Comments on: Online Education: Why We Need More of It http://nasblog.org/2009/12/20/online-education-why-we-need-more-of-it/ The National Association of Scholars: For reasoned scholarship in a free society Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:15:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: someone http://nasblog.org/2009/12/20/online-education-why-we-need-more-of-it/#comment-278 someone Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:36:05 +0000 http://nasblog.org/?p=956#comment-278 I am familiar with Jon's university. I'll tell you a story. The Provost comes to the Faculty Senate's education committee. He is very concerned that professors were giving way too many incompletes. I ask for data. Is the problem the same in all colleges? How many incompletes are grad T.A.s giving out? Well, it turned the legions of incompletes were being generated automatically be our distance learning program! Students sign up for these courses, pay their money, or someone's money, and then do nothing. At the end of the term they get automatic incompletes. After a year these have to be converted to F's. This was done by hand and that's why the Provost heard about the problem - the staff who do this were complaining. Well, now we have a new computer system, so that problem will be solved! As for Jon's course (Jon is very well regarded for his teaching skills) he teaches "a Gen Ed Course on campus to 270 students." These courses are so dumbed down already that the distance ed format isn't much worse. What we need are smaller classes consisting of students who worked hard in high school. They don't have to be little geniuses, but there is no point in packing our lecture halls with people who are in college to get away from their parents and have a good time. Currently one half of our entering Freshman do not meet our admission standards. I am familiar with Jon’s university. I’ll tell you a story. The Provost comes to the Faculty Senate’s education committee. He is very concerned that professors were giving way too many incompletes. I ask for data. Is the problem the same in all colleges? How many incompletes are grad T.A.s giving out? Well, it turned the legions of incompletes were being generated automatically be our distance learning program! Students sign up for these courses, pay their money, or someone’s money, and then do nothing. At the end of the term they get automatic incompletes. After a year these have to be converted to F’s. This was done by hand and that’s why the Provost heard about the problem – the staff who do this were complaining. Well, now we have a new computer system, so that problem will be solved!

As for Jon’s course (Jon is very well regarded for his teaching skills) he teaches “a Gen Ed Course on campus to 270 students.” These courses are so dumbed down already that the distance ed format isn’t much worse. What we need are smaller classes consisting of students who worked hard in high school. They don’t have to be little geniuses, but there is no point in packing our lecture halls with people who are in college to get away from their parents and have a good time. Currently one half of our entering Freshman do not meet our admission standards.

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