Photo Credit: aNantaB
Today, many working adults are choosing to continue—or start—post-secondary learning through the online environment. The choices can be daunting. In order to determine whether ‘online learning is right for me’, prospective students should know the key characteristics and challenges.
‘Online learning’ refers to web-based instruction that enables individuals to access and communicate with faculty and fellow students virtually. Formal options are primarily credit-granting university/college programs at undergraduate and graduate levels. Informal alternatives include CEU (continuing education unit) and noncredit courses; and customized programs for companies, groups and industries.
Conceptual models vary too. They range from single-subject to cross-disciplinary, scenario-based to collaborative, and even extend to ‘cohorts’, in which a small group of adults proceed through a program together. Timeframes can be standard term, accelerated, weekend-only or self-paced by the student. Topics cover almost every discipline found in traditional higher education.
Typically, web courses use either off-the-shelf instructional software or proprietary alternatives designed by the educational provider. Features include asynchronous (delayed time) forums, real time chats, drop boxes to upload papers and projects, announcement menus, and secured administrative areas for faculty to post syllabi, assignment feedback and grades. There are often supplemental links to external sources of information, and increasing use of e-books rather than hard copies.
The biggest challenge for novices is the lack of face-to-face personal interaction in the forums, the result of a loss of ‘human cues’: gestures, tones of voice and use of spatial zones. The advent of sophisticated audio and video streaming is helping to modify, but has not yet replaced, these gaps.
An example of a completely online (virtual) learning environment using an accelerated schedule can be accessed at http://www.coloradotech.edu/degree-programs/learning-options/online-learning/ctu-virtual-campus.aspx
Mon, Jul 6, 2009
Adult Education, Continuing Education, Online Education