Online classes not a replacement for in class learning

by Michelle Kelly, TSV Staff Writer.

Overcrowding and rising costs have budgets at UCs and CSUs turning to online classes to appease their students’ needs.

Though it might seem like a perfect fix for a student who needs to fulfill a course requirement, it’s not what we need to be seeing from our public universities.

Gov. Jerry Brown is attempting to fix an affordability problem by offering sub-par options in our public California universities.

Although online courses will be cheaper, they’re not as good as traditional classes.

The idea being proposed right now is to use the classes for high demand courses as well as courses students need to fill prerequisites for degrees.

While more students will be able to take these online classes because the resources are more accessible and available, they’re missing out on having lecture and discussion with their professors and their peers. This makes it difficult to use online courses as a complete substitute for in-class learning.

These online courses are acceptable for remedial coursework or high school students looking to take a college class in preparation for their freshmen year. However, this system is not going to be a fix for the dwindling budget problems because it simply is not good enough to ideally replace classes.

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Online classes are for self-motivated

by Vincent Biancalana, TSV Interim Copy Editor.

Technology’s growth is exponential, and the UC system wants to embrace this avenue with more online classes. This is a thrilling prospect because more online classes allow more students to enroll. Attended classes have a seat cap based on the available rooms; online courses can seat many more students while simultaneously taking some of the workload off the professor.

Multiple choice questions can be answered and graded immediately, allowing students to learn from their mistakes as well. Some attending classes seat more than a few hundred classes, meaning a significant workload for a teacher who needs to plan future lessons. Schedule flexibility can allow a student to juggle more classes, work or field study as well as teaching time management skills.

Many careers (such as teaching) force individuals to work from home as well as on the job, and students need to adjust to that. Students learn personal responsibility as a somewhat peculiar result of the emancipation from their teacher. Many of us have had to look a teacher in the eyes and admit we didn’t do the homework; online classes force students to work for themselves.

Some would argue that the emancipation of the teacher limits the guidance a teacher can give; however, with programs such as Skype, we can chat face to face with our pedagogues. A teacher can even give lectures using YouTube or podcasts, which many teachers are already inclined to do.

Online classes also have more subtle perks, such as no need to find parking or to fight the urge to slack off and skip a day of class. Personally, I’ve had teachers and fellow students that were not enjoyable to learn around. Taking online classes means I don’t have to listen to the music of the girl in sweatpants sitting behind me with the volume up all the way. Another common argument is that online classes cheapen the UC system, which seems counterintuitive.

Cheaper classes (provided via lower costs when students aren’t even on campus) can only stand to strengthen the UC system by increasing the collective intellectual capital. These students bring in more tuition per head while taking very few of the college’s resources, in addition to providing a wide network of educated individuals who can contribute to the institution.

Online classes are a lot of work and responsibility and anyone who has taken one realizes the diligence and discipline it takes to pass one of these classes is equal to an attended class. And I mean, honestly, who doesn’t think it’s awesome to get your degree while sitting in your underwear at home?

This article has been update to fix formatting problems