The Wired Campus had an interesting article about how higher gas prices are leading to an increase in enrollments for distance education – “Have Gas Prices Pushed Distance-Education Popularity Past a Tipping Point?” For a longer article on the subject check out a related article in the Chronicle – “Gas Prices Drive Students to Online Course.” It will be interesting to see how administrators react to this trend and how faculty will react to an increase in pressure from both students and administrators to offer distance education classes. I certainly appreciate the value of distance education courses and believe that when done right they can be as effective as a traditional class. The problem I have with many distance education classes is that many instructors believe that all they have to do to create an online version of their “traditional” class is to post their PowerPoint lectures in WebCT or Blackboard. There is more to a good online course than this.
RSM
Ancient History Ramblings 