Traditional Universities Are Getting Into the Online Education Game

While an undergraduate at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Ark., Caitlin Getchell juggled 18 credit hours each semester. In an attempt to lighten her workload during the school year and still enjoy her summer vacation, Getchell turned to an online class one summer.

Luckily for her, the American government class she selected mostly contained information she already knew, and she breezed through it. No research papers were required, and open book tests were allowed; there was also regular posting on a message board by students. But, Getchell says, if the class had been something different, she might not have done as well.

“If it had been a subject I didn't know much about — Calculus or Chemistry for example — I think I would have really struggled,” she says.

Getchell, who received a bachelor’s degree in history in 2007, adds that she was glad she took the class online.

And she’s not alone in finding the benefits of online learning irresistible. Enrollment in online courses is growing rapidly, and several universities are even offering degrees strictly online. In fall 2008, 4.6 million students at degree-granting higher institutions took at least one class online, a nearly 17 percent increase over fall 2007.

Online enrollment accounted for 25 percent of total enrollment for fall 2007, according to the Sloan Consortium, which has conducted a survey of online education in the U.S. every year since 2002.

But the transition to Internet-based learning is leaving some wondering if online learning is growing too fast for its own good.

For-profit colleges like the University of Phoenix and Kaplan University have been offering classes and degrees online for years, catering to non-traditional students returning to school or those who already have a full-time job and need flexibility in their studies. Likewise, community colleges have depended on online teaching as a way to reach non-traditional students.

Online instruction can also save money while increasing enrollment: something that’s very appealing to traditional institutions across the country as they grapple with budget cuts. 

In 2007, Arizona State University began expanding its online degree offerings. The university created ASU Online, calling it one of the school’s five campuses. In the past year there has been an aggressive effort to increase the program offerings, says Arizona State University Online spokesman Russ Knocke.

The school has 20 degree programs and several certificates. Additional degrees are expected to be introduced in the coming semesters, Knocke says. Offering classes for degrees like Bachelor of Arts in Film and Media Studies and Bachelor of Science in Justice Studies, ASU can grant students a degree bearing the name of their respective college and department while conducting studies strictly online.

"There are more than 45 million people nationwide with some post-secondary education, but no degree to show for it. They are intelligent people who choose not to enroll anywhere,” says Knocke, adding: “It could be that they live too far away from a good school that's the right fit for them, or because other conditions in their lives won't allow them to take face-to-face courses. These are our students.”

Community colleges are also expanding their online offerings to meet demand. The San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) created Online Learning Pathways, where the three schools offer classes online for its students. This fall, the three schools — City College, Mesa College, and Miramar College — expect to see a 5 percent increase in online enrollment over spring 2010, according to Andrea Henne, dean of Online and Distributed Learning for SDCCD.

She says the students enrolled in the courses range from 18- to more than 50-years-old, and many will fulfill requirements to transfer to a four-year university. Henne adds that online learning allows the student a front-row seat in the classroom and saves time on commuting. It also helps diversify the classroom.

"Since online students are often from outside the local area and even from around the world, the online classroom brings together a diverse community of learners to enrich the learning experience," Henne says.

She does admit that online learning is not perfect, as the technology is still evolving. One drawback, she says, is that a student usually spends more time in an online class than in a traditional course.

Earlier this month, Christopher Edley, dean at the University of California-Berkeley School of Law and special adviser to the UC president, presented a proposal to the university’s regents for an online undergraduate pilot program.  A survey conducted by the UC Office of the President in January to gauge student interest showed that more than half of the 3,000 undergraduate UC students surveyed said they would be somewhat interested or very interested in a degree wholly online. The majority of students surveyed said being able to learn anytime and anywhere is a major advantage to proposed online undergraduate degrees.

That same survey, however, showed students are worried about the perception some people may have about an online degree vs. a campus-based degree. Moreover, students are worried about losing the social and cultural aspect of an on-campus experience.

Marissa Gurtler, who has taken two classes online as she works toward her degree in English Literature and Classics at ASU, was able to travel while taking her Internet-based classes. She appreciated the convenience of online learning while traveling but says that the human interaction and enthusiasm that can be found in a traditional classroom course was missing.

“I prefer traditional courses, hands down,” she says. “I believe online classes provided a convenience that furthers education which makes them an extremely valuable asset. However, I do not believe anything can replace in class interaction.”

Unsurprisingly, it appears that many faculty members agree. Last fall, when the Sloan Consortium asked chief academic officers at schools across the country about faculty acceptance of online instruction, only 31 percent said their faculty accepts the value and legitimacy of online education. Nearly 52 percent of the academic officers reported their faculty members were neutral on the subject and 17 percent were not accepting. Just as important, however, is the survey finding that nearly one-fifth of higher education institutions do not provide any training to their faculty for teaching online. So whether or not the faculty members support the online class they are expected to teach, many may not be equipped to even teach it.

And like students, University of California faculty members say they fear the online degree proposal could cheapen the school’s degrees and harm their brand.

In an op-ed in UC Berkeley's independent student newspaper, The Daily Cal, a group of professors outlined three points they say must be remembered when considering growing online education: online teaching can't replace the real classroom; the UC system serves California, and must avoid investing precious resources in creating a worldwide brand that would ultimately outsource and lessen the quality of teachers; and simply extracting parts of teaching and placing it online severs the link that keeps teaching and researching together as one.

"Most of the discussion about online education has come from administrators who are far removed from the experience of teaching and the financial realities of online education," the professors write. "The university has hundreds of superb teachers. They have scarcely been consulted, beyond a few cursory meetings. However it is obvious that it is teachers, not administrators, who should be the architects of this initiative, and at every step."

Faculty complaints were the main catalyst for the failure of the University of Illinois’ Global Campus, established in 2007. After just two years, the University of Illinois’ board of trustees decided to phase out the program after it failed to meet its ambitious goals.

Judging by the continued expansion of Internet-based instruction, it’s clear that it has become a legitimate form of higher education for many students, both traditional and non-traditional. But it’s clear that barriers exist for those seeking to take advantage of online education. With continued worries about stigmas attached to an online degree, and a lack of faculty cooperation, online education may never enjoy the level of acceptance that in-class learning has. And if the education process is compromised — either by a lack of proper online instruction or a perceived stigma of the degree — then the usefulness of this alternative comes into question.

Kristi Eaton is a staff writer for Campus Progress. She graduated from Arizone State University in 2008.

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