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Fighting the Negative Perceptions of Online Universities
Adults find that quality education can be convenient too. The recent public debate in Brookfield about a city official’s academic background highlighted an important issue facing millions of potential students.
The recent public debate in Brookfield about a city official’s academic background highlighted an important issue facing millions of potential students. More than 1.6 million students nationwide took at least one online course during Fall 2002. That number, according to the 2003 Sloan Survey of Online Learning, was predicted to increase by 19.8 percent over the one-year period from Fall 2002 to Fall 2003, to include a total of 1.9 million students. In addition, when asked to compare online courses with face-to-face instruction, a majority of public and private academic leaders (57 percent) believe that learning with online education is equal to or superior to face-to-face instruction. The positive feedback is evidence that the public is catching on to the convenience of online education, but unfortunately, still too many negative perceptions associated with obtaining an online degree remain.
The comment made in the November 20, 2003 edition of the Brookfield News speaks to that negative perception. Mayor Jeff Speaker’s former Chief of Staff Daniel Waffenschmidt, who resigned after misrepresenting his educational background on his resume, admitted to leaving off his degree from an online campus on his resume because “he didn’t think the business degree from the online college was as prestigious as one received from UWM.”
Let us first address the obvious. Just as the Internet has become the future of modern day life, so has online learning become a part of the future of education. The need to earn higher wages or to maintain a competitive status in the corporate world has many adults continuing their education online. And why shouldn’t they? Earning a degree online offers many conveniences, such as no residency requirements, and in many cases it is the least expensive alternative. However, that does not mean it is the easiest route to earning a degree. A valid online degree can be and often is even more intensive than earning a degree from a traditional classroom setting. Most online students are required to act as their own coach. They must be independent, self-motivated and able to juggle every day life, family and work responsibilities with coursework, homework and exams. They cannot sit idle in class and hope to learn from their peers. Instead, an on-line student is required to participate in every class and read 100-percent of the material. Slacking off and only partially reading classroom material is impossible in an online environment, where the only representation a person has in class is his/her input to discussions and the quality of his/her assignments.
Online courses recognize the trials and tribulations of a full-time working mother or a traveling salesman by offering the opportunity to truly customize the learning experience to best meet personal and educational needs. Workplace and family demands, along with geographic diversity, require educational opportunities to be available in the most flexible way possible. Consider the inconveniences of working in West Bend, living in Racine, supporting a family of four and looking to advance your education by enrolling in night classes at any nearby university. Drive time alone would make this feat unbearable for many. Now consider the conveniences of working in West Bend, living in Racine, supporting a family of four and looking to advance your education by enrolling in classes online. Based on convenience alone, the obvious choice is online education.
Convenience alone, though, isn’t sufficient reason for using online options to earn a degree. Quality of the educational product and the legitimacy of the educational organization are also of the utmost importance. One must check the validity of the university being represented online. It may be helpful to ask the following questions:
• What is the history of the institution?
• Is the institution regionally accredited?
• Are the instructors academically qualified?
Currently, the most innovative educational delivery model blends classroom instruction and Internet-based classes throughout a course; no longer do students choose one and ignore the other. Generally, one third of a course is taught in a classroom and the remaining two-thirds are conducted on-line. Even if a student lives a significant distance from a university classroom or must travel frequently for work, blended delivery courses make it possible to successfully pursue a degree. University of Phoenix has taken the lead nationally in offering degree programs via a blended delivery method called FlexNet. Students attend the first and last class session at the campus, and participate in online instruction for the remainder of the course weeks.
More than 1.6 million students and a majority of academic leaders cannot be wrong about the benefits of online education. It is my belief that as the growth of online technology continues, the number of students earning degrees online will increase until the preferred method for continued education is only a click away. And anyone with an online degree will be proud to list it.
James Chitwood is vice president and director at the Milwaukee-based University of Phoenix campus. Founded in 1976, University of Phoenix was one of the first accredited universities to offer online college education with complete degree programs via the Internet. More than 171,600 working professionals have earned their degree from University of Phoenix.
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| Testimonial |
 Howard Schmidt graduated in 1991 from University of Phoenix with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Schmidt kept the educational momentum going and promptly headed for his Master of Arts in Organizational Management which he attained in 1993.
“Most of my time up until graduate school was in government, and I’d reached the highest I could go without additional education,” says Schmidt, who served in the U.S. Air Force for 16 years prior to joining the Chandler Police Department. “University of Phoenix gave me the chance to develop skills for executive management.”
Schmidt is the former presidential Internet security advisor to President George W. Bush. He is currently serving as Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer for eBay, the San Jose, California-based online auction site.
-Howard Schmidt |
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