Sometimes they’re the only option. Sometimes they’re the last resort. And sometimes students actually prefer to take them.
In the digital age, online classes are the necessary evil for students who learn better outside of the classroom.
As a senior with a full-time job and a position on the school newspaper who is taking an online class for the first time, I can honestly say that I have never felt more comfortable. I am able to learn at my own pace, sharpen my deadline skills and force myself to study.
A study from University of California, Davis revealed at the American Educational Research Association in April that online classes were both ineffective and “less successful” than classes taught in classrooms.
The study found that student’s overall grades and completion rates were lower in online classes than for the same classes that were offered in a classroom.
“Policymakers in California and other states are interested in exploring whether online courses can be used to expand instruction and improve outcomes,” co-author of the study and assistant professor at UC Davis Cassandra Hart said. “But there may be costs to this strategy.”
Hart, along with education doctoral students Michael Hill and Elizabeth Friedman, conducted the study on freshman community college students.
Most freshman college students, whether they are attending community college, University of California or California State University is either unmotivated and unprepared or both when attending college classes for the first time.
And who can blame them?
As we grow into our college-selves we learn how we like to learn; by the time we are juniors we should know if we can perform better in an online class or face-to-face setting.
A recent survey conducted by the Instructional Technology Council found that enrollment in online classes grew by 6.52 percent from fall 2011 to fall 2012.
The growth of “distance learning” in recent years has sharpened professors’ lesson plans, according to the ITC survey.
Pausing through a detailed lesson on Youtube can be more comfortable for students who don’t like to ask questions in class. Shyness in the classroom can result in a decline in participation points; online classes can eliminate the stress of classroom learning.
Furthermore, more and more people are going to college. Needed classes become impacted and the graduation date gets pushed further and further back.
“Job and family commitments make equal demands on [students’] time,” said Tom Snyder, president of Ivy Tech Community College. “At the same time, many state institutions are unable to accommodate all those who want to take classes on campus, escalating the demand for online learning.”
If the professor does it right, online classes leave very small room for slacking. Students’ grades depend solely on the effort they put in to logging on, taking notes and completing assignments.
Kind of sounds like a classroom setting.
However, face-to-face classes are at a specific time period with in-class work, class participation points and, most likely, attendance credit.
Online classes are not the solution to college learning. But as we move deeper into the digital age, “distance learning” provides more help than harm.