No student can deny that it is not fun to have to get up, get dressed, and trek all the way across campus for an 8:25 a.m. class. Imagine how easy life would be if all it took was the click of a mouse to get there.
This is a different kind of class, of course. The dress code is strictly pajamas. Showers - and even fresh breath -- are optional. This is the classroom via the Internet, and all it requires of the student is that she sit comfortably in her own room and follow along.
ExCollege Professor Ronnee Yashon teaches a course called "Genetics, Ethics, and the Law" that was offered online last fall. "The online class was very popular -- students liked it and they learned as much [as a traditional class]," Yashon said. "The final grades when compared to the 'in class' section were almost identical."
Another ExCollege course, "Animals: Ethics, Law, and Activism," was taught through Blackboard last spring. Students got weekly assignments, projects, comments and questions regarding lectures, and readings from a main class discussion board. Professor Paulina Essunger posted a new lesson on the course website weekly. Lectures included assignment instructions, helpful links, and important concepts from readings. Students would turn in assignments by e-mail or by posting them on the discussion board.
"This class was something that was done better online because it is a newer subject with a lot of material being online anyway," senior Ashley O'Connor said.
O'Connor was happy the class was taught online. "I thought people could speak their minds more," she said. "Even people who may speak up in class might still be holding back on something they want to say. The anonymity of it was good."
But O'Connor did note some drawbacks as well. "Sometimes it was difficult to understand if your work was good because you couldn't see the professor's reactions," she said. "[The professor] did her best to comment on everything though."
On a national level, online classes are providing windows to more educational opportunities for students. Many of these are full-credit courses offered by major universities. The University of Pennsylvania offers a number of online courses through its PennAdvance program.
Online courses also benefit students who don't live on a college campus or whose schedules prevent them from attending class at regular hours.
"Such courses might work well, especially for students in situations where it is hard to access a college community," Tufts Child Development Professor George Scarlett said. "I know from my days of teaching night courses [at] a commuter college that the students traveled far to take the course but had no real community; it might have been better for them had the course been online."
Courses via the Internet connect students from all over the world while sparing them the cost of travel. A student in Spain could enroll in an online class at a major American university, and he would never have to leave his room.
Like any new development, classes via the Internet have both drawbacks and benefits. Although they may be more convenient, online courses often take away from the interactive aspect of the classroom and the educational community.
"I can't imagine how an online course could be better or as good as a course offered within a college community where there is real contact and conversation not only during class time but in between class time," Scarlett said. "Courses function best when they are embedded within a community."
Astronomy professor Kenneth Lang agreed. "The Internet is a useful tool for enhancing college education, but textbooks and direct human contact in lectures provide equally important aspects of a complete University education," Lang said.
Online courses are not for everyone. Some students prefer having personal interaction with their professors and classmates.
"It depends on the course, freshman Johnna Swartz said. If it were an [introductory] course, I would probably take it online. But I would rather take a course like English or foreign language in class, since I feel like I benefit from discussion and the ideas of other students."
Sophomore Caitlin Thompson agreed. "At Tufts, we benefit from great professors, and those professors, are for the most part, at their best in person," Thompson said. "Online courses are a waste of amazing professors. I would only take an online course as a refresher."
Professors teaching traditional classes can still use the Internet for supplementary material. Lang integrates the web into his courses as much as possible. He believes that the Internet "can open up new perspectives to learning" enhanced by visuals and "access to the most recent discoveries."
"In my astronomy course, the students have direct connections through the course web site to the latest spacecraft images and the spacecraft themselves," Lang said. "The latest results and key images can be used during course lectures and independently viewed by the students in their rooms."
