E is for education
Whether you want to learn a language, study the Beatles or get a degree, you can find a class online
BY LAUREN WILEY When Pat Roque and her husband, Alex, wanted to pursue master's degrees, they went to grad school on the Web. When firefighter Michael Cannon needed to take Spanish classes, he fired up his computer.
From business management to history of jazz, classes in just about every subject imaginable are cropping up online. Even universities that once disavowed e-learning are adopting the online classroom. Working adults seeking academic enrichment for personal or professional reasons are choosing Web-based courses over night school because they fit more easily into their hectic schedules. With most online classes, the school is always open. You can log on at 2 a.m. to read course materials, e-mail questions to the teacher or post comments in discussion areas.
Pat Roque, 36, who has run a marketing firm in northern New Jersey for 13 years, and her husband, a 35-year-old CPA and controller, wanted to further their education, but with careers and two kids, it was impractical for them to attend an on-campus course. That's why they decided to get their master's degrees in management at Thomas Edison State College (www.tesc.edu), an accredited school based in Trenton that specializes in distance education. She tackles her class work after putting the children to bed, while Alex does schoolwork during his lunch breaks. Online learning "is a trend that's here to stay," Pat Roque says.
Frank Mayadas agrees. He runs a program at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation that awards grants to colleges to create online courses. The foundation has formed a consortium of schools that offer online programs (www.sloan-c.org). In the past academic year, the 80 schools in the consortium enrolled 300,000 online students, a number Mayadas expects to double this year.
Most online courses, whether for a degree or personal fulfillment, include a few key elements: course books and CD-ROMs; assignments that are e-mailed to students or posted on the Web; and "threaded discussions" in which students go online to post questions and respond to their professors and peers' comments in a format that usually resembles a chat room.
These discussions "give the students the opportunity to interact with each other and the faculty," says Gary Miller, executive director of the Penn State University World Campus program (www.worldcampus.psu.edu).
Penn State's 20 online offerings range from a master's in adult education to a degree in turf-grass management.
Six-year-old Jones International University (www.jonesinternational.edu) is among a handful of online-only colleges. The school, based in Englewood, Colo., offers more than 30 certificate programs, as well as bachelor's and master's degrees in business and education. More than 600 faculty members, located throughout the country, work together to develop curriculum and content. Courses are typically eight weeks long.
About 1,600 instructors teach more than 21,000 students in 21 online degree programs at the University of Phoenix Online (online.phoenix.edu). Phoenix courses, like most Web classes, are text-based. Course participants have discussions in message areas, and Phoenix requires students to log on to their class page five days a week.
Tuition for online degree programs is usually the same as the fees for traditional programs, though some schools charge less for Web-based courses.
Language lessons
Capt. Michael Cannon, 46, a firefighter in Houston for 23 years, needed to communicate in life-or-death situations with Spanish speakers. He didn't have time to commute to a college, so he took courses with Elba Fernandez, a former journalist who was then teaching Spanish on America Online. "[Taking an online course] was an easy way to do it," Cannon says.
Fernandez opened her own online school (www.spanishnetcollege.com) a year ago and has taught 500 students through the site. She has eight teachers and eight more in training, and plans to offer other languages. The format of SpanishNet College's classes varies, but they generally include an hour of text-based learning and an hour of audio chat once a week for eight weeks. Tuition is $100 for a general class and $120 for specialized courses, such as Spanish for lawyers.
Marianne Hardin, 54, an Arizona assistant attorney general, took two Spanish courses taught by Fernandez on AOL while attending law school at the University of Arizona. Despite occasional technical glitches (such as students getting bumped offline), the classes were "so well-presented and so much fun," she says.
Discipline required
Not everyone agrees that online learning is a good way to learn. The lack of face-to-face class time and interpersonal relationship between student and teacher concerns some educators. Maurita Holland, associate professor at the University of Michigan's School of Information, conducted an experiment in distance learning when she co-taught a management course for 100 graduate students. She asked 10 of them to take the course from home.
"Those students who stayed at home felt a little disenfranchised," Holland recalls. "They spent a lot of time trying to get the technology to work."
Graduate students who went to observe the at-home students found that instead of giving the class their full attention, the students often did chores, like washing dishes.
This brings us to the next lesson: Self-discipline is the key to learning online. "You have to put in your time, you have to be self-motivated," says Al Williams, 38, who attended the University of Baltimore's online MBA program (www.ubonline.edu) along with his wife, Donna, 39.
During their two years in the program, the couple switched jobs and moved from Delaware to Massachusetts. If they had been in a traditional school, they would have had to drop out. Instead, they were among the first six students to graduate from UB's program on Jan 7.
The Williamses did most of their work at night after their two children were in bed. "We gave up a lot of our TV time," Al Williams says.
They have a desktop computer and a laptop, so they didn't have to share a machine, and they were able to keep each other on task. "It's like a weight-loss program," Al says. "You feel guilty if one person is on the treadmill and you're not."
The UB online program saved 35-year-old Dave Gerlowski of North Fayette, Pa., from a grueling schedule he endured when attending night school in Pittsburgh. He no longer had to worry about traffic or weather each day when he logged on to the program's Web page. "It was like a classroom that never emptied. It was always open to us," he says, adding that the professors would respond to e-mails right away. "You almost had one-on-one tutoring. You would never get that in the classroom."
Subjects from A to Z
In addition to courses you pay for, there are many free classes on the Internet. Bookseller Barnes & Noble has set up one of the largest free schools on the Web. Barnes & Noble University (www.bnuniversity.com) is an online campus where students can interact with authors and experts. For the past year, the national book retailer has offered 35 to 50 classes each month covering a vast range of topics including meteorology, astronomy, Web site design, the Beatles, communication skills and yoga.
Classes are often kicked off with an online audio lecture by the teacher, followed by downloaded lessons. Students and teachers discuss the lessons in message boards. About 2,000 students can enroll in each technical course, and about 5,000 can join a non-technical class. So far, more than 100,000 people have enrolled in BNU.
Ready when you are
Whether you want to learn for learning's sake or you seek a degree, the Web offers a way to get educated on your own time. It's not the same as gathering together on campus, but some online students insist there is just as much, if not more, interaction in virtual classes.
"I've found it to be an open and insightful forum for thinking, brainstorming and networking," says student Pat Roque. "Online education definitely works, and you get as much, or as little, out of the experience as you are willing to commit."
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