Online Class May Become Graduation Requirement

Cal State Fullerton may require undergraduates to take a class online in order to graduate, which would make the school only the second in the country and the first in California with such a prerequisite.

The only school in the country with a similar requirement is Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, which starting this fall with freshmen will require students to take an online course each year.

Online courses, often called distance learning, in which instruction via the Internet takes the place of a traditional classroom, are nothing new.

“There’s probably no institution of any reasonable size that doesn’t have a plan for distance education or hasn’t gotten one started,” said Henry Levin, a professor of economics and education at Columbia University’s Teachers College.

A study released earlier this year by Dunn & Bradstreet’s Market Data Retrieval found 70% of accredited two- and four-year schools offer distance learning.

The idea behind the proposed requirement is to make sure that students graduate proficient in Internet use.

At Cal State Northridge’s satellite campus near Camarillo, there are plans to offer as many as 15% of classes online in the future.

“It’s a way for us and students to cut down on trips to the campus and to alleviate parking problems,” said Steve Lefevre, campus director.

Last spring, the college offered a sociology class online, but Lefevre said there are no plans to make such courses mandatory for graduation.

“Some students prefer the personal settings that a classroom provides,” Lefevre said. “Some find the technology a barrier.”

Moorpark College offers at least 15 online classes each semester, but students are not required to take them. At Ventura College, online classes have proven extremely popular. The math department is in its second year of offering online algebra courses. When they began, instructors expected about 40 students to participate.

“The first semester we had 120 people enrolled,” said Dan Kumpf, a professor who also runs the math department’s distance learning program. “This is popular with working mothers, people with families, self-motivated people. It’s not for everybody.” Trigonometry and statistics classes may go online soon, he said.

Officials at the college said there are no plans to make online courses mandatory.

Cal State Fullerton already has about two dozen online classes, said Ellen Junn, director of the Faculty Development Center. Beyond that, students have become so used to professors posting material on the Web that they sometimes complain when teachers don’t.

While Fairleigh Dickinson uses the same proficiency argument as Cal State Fullerton, the Internet also will allow students to plug into other academics around the world who are doing work related to the class, said Michael Sperling, interim dean of the university’s arts and sciences college.

“Consider the possibilities of Anthropology I students spending two weeks online with a paleontologist working on site at a dig in New Guinea,” it says on the New Jersey university’s Web site, “or perhaps students in a World Cinema class are joined in weekly online discussions by a director from Korea and a production designer from Egypt.”

Cal State Fullerton’s proposed requirement unanimously passed the curriculum committee of faculty and administrators and seemed on its way to passage until the Academic Senate tabled discussion last week, when questions arose. Among them was whether such a requirement would discriminate against students who don’t have access to computers at home.

Junn downplayed the criticism, saying that there are computer labs on campus students can use.

The proposal will be revised and could become part of a package to develop distance courses in 25 departments, said Ephraim Smith, Cal State Fullerton’s vice president of academic affairs, who came up with the online proposal.

A vote is expected in the fall. If the proposal passes the Academic Senate, the campus president must approve it.

An online class entails many elements. Not only are lectures posted on the Web, but there can be real-time discussions in chat rooms, archives with previous online conversations and links to class material.

Although most students enter college today as familiar with the Internet as previous generations were with television, Cal State officials said that requiring them to learn online will prepare them for the working world, where much of the training will take place on the Web.

“We want to train people to be independent thinkers and decision makers,” said Mark Hoven Stohs, an associate professor of finance. He also heads the curriculum committee and is teaching an online course. “Given the Internet is so important for our world, we want to make sure all of our students can understand and deal with the Internet.”

One of the objectives of the course would be to teach students how to evaluate sites on the Web. “The key for students in the 21st century is figuring out what is credible, accurate, good information,” Junn said.

Columbia’s Levin was skeptical. He said most students already are more familiar with the Internet than most adults. He also said students will miss the give-and-take of the classroom. “One of the nice things about a classroom is you can argue points and do it immediately,” he said. “The question is: Can you do it on a keyboard in the equivalent of a chat room?”

Studies of the effectiveness of online courses are just beginning to emerge.

Junn said preliminary findings show it is better suited for highly motivated, older students. Since students don’t have to show up for class, they must be more disciplined.

Studies also show that Internet-based classes may increase the participation of students for whom English is a second language. “They say after the Internet class it gave them a chance to have a voice, that they could craft grammar in a way that would be inhibited if speaking in class,” Junn said.

Another problem is the cost of setting up online classes. While many thought distance learning would be cheaper because classrooms are unnecessary, many experts say it may be more expensive. Equipment is needed to build computer networks. Technicians must maintain the system and professors need training in developing online classes and building Web material.