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Contributor Charles Choi

Last week we introduced this series on online education, highlighting the benefits that it can have for established professors and current students. The latter are the biggest clientele of online science courses at the University of Buffalo in New York, especially the students enrolled at the university itself, says Lara Hutson, a research assistant professor at the University of Buffalo. “They may need the biochemistry course to satisfy a prerequisite for their major.” Hutson teaches an online biochemistry course during the summer as well as a number of traditional courses.

The biggest attraction, Hutson says, is the convenience. An online course may be the only one they can fit into their schedule. “They can go home to wherever they live and take it – for example, if they have a job there,” Hutson says. “Our students are mostly from other parts of New York, but I’ve had one student take it from Brazil.”

The convenience of online courses was certainly Monica Mogilewsky’s motivation. “I was working at the Myakka City Lemur Reserve and I lived onsite. I worked on-call 24-7, managing a colony of lemurs, so commuting to a campus was not an option,” she says. “The flexibility that online learning offered made it possible for me to get my degree.” Continue reading →