• Source: The Daily Beacon

  • Online courses simplify scheduling process

  • Robbie Hargett – Staff Writer
    Thursday, November 05, 2009 issue

  • “Most of the lectures are uploaded to the Blackboard site, and students are able to download and listen to the lectures at their own schedule,” Singh said. “The participation from the students in the course is via assignments and discussion boards.”

  • “The main advantage a person wants to get from an online class is scheduling flexibility,” McClanahan said.

  • The issues of limited class sizes and, consequently, timely graduations are other factors that promote the usage of online courses.

    Singh and McClanahan both agreed that this method of learning can help students when they enter the workplace as well.

    “These courses introduce the students to distance learning technologies and tools and teach them how to collaborate in online environments, how to use online tools to effectively communicate, and prepares them for the distributed workplace of current and future times,” Singh said.

    The results of the current online courses are extremely positive. McClanahan gave her students a survey that asked whether they would choose a traditional class over one online, after experiencing both.

    “Sixty-five percent said they would register for the online version over the traditional one,” McClanahan said.

  • “She said that after experiencing it, she had completely changed her point of view and now would like to take at least one online class per semester, because she really likes the flexibility of choosing when and where she attends a class session and simplifying course scheduling,”

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