A university has launched the first "virtual" degree course where students attend all their seminars and lectures online. Good idea?
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It's bound to become more common - my HEI is using video conferencing for seminar type events, specialist speakers etc.
If a course was entirely done on line though - you'd miss the social side and it wouldn't suit all learners by any means. Some people need the structure of having to turn up somewhere.
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I do'nt think it's the best idea...
University is a much about the experience as the qualification at the end of your 4 years.
The life experiences (good and bad - not including alcoholism and drugs) you learn while at University and the friends you meet stay with you and help sculpt your future path.
Lectures on line may take this away and only warrant a certain type of friendship / experience to evolve.
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Yes I agree.. but it is economical and it does widen access in some ways.
I wouldn't go for it.... I think the social side is especially important.
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What a non story! Virtual/distance learning degrees have been in operation for years - what do they think the open university is for goodness sake?!! :-)
Many universities in UK and US and other countries now offer a variety of virtual or distance learning degrees. In some cases all the coursework is completely delivered and taught online and staff/students do not meet, in some cases only part of the coursework is done online and there is some face to face teaching.
Some online courses allow for contact between tutors/students using headsets, msn and webcams, others just use web forums where you can download lectures and talk to each other via messageboards.
As a method of teaching it's been well evaluated and assessed, although there are some courses that are better suited to distance/online learning than others. Postgraduate courses with more options for discussion and less need for practical work may work better but there are still ways around this.
Such programmes are particularly popular within the developing world where it's difficult for people to get the time off for study, or in places like Australia or New Zealand where travel to get to classes can take up too much time.
It's a different teaching and learning experience for students and staff, but it does have some advantages, and although there's not the face to face/classroom element or the socialising element to the course for many students this isn't something they're so bothered about.
Basically having face to face and virtual degrees allows for much more choice for both students and tutors.
Pretty much all my teaching in my main job is done online and we've been running our MSc virtually for years as have loads of other colleagues.
Basically the university in question here have just got lucky with a press release, but they've made themselves look a bit stupid given most of the very successful e-learning degrees have been going for decades.
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