Online class registration numbers increase
More USU students find it beneficial to take courses online – sometimes in combination with traditional classes – according to Robert Wagner, director of Regional Campuses and Distance Education.
Retaining students in online classes continues to be emphasized, Wagner said, and recently for the first time, online tutoring became available, which has proven beneficial.
“We’re making great strides and improvements in our retention efforts to make sure that students – whether they’re taking a traditional course or taking a distance course – that they’re getting the help they need,” Wagner said.
According to the Regional Campuses and Distance Education annual report, enrollment in distance education has increased by nearly half since 2006. Wagner said many students take online classes because of scheduling conflicts.
Mark Ashcraft, a senior majoring in psychology who only takes online classes, said online classes are easier to fit around his work schedule. After transferring to USU from Brigham Young University-Idaho two years ago, he made the transition from mostly traditional classes to all online. He said he works full-time, and online classes are easier and more convenient, because he wastes less time not having to travel to and from campus.
Alex Kim, a senior in majoring biology, took online courses during summer semesters so she could move home and continue coursework required for her major. For her, the difficulty level was the same as traditional classroom courses, and she said one of the highest grades she’s gotten at USU was for an online class.
Jacie Stratford, a senior majoring in elementary education who took an online class while attending traditional classes at USU, said though an online class was convenient, she prefers the in-class experience.
“You can bounce ideas off of other students,” Stratford said of traditional classes. “When you’re (taking classes online) that’s not the case. I think I actually retained more in class than online.”
A common concern with taking online and traditional classes together is time management, but Stratford said she did not have trouble balancing her workload.
“It was a lot easier,” Stratford said. “I had certain due dates and tests to take by a certain date. It was really convenient because I could email the instructor.”
Kim said there is a possible downside to not having face-to-face interactions.
“Online classes – depending on how they are set up – you might not be able to get a question answered as quickly if you were in a traditional class and just walk up to the professor,” she said.
Greg Wheeler, who teaches math distance education classes from the Uintah Basin campus, said he saw more students take college algebra online when the class sizes were increased from about 40 students to 500 students.
“I think it changed because students get more individualized instruction and can do the videos online,” Wheeler said. “You’ve lost the ability to ask questions to a teacher when they have more than 400 students.”
Kim said watching a recorded lecture instead of live was a plus.
“I liked my online class, because I could pause and rewind when taking notes if I missed something the teacher said,” Kim said.
Besides being simpler, Wheeler said the new online tutoring system has additional advantages.
“Tutors can do more than chat with (students),” Wheeler said. “They have technology that allows them to work problems online on the screen.”
Chris Dayley, student services coordinator for Distance Education, said his goal is to provide the same access to workshops and tutoring for distance students as students at the Logan campus.
“We are working on recording them to put them online in course format with supplemental materials, to give them the same type of access that traditional courses have,” Dayley said.
Tuition payments also break down differently for online classes.
“One thing students don’t understand is the pay difference for online and traditional classes,” Ashcraft said. “The misunderstanding is when students pay for traditional classes and that student body fee and then also pay for online courses per credit. They end up paying more.”
State funding for USU Distance Education is limited, which is the reason students pay separately – $247 each – for every individual credit hour taken, Wagner said.
Students do not pay a student body fee when they only take online courses, and since they pay per credit hour, the price is cheaper by comparison, he said.
Full-time students at the Logan campus enrolled in traditional classes paid $2,600 to $2,800 this school year, excluding class fees, according to the registrar’s website. That total is comparable to taking about 11 online course credits.
Wagner said USU offers 385 courses online, and more than 5,000 students are enrolled this semester.
Even with 385 courses, some students still feel more classes should be offered. Kim said she would have liked to be able to work while going to school, and more online classes could make that possible.
“I wish they had more online classes offered for my major that I could have taken, even if it were more of the general classes that don’t have labs attached or required,” Kim said.
USU began offering correspondence courses for students wanting to learn from home in 1919, according to the Distance Education report.
By 1997, students were enrolling in online Distance Education courses or watching professors teach via satellite in regional campus classrooms throughout the state. USU’s Distance Education system offers 18 degree programs completely online.
Wagner said the difference between USU and other Utah public institutions offering online courses is that USU has the widest reach for its broadcast courses. Through Distance Education regional campuses, students sit in classrooms and have classes broadcast to them in real time.
USU broadcasts 320 courses a week and offers more than 45 degrees and programs through broadcast, Wagner said.
“The broadcast is what sets USU apart,” Wagner said. “The other public institutions do that, but not nearly as much as we do.”
Broadcast courses are a tool in the land-grant mission of the university, Wagner said.
“The mission and goal that we have is to take USU education out to meet the university’s land-grant mission to deliver courses and programs across the state,” Wagner said. “Broadcast allows us to do that.”
– la.stewart@aggiemail.usu.edu