Online Education: How Close Can It Come To Effectively Replacing University?

[Cena's Little Helper]

Almost 8 years ago, when I was a wee college junior, I remember being introduced to MIT's OCW (OpenCourseWare), an online, digital publication of the syllabi, problem sets, lecture notes, quizzes, and exams for at least a hundred different courses offered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For any true autodidact, it was a heaven-sent gift: here at one's fingertips were not only guidelines for an elite education but also means to measure one's comprehension and retention of said elite education (it was also a lesson in humility as I came to realize that my Economics program was shit compared to the one at MIT, where majoring in mathematics was a virtual requirement for a degree in Economics).

Fast forward to 2013 and we not only have Salman Khan and the revolutionary Khan Academy, but we're (hopefully) on the precipice of Coursera, an online educational company that aspires to offer students courses and certifications from leading research universities, making a huge impact in the world of distance learning.

Obviously nothing will ever replace the four-year college/university experience (and I am not including primary and secondary education here as those are important institutions for socialization), but must an effective higher education require one to sit in a classroom? Can lecturers/professors offer just as good of an education via the Internet, and can said lecturers/professors and TAs be just as helpful to struggling/confused students through the networking technologies now available to us?

I love these education possibilities and, being a former college student, I don't see any difference in learning from a room of 30-300 other students and in learning from my home office.

What say you?

 

[H33LTurn]

Online university would be a fantastic idea in my opinion. As we grow, we learn to absorb information through unconventional ways due to the ever changing world around us. Today, most people are accustomed to absorbing information through the internet, and if one is truly resourceful, he or she can be self taught in the most complicated of subjects. There seems to still be a stigma against taking online courses but I think as time progresses and geographical and economical factors strain students, online education will be more widely accepted. I'm with you when it comes to primary and secondary school, as these do not only teach kids about various subjects, but also play a vital role in the social development of the student. However, as an adult I think you are mature enough to seek an education however you see most convenient.

 

[GI Cake]

From a personal experience, online education was actually far more difficult than taking a class at a campus, in the end it just comes down to personal preference, and the major you are taking. In Tdigle's case, I can see why online classes would work for what he learned but when I tried taking a Psych course online it just did not blend well into a purely online course.

I can see why people would enjoy taking their classes online, and I don't see any reason why some of them shouldn't have a fully online college courses available to those who can do better learning online.

 

[Sinister Shadows]

From personal experience I hate online classes, and don't learn as well from them as I do in a traditional class room. I've talked to others that enjoy online classes, but they don't work for me because they slip my mind far to easy and I end up behind and rushing to get it done instead of taking the time to learn it.

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

From a personal experience, online education was actually far more difficult than taking a class at a campus, in the end it just comes down to personal preference, and the major you are taking. In Tdigle's case, I can see why online classes would work for what he learned but when I tried taking a Psych course online it just did not blend well into a purely online course.

I can see why people would enjoy taking their classes online, and I don't see any reason why some of them shouldn't have a fully online college courses available to those who can do better learning online.

From personal experience I hate online classes, and don't learn as well from them as I do in a traditional class room. I've talked to others that enjoy online classes, but they don't work for me because they slip my mind far to easy and I end up behind and rushing to get it done instead of taking the time to learn it.

Question for both of you since I've never taken a class online for credit. How exactly did the course work? Did your instructors just post lecture notes or did they post actual video lectures (that is to say, did the classes end up being nothing more than glorified independent studies or not)? Also, how did office hours work, and were there any TAs?

I used to think of online classes as worthless because of the lack of interfacing. However, isn't that now a moot point if, for example, instructors and TAs can now skype with you?

 

[GI Cake]

Question for both of you since I've never taken a class online for credit. How exactly did the course work? Did your instructors just post lecture notes or did they post actual video lectures (that is to say, did the classes end up being nothing more than glorified independent studies or not)? Also, how did office hours work, and were there any TAs?

I used to think of online classes as worthless because of the lack of interfacing. However, isn't that now a moot point if, for example, instructors and TAs can now skype with you?

A lot of it was self-taught, we were given notes and assignments to do and grade ourselves. We had a nice system to communicate with other students to meet up to study together or ask any questions but other than that you were pretty spot on about it being a glorified independent studies group.

After the first day being introduced to my professor, that was the last I ever saw of her. The second time we were supposed to meet with her was the final and she had a TA step in to collect and watch over the tests.

 

[Sinister Shadows]

Question for both of you since I've never taken a class online for credit. How exactly did the course work? Did your instructors just post lecture notes or did they post actual video lectures (that is to say, did the classes end up being nothing more than glorified independent studies or not)? Also, how did office hours work, and were there any TAs?

I used to think of online classes as worthless because of the lack of interfacing. However, isn't that now a moot point if, for example, instructors and TAs can now skype with you?

I've had classes that had recorded lectures posted online, and I've had classes where the teacher just opened assignments when it was time to do them and posted a few resources here and there, I had one class where the teacher opened everything up at the start of class and it was all due the last day of the semester (all multiple choice basically, computer graded it all) and never heard nothing from the teacher... ever.


So basically it just depends on the teacher you get and what kind of class it is.