Meryl's Notes Blog

The Washington Times states that approximately one in six students took an online course. The article and the referenced report imply that online learning is receiving mixed reviews. But it all depends on the program, the university, and and student motivation.

For me, online-based education works well as I don’t have to worry about understanding a professor as it’s been my experience that most are difficult to lipread. It could be because of accents or mumbling as a result of speaking too fast. But I’m glad online education didn’t exist when I went to college as I would’ve missed out on the college experience.

I hope to get a master’s degree when the time comes and I plan to work on it through an online program. I work with New York University’s master’s of science in management and systems. The program has one drawback: weekly online lectures complete with audio. With VoIP and applications like Centra, I fear more universities will add online and audio lectures to their curriculum by the time I find the time to start a master’s program.

Bloomberg News findings reported:

• 32 percent administrators at public colleges say their faculty support online education — down from 36 percent in previous year.

• Almost nine percent of admin believe faculty reject value of online teaching, up five percent from previous year.

• At private schools, 19 percent of admins say faculty opposed. Up 17 percent from 2004.

Not good news. This attitude lowers any hope of seeing a degree program a person wants that isn’t available yet. Furthermore, some students have concerns that online classes degrade the educational experience.

I earned a certificate in Internet technologies from New York University through an online program. The experience and other online classes I’ve taken proved it’s possible to get a high quality education online and walk away with new knowledge. I’ve been able to use what I picked up from the classes.

View the detailed Sloan Report on online education in the United States.