Online versus brick and mortar

Regardless of what is better or worse. Without online instruction, I would not be able to complete my upper division course work and graduate with a BS degree. I live in the Central Valley in California and access to higher education is very, very limited. The closest 4 year college is an hour and a half from my house. I could never do the commute everyday on top of work and the course work.

So, I am very thankful for good quality online education!

 

I've been reading this forum for a while, but this post promted me to post.

Online vs. Brick and Mortor? They are not the same. (Note, I did not say one was better).

I have a BS, B&M, ABET, Mechanical Engineering Degree. There is no possible way that I could have recieved the same education online, assuming the online is a "solo" experience. There was much hallway discussion on concepts, scribbles on notepads, lab work, etc., that allowed me to have a very solid understanding of engineering. Could this be replicated online? Possibly, but there is a lot of tradition in the large engineering schools.

I am currently working on an MBA, on line. Do I feel I am learing what I need? Yes. Would the experiance be difference in a classroom? Of course. Am I going to have an MBA that lets me be the next CEO of GE? Nope. Does my employer like the idea of me having an MBA. Yep.

Not sure if that all made sense, but the simple truth is that on-line is different. It does have the stigma of being "easy". We, as the leading group of online students, have the opportunity to demonstrate to employers that we are educated and capable, and online is simply another way to earn a degree.

As a final anecdote, this idea of "better" is not new. My dad has an MBA he earned in the 60's, but he did it in night school while working full time. Same classes as the full time students, but his degree is really a Master's of Commerce. Seems the school itself did not feel its part time and full time students deserved the same treatment.

Kevin
BSME, VT
MBA, Ellis (in progress)

 

I just had a conversation with a long time community college instructor about this. He as a teacher, HATES online classes. He has had many students who are shy and will not speak up when they don't understand or, worse, say they do when they don't. He is able to detect this via body language and take care of the student. He can't do that online.

 

I spent 4 glorious years at Florida State from '88-92 as a med major. I could not have attempted to tackle that work online, regardless of age. You just had to be in the class to absorb it. Also, I will never EVER have traded my B&M days (football, frat, parties, friends, roadtrips, etc) for an online experience. To me it's synonymous with the kids who lived at home at went to community college...just no real collegiate experience.

Now, fastforward 13 years and there is no way I could drive downtown to sit in a class 3-4 nights a week until 10pm at night after working 12 hour days. Are Samford and UAB better schools that Grand Canyon? I would say they are, however cost, distance and inconvenience makes them unappleaing.

The short answer is, it just depends on your life circumstances.

 

I'm kind of a dolt when it comes to understanding computer technology (or any other type of technology, for that matter). But, just out of curiosity, has the technology been invented that would allow one to see images of one's professor and fellow students in an online learning environment?

 

I must "resemble this remark" somewhat. (Smile) A UOP MBA student does not coast on the coat tails of the more energetic colleagues if they (1) make the social loafing known to the facilitator and (2) provide a team evaluation which documents the nonparticipation at the end of class. I have downgraded final grades based on team remarks in the team evaluation, which I require. Also the team grade is only part of the grade. A person must put forth some effort to graduate or the social loafing will only carry him/her so far. This "social loafing" is not unique to the UOP or online learning. I once had to carry a team of three in my own B&M masters program because one was too sick and the other was too busy to participate in the team project. I had to put in countless hours to complete a difficult financial management project, but I did it, rather than to take the grade which would have been given otherwise.

 

It would be possible if everyone had webcams, however the quality of internet connections would be a concern (the bandwidth would need to be sufficient to deal with both streaming the camera images - only once to a central server would be sufficient, and then to receive several incoming streams).

Cost of implementation might be a concern (not to mention cost to students).

 

As many have said, it is a difference of delivery methods. I have had good and bad online and B&M classes, so many factors influence the quality of your learning experience. I am an online MBA student, and am PCS'ing to Hawaii in a few short weeks, so I am applying to the University of Hawaii, their program is at night so if possible I will take the courses in person only because of the networking possibilities as I will retire in four years from the Army. If I am not accepted or if the operational tempo does not allow in person class attendance, I will happily continue my education online, I have had good experiences with Morehead State and have learned quite a bit, so fortunately my online experiences have been worth the effort. Lastly, in the military, non-traditional education is the norm for most.

William

 

Not sure. But it happened many a time in my night school MBAs at City U that certain of my group members sloughed off while letting others carry the load. Some of my profs allowed you to grade your fellow group members. Others merely pointed out that part of education for the real world is learning that 20% of the people do 80% of the work. - Ted.

 

While it is true that any hypothesis should be backed up by hard evidence, fact is, every day, people's perceptions are made up based on what they think of feel about a certain subject. In other words, my college teacher friend may not have any hard evidence to show that B&M education is "better", his impression of it is based on what he thinks is. There are many in academia who do think like him.

As one of the posters has mentioned, school isn't just about reading and learning. It consists of social activities and networking. For example, we've all heard of people who have teamed up with their business school (MBA) friends to start a business, etc. Or heard of those who've enjoyed the recruitment of companies for MBA grads from their school. Online school doesn't allow for this since the relationships forged are very different. It is highly unlikely that you will decide to go start a business with an online school classmate, for example.

I am presently in the process of applying to grad school to pursue my MBA. I wish I could go to school full-time but I can't for I need to work full-time to pay my bills. So I have to pursue alternative methods such as online school. I know there are limitations such as the social networking that would benefit me, particularly when pursuing a business degree.

 

I am reminded of a graduate history class in which I had to read Henry Braverman's _Labor and Monopoly Capital_, which talked a great deal about the deskilling of America. The professor replied on that paper (which, frankly, required far more presentism than I would have liked) that one good analogy would be distance teaching as compared to traditional bricks & mortar teaching. Not to be unsympathetic, but one wonders whether at least some of the professors who hate DL might have economic motives for thinking that DL is somehow not as good as B & M.