Web classes see jump in popularity

By Joe Johnson
The Collegian

Online courses across the United States are increasing in popularity as students scramble to balance their workloads.

“One great aspect of the online course is that you can do it when it is most convenient for you and your students,” humanities lecturer Monica Fusich said. “I noticed that most of my students were online Tuesday and Thursday night, so we started having our meetings then.”

While some believed the popularity of online classrooms would decline, a recent report published by the Sloan Consortium estimates that there was a 40 percent increase in online course enrollment between 2004 and 2005, a number that has remained constant since.

“I wanted to take an online course while I was away overseas,” biology major Jaclyn Stogbauer said.

“It would have been great because I took a semester abroad in Japan and when I returned, I had to start going to class two weeks after they had already started. This would have kept me up and going with the class, even though I’ve heard they can be kind of hard.”

According to the Digital Campus Web site, there are currently 17 courses being offered entirely online at Fresno State, with far more available in a Web-enhanced format that utilizes Blackboard.

“I wish they had more of them I could take in my major,” former liberal studies student Kimberly Parkey said. “It would free up a lot of time for work, which would be nice. The only chance I ever had to take one was a math class, but everyone told me not to take it, because it was hard and I would fail.”

Fusich said one of the many reasons she chose to conduct her course online was the opportunity to learn new skills and develop different ways of interacting with her students.

“The problem is, some people just haven’t logged in at all,” Fusich said. “You need to be motivated to be in an online course like this. If you don’t immediately start doing your assignments, you are going to get bogged down. Students also need to make sure their technology works from the onset, which I require in my class.”

Some professors fear that the online classroom environment takes away too much human interaction, which they feel is a strong part of the teaching process.

But Fusich believes that if you keep the numbers down, there isn’t anything to worry about.

“My class is full at 25 students and there are still people trying to get into it,” Fusich said. “I don’t want to have one of those massive classes where I don’t have much personal contact with students. I think you need to keep it small, so you can work with and adapt to your students’ needs.”

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