps this is one of those articles that want to be critical of DL without showing their true colors...for example, leaving bad aspects last insures the stereotypical reader is more likely to remember those...

while others thrive more on personal interaction in a classroom setting. Those who are more outgoing and like to engage this way may feel isolated in online courses.

Honestly, if you don't have "what it takes", professors are very unlikely to bother with you...B.A teaching is mostly administered through "teaching assistants" anyways...you also may be an A student and they won't bother with you..."what it takes" may very likely mean a communist party or Leninist youth card, a strong belief in the advocacy of "diversity", and/or being "cute" and willing to sleep with them...

I am sure many people find the sideline of B&M universities exhilarating, but I can dispense with meeting Quran in the dorm room when he's had a bad day and a baseball bat...with the drug parties...the noise, uncleanliness, bedbugs and all the rest...including marxist hacks recycling 1970s East German syllabi with minor editing, such as "marxism-leninism" now being "progressiveness", "agit-prop" being "minority right advocates", zionists being "neo-cons" and indoctrination being "scholarship".

[Albert Hidel]

...a strong belief in the advocacy of "diversity"...

Gotta love that diversity.  Took an online course once from…won’t say, but it was an RA Gold Standard gem you can be sure.  Said course required participation in a live online lecture session, with microphones and "raise your hand" buttons and all that crap.  

Now first of all, doesn’t that pretty much defeat the purpose of online learning?  Isn’t the idea to dispense with the stupid lectures and similarly annoying time-wasters?  Some of these higher ed types’ idea of progress is to make all the exciting new technological innovations just as stultifyingly boring as all the old crap they were designed to supersede.

So the prof comes online and it turns out she’s some reject from China who can barely speak intelligible English.  I’m sure she was a smart lady and a wonderful person, but I mean, come on, she couldn’t speak fucking English.  Just the person you want to listen to for an hour droning on about some required topic that you didn’t give two shits about in the first place.

Then the obligatory student-who-can’t-figure-out-how-to-work-the-online-software chimes in, also in broken English.  This time it’s a reject from some Spanish-speaking country.  So the entire first half of the class is devoted to an incomprehensible discussion between Ms. Dr. Chinese Pidgin-English and Sr. Spanish Pidgin-English about how to work his computer.  

Now its wok?
Jess, eet no aworky.
Yes it wokking?
Nooo, eet no aworky.
Its not wok?
Jess, eet no aworky.

Just because your English is good enough to answer the phone at the Chow Mein Palace doesn’t mean you can teach college.

Here’s an idea: They have a TOEFL test for every foreigner who wants to study in English.  How about an SFEGD test for anyone who wants to teach in English?  

That’s the “Speak Fucking English God Dammit” test.  

[ham]

Just because your English is good enough to answer the phone at the Chow Mein Palace doesn’t mean you can teach college.

you weren't serious when you wrote

The fact is that where prostitution is “legal,” either overtly or in practice, women are exploited, abused, and consigned to sexual slavery.  That is not in any way consistent with “libertarian” ideals.  

And anyone who acts as a “purchaser” in such transactions is participating in and contributing to that coercion and exploitation.  It cannot be justified as merely a harmless exercise in “libertarian” ideals because it’s not.

because we could have here a case of exploited third world academics and students, and you as a purchaser of the service.

This time it’s a reject from some Spanish-speaking country.

It was probably 3 months' wage for them...

I hate real time online classes...hell, I hate even asynchronous ones...tried a few, hated all...never going back...you meet the same weird characters and jackasses as you'd on DI/DD or most other online places...

[Don Dresden]

Just because your English is good enough to answer the phone at the Chow Mein Palace doesn’t mean you can teach college.

you weren't serious when you wrote

Ha ha, the difference between what is and what should be.  

Thinking back to good ol' Dr. Greek Alphabet............What'd he say?  After a couple of weeks it was clear that it didn't matter.  Yer on yer own buckos!  

That was fine when you paid $250 for an entire semester.  If I was paying ~$1000/unit or more like at many places now I think I'd ask for a refund.