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I thought I would take to the time to bring everyone up to
date on the current technologies which have helped many colleges develop and
run online degree programs which both meet the expectations of the accreditation
boards and the general business community.
Over the last 10 years, I have managed to go through two
different online schools and have a wife who has gone through another. Both of
us had previous college degrees but wanted to extend in different areas through
additional education. In my case I had to finish my B.S. work and decided to do
it at Strayer University. Strayer is a typical brick and mortar school in the
MD/VA/DC area and has a number of campuses as well as an online program. As I
am in the field of computer network consulting I choose one of their computer
networking degree paths.
In Strayer’s case they had two major ways of delivering
online content: synchronous content and asynchronous content. The synchronous
content was completed with a typical full class where individuals would come
together at a specified time each week and spend an amount of time both
receiving live voice lecture and powerpoint style video. While this was going
on the class was allowed to ask questions and discuss the material through a
chat functionality which was built into the classroom. I found this to be very
freeing compared to a typical class setting as I didn’t waste the time of
coming and going from class and was able to do it in a comfortable
educationally friendly environment. The asynchronous content followed more of
an independent study approach where students were loosely guided by project
assignments and discussions but not required to meet at specified times. This style
of course I found to be more freeing but required much more discipline.
I continued my education on to another school (Capella) for
my master’s work; they followed the same asynchronous style of classroom. As
with my work with Strayer this class style followed by Capella also required a
more disciplined person as guidance was father away and assignments,
discussions and projects were all required but the time spent on them required
considerable time management abilities.
In today’s mobile environment many of these schools are
continuing to take advantage of further broadband connectivity and speed. Some
are using this further by providing both live and recorded video presentations
which allow the students to see the instructors and interact with them in real
time.
The real question with all of this is what if any difference
is there between a traditional college setting and an online setting? In my
case I believe it was rather advantageous to have an online setting as a
working professional but am still unsure whether this type of environment would
work well with a just out of high school person. Many of these students
(including myself at the time) are not disciplined enough to handle the time
management required to succeed in these style of classrooms. Do you thing that
this style of classroom will become more mainstream for new college students or
will the traditional schools retain a large amount of these students until
their carriers are under way and continuing education is intended through the
experience?
-sean
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