There has been quite a remarkable increase in participation in online classes for undergraduate students from only 8% in 2000 to 20% in 2008, an overall participation increase of 250%. At the same time, participation in 100% online degree programs doubled from 2% to 4%, according to a study released by the The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The appeal of online classes is increasing in popularity primarily among students who want more control over their own schedules and find it difficult for reasons of their own to attend classes on campus.
Catherine Groux reported findings of the NCES study in US News on Oct 10:
For example, older undergraduates who have family or job responsibilities, as well as disabled students, were more likely to enroll in web-based classes than their peers, according to the NCES report.
This finding should be of no great surprise, as nontraditional students are typically more motivated than younger students to study on their own, drawing on their life experience to meet deadlines without outside prodding. As well, there are many additional benefits to studying online for these students. Diana G. Oblinger, president of Educause, was quoted by Groux as stating:
“Online education provides additional opportunities,” she said. “It gives people greater opportunity for flexibility, for experiential learning, for illustrating things in multiple ways, such as visualization.”
In addition, the study reported that certain majors, such as computer science, were far more likely to enroll in online classes. Also, the study found that that students enrolled in two-year colleges were far more likely to enroll in online classes than their counter parts in four-year schools.This could be because of a greater participation of older students in community colleges rather than in four-year institutions in general.
A common fear is that online degree programs will have their quality diluted by a huge influx of students, and that professors will not be able to adequately answer their students questions and concerns. However, this fear appears to be largely unfounded, as universities such as Rutgers have added additional sections to keep class sizes manageable. The average number of students enrolled in a online class at Rutgers has decreased to 18, according to Groux.
Of course, students enrolled in online classes do face the challenges of managing their own time against many distractions and the demands of jobs and family. Studying online is an imperfect solution, as many students feel the need the for face-to-face instruction and support that studying on-campus brings. Technology has come a long way to bridge that gap with real-time and video delivery of instruction, but improvements are still needed to bring the optimal experience of “being right in the classroom” to online students.
The challenge for colleges will be to keep up with the increasing demand for online classes while maintaining the same quality of instruction that students receive in on-campus courses. As many professors have not yet been trained adequately in the technology involved with online class delivery, the demand for online classes certainly exceeds the availability at this time.