Do people who criticize online education suffer from Prosophobia?

It's interesting that many forward-thinking people are DL supporters. They realize that online education is the wave of the future.

Yet there are many who resist, just like people have resisted many advancements in society that have turned out to be very beneficial. I wonder if many DL detractors suffer from Prosophobia?

Prosophobia is fear of progress. Symptoms of Prosophobia: Those who fear progress will not be early adopters of new technology. They may fear new medications, new cars, computers and virtually any other advancement. They will have a strong interest in the past and in adopting a lifestyle that pays tribute to that past. Fear of Progress - Help for Fear of Progress | FearofStuff.com

 

I like DL and it is the wave of the future. Having said that, are there many DL programs that are sub par (accredited or not)....and the answer is yes. But the lack of rigor in colleges in general has been documented on various programs (eg great one on PBS whose name escapes me) where even at some good schools, students can no longer be expected to have read and be prepared for in depth discussion of topics (this was NOT the case when I was in school a few years ago). Then we have the portfolio credit degree programs and so on.

DL is useful and when done well can be very beneficial but caution MUST be exercised to ensure there is depth and that we are not simply punching a ticket so that everyone can have a degree.

 

Fear

I believe what they actually fear is the likelihood that they would lose work. Lets face it, they days of tenure are going to be phased out in much the way that pension retirement plans have been. Great for the employee but crap for the employer and customer, in this case the student.

They realize that in only a few situations does a student really learn from a PhD professor. How can you really learn from someone when you are one of 300 students in an auditorium class. So the students either learn on their own or from a set of TA's anyways. I addition many professors post their lectures either on the course web site or a blackboard type course management system. So they already know that their teaching skills are not prized and that any "properly" trained instructor can do their job.

 

LOL! :haha:

 

This type of concept (fear of progress) may be able to explain a certain percentage of those who are not in favor of DL, however, in the vast majority of these cases, I would not label it as a phobia, because a phobia implies that the fear impedes their ability to function, which tends not to be the case.

There are a number of other causes for being anti-DL. Among these are people who have had a poor DL experience themselves and assume that everyone would have the same type of experience. Also, there is the wide misconception that DL is, by its nature, inferior to traditional classroom-based instruction. This, of course is based upon the false premise that all face-to-face classes are similar in quality and there is very little variation in quality between one classroom and the next. The same assumption would hold for courses held online, via videoconference, etc. (they are all nearly identical in quality, with very little variation).

Those of us who have spent any time in school at all, know that there is a HUGE amount of quality variation among face-to-face classes, so the entire DL vs F2F argument crumbles, since there is no meaningful way to compare all DL courses against all F2F courses. This is particularly true if we measure student achievement (i.e. scores on post-tests). The evidence for the past eight decades has been no significant difference between F2F and technology delivered instruction. At best one can only compare individual classes against each other, not all DL vs. all F2F.

 

....................:haha:

 

The point of tenure at the university level is to receive protection from retribution/job loss in the event of pursuing controversial research topics. It's got absolutely nothing to do with teaching and Ph.D level researchers should not be teaching undergraduate courses. If they do it, more power to them.

Of course, that's not what it's being used for at the secondary level but the overall misuse of the term to indicate seniority is what causes the call to eliminate it to begin with.

ITJD

 

And the fashion sense.

 

Anyone know what the dancing cloud actually means? :dance: I can't figure it out. Is it just a fun emotocon or does it have a specific meaning?

 

Maybe it means, "I really have to pee."

 

...........:haha:

 

Maybe it's some guy having a pound around.

 

Counter question: How many of us with multiple online degrees have OCD?

 

At least one.

 

Make that two...

 

Let me rephrase that: How many don't?