UC online degree proposal rattles academics

Presumably, academics are having a hard time with this....

UC online degree proposal rattles academics

 

I'm guessing that there are a number of state university systems (maybe 50) who would disapgree with this:


"Now the University of California wants to jump into online education for undergraduates, hoping to become the nation's first top-tier research institution to offer a bachelor's degree over the Internet comparable in quality to its prestigious campus program."

UMass and North Carolina come immediately to mind.

 

I'm a little skeptical as well. I've always thought that 100% DL bachelors degrees were a better fit for the California State University than for the UC system.

Exerpts from the 'San Francisco Chronicle' story and my comments:

Highly-selective probably would be a departure, compared to most DL programs. I think that when it comes to DL, it might be smart to roll out new forms of selectivity. DL bachelors programs are probably appropriate for older students, not for 18-year-olds right out of high-school. Instead of high-school grades, Berkeley might want to require some quantity and quality of pre-admissions job experience. As things stand, something like 90% of UC undergraduates are full-time. If these DL programs are going to be part-time, UC ought to require concurrent employment in a relevant field at an approved employer.

UC is very proud of the fact that UC isn't just commuter schools that offer night classes and exams. It's a community in which full-time students live and work alongside their highly-selected peers, whether inside or outside class. Most of the people that they come into contact with every day were in the top 10% of their high-school class. It's a very stimulating, challenging and competitive environent.

DL would almost certainly detract from if not totally eliminate that aspect. That's another reason why concurrent relevant employment might be a good idea. It would help restore the full-time socialization aspect in a different context.

Offering some undergraduate class sections by DL and allowing students to create hybrid programs that include both DL and B&M classes isn't nearly the departure that a 100% online undergraduate program would be.

It's really two very different proposals.

Predictably, UC's motivation for exploring a migration online is money:

UC's Faculty Association produced a critical report in May.

Well, until the day arrives when it isn't "one of the mysteries", natural science majors will remain inappropriate majors for 100% DL treatment. I'd expand that to any major that demands significant hands-on practice. Of course, a partial-DL treatment might be more defensible. Perhaps they could offer lectures online and lab experiences on campus. That would help them reduce the pressure on overcrowded facilities.

But ultimately, I agree with the UC faculty that DL works a lot better with some majors than it does with others.

And I still think that it would probably be best for the CSU system to offer most of California's public DL degree programs. The CSUs put less emphasis than UC on selectivity, more emphasis on serving the broader community, and they have far more part-time commuter students. For many of these students, taking classes by DL wouldn't be all that different an experience than taking them on campus at night.

 

not an UG degree but my local UC school has an MFA that enrolls DL students but they must attend four residences.

Our low residency program is unique in that it directly marries your academic pursuits with a real world emphasis on the next stage of your writing career - namely publication and production. Students work one-on-one with their professors during the course of six quarters of online study and four intensive 10-day residencies at the beautiful Riviera Resort & Spa in Palm Springs, CA. The program was designed and is taught by writers for writers and is open to all genres of writing - including fiction, creative nonfiction, screenwriting and poetry - and all forms within those genres, including mystery, crime, science fiction and slipstream, commercial Hollywood films and television - and at the same time is open to the wildest kind of experimental, arty, fringy writing. Students also study in a secondary genre during the course of their study which we believe helps create a well-rounded writer and provides a more in depth immersion in literature. Our students receive excellent instruction in the arts from their professors and then have the opportunity each residency to meet with the decision makers at the next level - the agents, the editors, the publishers, the producers and the studio heads - who can help determine that essential next step in a writer's evolution.
UCR Palm Desert l Home

 

The more leading Traditional Universities such as UC offer on line degree programs the better it is for the DL degree perception.

Also their competitor USC has some really good DL on line programs.
For example Master of Social Work degree program at USC.


Tuition: $1,324 Per Credit - who can afford that?

 

Probably not a social worker.

 

Group Hug!