Online courses have pros and cons
In the back of almost every student’s mind, there is deep longing for a fusion of the ideals of earning college credit and lounging on a beach in a bathrobe.
Vince Lafferty, director of Time Enhanced Learning at Utah State University, said this fusion is one of the greatest advantages of an online course.
“It’s centered around the students’ time,” Lafferty said.
Tagg Archibald, Associated Students of USU’s vice president of Extension, taking classes “in the comfort of your home at your own pace and your own time,” is one of an online course’s greatest attributes.
But such an ideal doesn’t come cheap. This year at USU, the tuition for an online course is $135 per credit ($405 for a three-credit course) in addition to regular credit payments.
“We just took the regular tuition price for a full-time student and divided it by 12 credit hours,” Lafferty said.
Though always optional, many online courses have been taken due to time restraints, and many students have been puzzled as to the reasons for such high costs.
“We’re a self-support unit,” Lafferty said. “We have to garner our own funding.”
Because the funding at Extension’s learning center is separate from the rest of the university, expenses such as faculty salary, instructional designer salary (to maintain the Web sites) and even a lab for testing must be covered by the department.
According to Lafferty, most good online teachers spend about 1.5 times as much time in an online class as a regular class (including meeting three to four times a week to answer questions).
“The learning is equal to what you would get in a face-to-face class,” Lafferty said.
While most of the feedback is positive, some students disagree.
Leslie Noble, a senior history major, said she enjoyed the flexibility of an online class but learned a lot less than if she had taken it as a regular class.
Noble said she probably wouldn’t take an online course again.
“They don’t really suit my learning style,” she said.
Lafferty agreed.
“Online classes are not for everyone. You need good computers and some technical skills,” he said.
Lafferty admitted that the classes weren’t very personal and that getting a hold of the professor was one of the greatest difficulties.
Just like everything else, there’s good and bad in an online course, but for some, sitting around in a bathrobe on the beach is worth whatever it takes to make it happen.
-mattgo@cc.usu.edu