High Cost of Driving Ignites Online Classes Boom (pg 1) - NYTimes.com - The Diigo Meta page

• 15 Jul 08
  

  John Martin

  Page 1 of NYT article

  online-fuel online education learning classes teaching virtual online-ed

  • Colleges from Massachusetts and Florida to Texas to Oregon have reported significant online enrollment increases for summer sessions, with student numbers in some cases 50 percent or 100 percent higher than last year.
  • the greatest surges have been registered at two-year community colleges,
  • Dr. Drake and officials at several other colleges expressed concern that mounting fuel costs could force some students to drop out of college altogether, especially since only a fraction of courses at most colleges are offered online. Dr. Drake has put Brevard on a four-day week to help employees and students save gas.
  • “I don’t feel I get as much out of an online class as a campus course,” Ms. Miller said. “But I couldn’t afford any other decision.”
  • Waiting lists for Web-based courses have lengthened at some institutions. At the University of Colorado, Denver, for instance, 361 students are on the waiting list for online courses for the fall term

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Page Comments

• 
  John Martin on 2008-07-15
  This is what we need to change. Quality comes first and should be the driving factor for creating online courses, not just revenue. As competition in this area increases, quality will be the thing that sets one institution apart from another.
  
  Step 2, find dynamic and savvy (or at least very willing to learn) faculty to facilitate. Online teaching is not the same as F2F and facilitating the online experience IS an art form.

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