Kevin, Thank you for a thoughtful response to random thoughts I threw out there hoping someone could help me polish up a few ideas. What I am seeing happen in my own practice as a teacher is DL increasing the gap between haves and have-nots at the level of knowledge and academic credential. Distance is the best thing that ever happened to bright, motivated students that already have jobs and families. They can do courses and degrees online that they could not do on-ground because of constraints of time. Many such students use scraps of time to be in school. This is possible because they do not have to be at a particular place at a particular time every week. Many students who could not fit on-ground classes into their already insane schedules manage to do a course or two a term by using every scrap of time they might have throughout the week to get their class work done. This is great for a single mom trying to increase her earning potential by getting more education assuming that she is motivated enough to do her coursework in scraps of time with no one monitoring her and assuming that she is reasonably bright. I see distance as making opportunities to learn and grow available to students who are bright and motivated that were not there before. The pattern I see is that the person who would have made an A in my ground class if he or she could have fit that course into his or her schedule will also make an A in my online course doing the course in scraps of time stolen from a very busy life when and were these scraps can be found. However, many students who might have made C in my ground class end up flunking online because they can not motivate themselves to do the work without a live person standing there making unhappy noises when they do not have the assignment done on time. It seems to me that, over time, distance will increase whatever gaps in educational attainment already exist between bright people who are motivated to learn and people who are less bright and/or less well motivated. All of this is based on what I think I see happening in my classes and not on any time at all spent looking at actual research on these issues. If the research says that I am wrong, I will humbly accept that. This is just how it looks from where I sit. T. Michael --- Kevin Guidry <krguidry@gmail.com> wrote:
On 5/22/07, Dr. T. Michael Roberts <dr_haqiqah@yahoo.com> wrote:
We are moving, in practice, toward an educational system where the good students learn online and the students who need lots of help are taught face to face.
I can't help but view this discussion through the lens of (a) my student affairs background and (b) current trends in funding, financial aid, and access in the United States. Given that, it seems to me that ideally the decision of how one should "attend class" would be made primarily based on the learner's desired learning style. But I think it's pretty clear that many other factors play into this, including economics (on both the supply and demand sides) and pressures related to cultural and personal circumstances. Further, it has not been my experience that many students, particularly undergraduates, choose to "attend" online classes because it's their preferred style. Instead, they seem to choose it because of the flexibility in scheduling, geographic independence, and course/instructor availability. I am sure that is changing over time but it relates strongly to a previous comment about demand outstripping supply as institutions try to balance or increase their resources. On a broader scale, SES *has* to play a role in this. Will we eventually move into a future where only the rich can afford (a word with many denotations and connotations) a traditional, face-to-face education? Will residential liberal arts institutions remain the domain of the elite as others "choose" distance education (because it's cheaper, not because it offers an equivalent or better education)?
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