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Can you
imagine college classes taking place anywhere
other than in a classroom, like in your living
room, for instance? Probably not, until now...
Which Web Course Are You Taking Next Semester?
By Feona Sharhran
Huff
November 2000
The CollegeBound Network NewsClick -- Vikkie Wilkinson
didn't have time to get her master's degree the
traditional way. With an information technology
job that always had her on call and traveling,
it was impossible to squeeze in a couple of hours
to take courses in a classroom setting. Still,
getting additional education was important. Luckily,
Wilkinson was able to enroll in New York University's
(New York, NY) on-line program for Management
and Systems. "If it wasn't for this program, I
would not have a degree," she admits.
While the growth of distance
learning among working adults has obvious benefits,
students attending college immediately following
high school can hardly imagine learning taking
place anywhere other than the classroom, much
less their living room. Until now...
Colleges and universities
across the nation, says J. Michael Adams, president
of Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck,
NJ, are beginning to recognize that distance education
is an emerging alternative learning option. This
is why the university offers 35 on-line courses
to its students.
"Distance learning is neither
better nor worse; it's just different," says Adams.
"It gives students a new skill set that will serve
them 15 to 20 years from now." Come next fall,
undergraduate freshmen at FDU will be required
to take at least one course via the Web. "We recognize
that the Internet is a fundamental information
and research tool, and students can graduate from
college knowing how to function with the Internet,"
he explains.
Carla Lane, an associate
professor who teaches on-line courses at the University
of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, believes
there is an urgency for distance learning. "We
have become such an information age, that students
need to be able to get their degree in a timely
manner," Lane says. "The [shelf]-life of information
is seven months, and if you don't keep going back
and refreshing yourself, your knowledge will become
outdated."
Unlike Adams, Lane feels
that students get more out of an on-line education
than one taught in the physical classroom. "It's
a much friendlier place to be than a traditional
face-to-face classroom," she argues. "The old
way of teaching is based on an authoritative figure.
Students who normally don't say much, tend to
say more in an on-line learning environment. We're
[the teachers] trying to help them learn at their
own pace." With distance learning, says Lane,
professors post assignments in what's called a
'learning environment,' in which all registered
students have access to discuss topics, can view
others' opinions, and see homework that was turned
in. Lane enforces student-to-student and student-to-teacher
interaction, making such correspondence 40 percent
of their grade.
Rob Friedman, who teaches
on-line courses at the New Jersey Institute of
Technology in Newark, NJ, prefers the way of the
Web. "In the on-line classroom, students choose
to enter the classroom, they're not forced," Friedman
says. Plus, professors get the best of the student,
he says. "The student has the opportunity to think
about what he has to say, then compose it. Any
teacher can appreciate a well thought out idea
rather than a quick response."
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