hello everybody, I don't know if it has shown up in the print version of the Daily yet, but the online Daily has published an editorial denouncing online courses. here is the comment I have submitted in response to the article; I wanted to let everyone know about this in case you are interested in sharing your views, too. I find it really shocking that the Daily would assert that all online courses are substandard in quality. that is unfair  both to the instructors and to the students who put a lot of effort into these courses! anyway, here's a link to the online editorial, and I've pasted in the comment I submitted below.

link to the OU Daily article:
http://tinyurl.com/yfgp5q


As often, the OU Daily editorial pontificates with confidence, without actually supplying any information to support their claims. For example, you state that "the concept of online education is rife with inconsistencies," without even explaining what this means. What inconsistencies? Online education is innovative, and it is indeed different from classroom-based learning, but I would argue that the innovation of online education is extremely beneficial, promoting much more sustained and in-depth learning than is possible in traditional classroom encounters. 

Far more troubling is this bald assertion: "the best experiences that Internet courses can offer can never equal the value of time spent with good professors who operate instructional classrooms." Now how on earth can you support such a claim? As someone who has taught both in the classroom and online, I am absolutely certain that my online courses are far superior to the classes I taught in the classroom. This is because the Internet provides a far richer, more stimulating and more challenging learning environment than the bare walls of a classroom where students, for the most part, sit silently, staring into space.

As I warn the students in my online classes every semester, a well-designed online course is far more demanding in terms of time and personal responsibility than a classroom-based course. Instead of just being required to sit themselves down in a classroom and keep their eyes open (hopefully) for less than 3 hours per week, my students do active, engaged work for 6 to 8 hours per week, every week. If people who have never taken an online course are interested in learning more about how they actually work, all my online course materials, along with students projects, are available at http://mythfolklore.net. I am incredibly proud of what my students accomplish in these classes. I challenge the OU Daily to demonstrate that the work the students do in these classes does not equal or exceed the quality of work produced in classroom-based General Education courses at this university.

The future of online education is an important issue for schools and universities across the country. It is a shame that the OU Daily could not do a better job of promoting a better-informed discussion of this topic here at OU.