Tag Archives: online learning

Online education: The biggest hurdle for online learning

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Contributor Charles Choi

Over the last few weeks we’ve been exploring the pros and cons of online education, which is important if you are considering taking an online course. And even though there has been an increase in the number of people taking online courses, Monica Mogilewsky says online and distance science learning still has a stigma attached. “The University of London Distance Learning Programme has changed its name to the University of London International Programme, and I do think a large part of this is a feeling within academia that online and distance learning is less rigorous than a traditional classroom setting,” Mogilewsky says. “When I say I have my masters degree, on my CV it says I was part of the University of London Distance Learning Programme, but I don’t especially emphasise that I got my degree online.”

Mogilewsky emphasises the great value of distance and online science learning. “I think it’s a powerful thing – I really appreciate how online courses make learning available for more people, helping support democracy of education,” she says.

And while pursuing a doctorate has left her little time to take any more online courses, “I would consider it in the future, for specific training such as non-profit management or social media – I think it could be fun and helpful,” Mogilewsky says. “I would also consider teaching online, and I think I’d be better at it than someone who’s never taken an online course.”

Online education: The rise of virtual labs

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Contributor Charles Choi

One weakness of Monica Mogilewsky’s online science education was a lack of hands-on experience. “A class that didn’t work well was on environmental impact assessment, which was about how to monitor the industrial and agricultural human impact on different ecosystems,” Mogilewsky says. “Learning from home, I didn’t have access to a lab, so how things worked all became very abstract. So those kind of classes fell flat, and I don’t feel I got as much as I would in a traditional classroom setting.”

Online programmes are increasingly trying to compensate for this weakness with hands-on experience. “In one of our courses, we ship the materials to students for them to build circuit boards, and they upload video of them building them,” Chip Paucek, CEO of educational technology company 2U in New York says. “In another example, students who want a masters of science in midwifery from Georgetown University don’t deliver virtual babies – we arrange placements in their local areas.”

Lori Grant is currently at Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies studying to be a midwife via their online course. She has been able to work with under-served populations across Arizona. “This is not uncommon for clinical rotations in health fields, but what is uncommon is to reunite weekly with my cohort of students and to learn from them at their clinical sites that vary from birth centers in California and Washington to labor wards in Pennsylvania and Florida,” says Grant. “I am able to hear how the Midwest manages a certain condition and compare that to my current practice.  What better way to share knowledge.” Continue reading →

Online education: Recognize how you learn

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Contributor Charles Choi

The online MBA program CEO of Sustainable Ethanol Technologies Julie Goodliffe took is supported by 2U, an educational technology company in Landover, MD, and from her point of view, one of its strengths was its support of a wide variety of learning styles.

“I learn best listening and recording for myself,” Goodliffe says. The videos the instructors recorded were ideal for her. “I could watch and listen to University of North Carolina professors teach whilst writing my own notes, pausing the video to collect my thoughts and record them better than possible in any in-person lecture, and digest the material.”

The synchronous sessions, where instructors and students interacted online in real-time, “were great, but were likely for a different type of learner than me,” Goodliffe says. “They allowed for human interaction and close-up student-teacher relationships, and also forced us to do the work. These sessions were necessary for learners who need instant feedback, in-person challenging, and questions answered.”

In addition, the extensive homework and casework of the programme was great for readers and book-learners, Goodliffe says, “and also reinforced the concepts for someone like me who might ignore such book work if not forced to do it. Those three aspects of every course in the programme – asynchronous videos, synchronous in-person sessions, and extensive book and case homework – seemed to encompass all educational needs.”

“An online programme that teaches solely through emails and text chats has no chance of educating someone like me,” Goodliffe added. “I need challenging material to watch and listen to. I need excellent professors to quickly move through material, illustrating concepts as they would in a lecture, demanding my attention and respect through obvious experience in the subject matter and in teaching it. MBA@UNC does that very well, and also addresses the needs of other types of learners.”

Online education: Face time

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Who are you calling slack?

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Contributor Charles Choi

A lack of human contact is a big difference between online and distance learning and traditional classroom settings. “You are kind of learning in isolation,” Monica Mogilewsky says. “You get lots of textbooks, journal articles, recorded lectures, and interactive material. For the most part, you spend much of your time learning on your own, and that takes a lot of self-discipline. It’s difficult not having people you can see, people you can have a gripe-and-drink session with.”

The challenge of staying disciplined in isolation may be a key reason why the average completion rate for MOOCs is less than 7 per cent, according to data compiled by UK doctoral student, Katy Jordan, at Open University. Taylor concurs: “Not many students make it to the end of MOOCs”.

From experience, Lara Hutson, a research assistant professor at the University of Buffalo, has seen that “the students who do best in online courses are those who are very self-motivated, regardless of subject matter.”

When looking at successful examples of distance learning programmes, “you often also find online learning is augmented with forums, discussion groups, and face-to-face interactions, peer interactions that can help students stay the course,” says Chris Taylor, engagement manager at the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in the United Kingdom. Continue reading →

Online education: Convenience is key

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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 →

Online education: Top Tips for picking the right online course

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Monika Mogilewski and a ringtailed lemur in the forested enclosure at the Myakka City Lemur Reserve

Monika Mogilewski and a ringtailed lemur in the forested enclosure at the Myakka City Lemur Reserve{credit}Credit: Kate Chapman{/credit}

Contributor Charles Choi

After Monica Mogilewsky completed her baccalaureate thesis on the calls of the ring-tailed lemur, she worked for the Lemur Conservation Foundation in Myakka City, Florida, for nearly 10 years, eventually becoming its associate executive director. She wanted to earn a masters degree in biodiversity conservation and management during her time with the foundation, “but the nearest universities were at least two hours away, so earning my masters there wasn’t really a feasible option,” she recalled.

Instead, Mogilewsky did her entire masters via an online and distance learning programme with the University of London, graduating in 2009. “I wouldn’t have gained my masters any other way, and I think I got as good an education as I would in a traditional setting.” She is now a doctoral student at Portland State University studying conservation biology and ecology.

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are among the few areas experiencing a rapid surge in job opportunities. According to a 2011 study from the U.S. Department of Commerce, STEM job growth rose by 7.9 percent from 2000 to 2010, roughly three times more than other occupations during that time, and STEM workers commanded higher wages, earning 26 percent more than their non-STEM counterparts.

At the same time, educational opportunities are widening due to online learning. Online course enrolment has increased year on year for at least a decade, with the number of students taking at least one online course surpassing 6.7 million, or about a third of total enrolment in higher education, according to findings reported in 2013 from the Babson Survey Research Group. Continue reading →