You can do nearly anything online nowadays, including college courses.
Departments at Ball State University see online courses in different ways. Areas of study requiring more lab time and one-on-one instruction, such as chemistry and biology, view online courses differently than fields such as communication and education.
At the Faculty Council meeting Thursday, members discussed marking online courses in a way to show they were different than traditional classroom instr uction. James Rybarczyk, associate professor of chemistry, said many chemistry students are being asked to tell which courses they took online when they apply for jobs. Online courses do make a difference for departments with heavy emphasis on research and lab time. However, in other cases, getting the basics or tutorials online can leave more time to focus on upper-level content areas in actual classes.
The idea to specify online courses next will be discussed in one of the four University Senate committees.
Colleges are being forced to offer alternatives to old-school classes to keep up with universities catering to non-traditional students, such as the University of Phoenix. These online courses might be less profitable, but more are being offered nonetheless.
The newest course credit transfer system between Ball State and Ivy Tech Community College for education majors shows the surge in online learning. The final two years of an elementary education degree can be completed entirely online at Ball State, which is essential for nontraditional students.
The bad part is students miss out on the conversation and dialogue available in classroom discussions. But, for core classes where you only need to learn the basics, it can be a better use of time to get them out of the way quickly.
If the contents of a course are the same, it doesn't make sense to differentiate between online classes and regular classes. Online courses cost less, can be completed in a time frame the student chooses and sometimes have almost open book tests. Why wouldn't students want to take courses this way?
Online courses are going to continue to grow. Whatever the decision — to denote or not to denote — it will make little difference.
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