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Non-Tech : Internet Rhetoric -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ~digs who wrote (67)	8/23/2004 9:58:05 PM
From: ~digs	Respond to of 73

--------- Online Education: Mixed Feelings --------- Rhetoric 3401 is my first experience with formal online education. I have mixed feelings about its effectiveness. Obviously convenience is a major benefit, but like others have mentioned already, I miss the face-to-face interaction that being on campus provides. Taking a class online seems to lessen the amount of time I spend thinking about course content. Put differently, when I have been in a traditional classroom setting, I think I tend to spend more time internally debating the concepts which have been presented. With an online class, it seems that I'm more inclined to complete the assigned task, and then go about my usual daily routine... instead of pondering the complex conversations which seem more likely to develop in a class on campus. In her article, Twigg states that "...despite an explosion in online activity, it appears that most of today's enrollment in VUCs consists of current students who are engaged in an alternative option to classroom learning." This would certainly be the case for me. Rather than having to deal with traffic into and out of Minneapolis, taking a class this summer through the Internet was a reasonable alternative. It would seem however that Twigg's vision of online education is not solely to offer a back-up version of college for those whom are already enrolled; she would rather that it acts as a conduit for an increased overall post-secondary student population. While this goal is certainly admirable, I'm not sure that it's altogeher desirable. Yes, having an online university will give some students an ability to attend when they otherwise might not have been able to do so, but it is my opinion that the vast majority of those whom are motivated enough to seek higher education should take the necessary steps to get themselves on campus. In conclusion, it is my belief that online education can be a great way to augment your college experience, but it should in no way supplant it entirely. Besides academic instruction, a big part of college learning is the face-to-face interaction with your classmates: knowing when to agree to disagree, working out complex problems together, impromptu brainstorming, etc. If I chose to get my degree exclusively through the Internet, the above are just a few of the things I feel that I would miss out on.