Under certain conditions it undoubtedly is true — for example, for the working student who cannot travel to class and for whom online education opens a whole new world of previously inaccessible options. For these students, universities can and should work to create appropriate frameworks and programs to use online instruction to broaden their reach. But policymakers, university teachers and administrators should acknowledge that scientific studies and budget pressures notwithstanding, something is lost when the classroom experience becomes virtual. As we strive to educate our university students in an increasingly competitive global economic climate, among the many costly and complex measures that are on the table for improving their educational experience, here’s one that is refreshingly simple: Show up. Instructors owe it to their students to be there in the classroom, and students owe it to themselves — and to the rest of us — to do their best to be there as well.

Read full article [here].
by John Villasenor, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: September 28th, 2011, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.