Why do students take online courses when they don't know how to use the internet?

Anyone care to answer this question for me?

-Matt

 

I will try to answer that if you answer this - why do students take online class if they do not have a computer? They plan to use the one at the library and are confused when they can not view videos or download documents.

 

I don't know either...

But when you find out, let me know.

 

It's almost kind of sad. It's like the cards are being set up to deliberately have these students fail. Granted, it's totally their fault for attempting to do something without the appropriate skill set, and that makes me wonder.

I completed to graduate degrees online, and I don't ever recall having to demonstrate an ability to work online. I was obviously competent, but what about those who aren't? Has anyone either attended or taught at a school that required students to take some sort of online skill assessment before taking an online course?

-Matt

 

In some cases, for-profit schools may have financial incentives to encourage poorly qualified students to enroll in online classes. For example, the US Dept. of Justice recently sued Education Management Corp. over this issue:

I can see 11 billion reasons why this might happen.

 

LOL really? Back in my day......

 

I sense that CalDog doesn't like for profit schools

 

I dislike schools that enroll students who don't have computers into online classes, then bill taxpayers for their tuition.

If you can show me a non-profit that does this, I will add them to my list.

 

I think TESC does that. I don't know how you can prove that kind of thing though. It would be a difficult research project because you would have to send out so many surveys and self-reported data is unreliable.

 

Charter Oak State College's requirement of a Cornerstone Seminar course gets at this.

 

Exelsior has an information literacy requirement.

 

The information literacy requirement can be completed toward the end of the program, can't it? I thought most RA for-profits required some kind of orientation that goes over online education. It doesn't really matter anyway because it's possible to get through these courses without learning much. My community college district requires a free, online orientation for students who have never taken an online course. My classmates may not have been able to read well, but they knew how to use a computer.

 

Who doesn't know how to use the internet?

I thought Al Gore sent instructions to the global populace when he invented the internet.

 

I think the instructions melted because of global warming.

-Matt

 

I started using the internet with Archie and Veronica but I still come across college sites that are difficult to navigate,

 

Did they fill out the FAFSA online? Did they apply online? If so then they know how to use the Internet. I find it hard to believe that a college educated person doesn't know how to use the Internet. That is almost like saying you don't know how to read.

 

Probably because they are two busy studying to be a teacher too learn to use the internet so that they could also acquire to graduate degrees. I'm just sayin'.....

 

I don't understand the question. How could a student take an online course if he or she didn't already know how to use the internet? An instructor would never encounter individuals who are completely ignorant, because they wouldn't be online.

Perhaps the underlying complaint here are students who do have some very basic knowledge about how to use the internet, but lack familiarity with the course delivery software that a particular online program uses. In that case, from my student's point of view, the problem would appear to be more with the program, and not necessarily with the student.

Programs really need to include little optional tutorials about how their course delivery system works. That's especially true if it's complex and has lots of arcane features.

 

Because they don't have a B&M program available locally in the subject that they want to study? Because they hope to benefit from what DL offers?

I use computers at my local libraries regularly. The reason is that I can watch videos and download documents with the library computers, which have high-speed connections. I don't have high-speed internet at home.

That brings up another pet-gripe of mine. Many university web presences seem to load on unnecessary graphics, animations, videos and bandwidth-intensive features to the point where they are impossible to use with older browsers and low-bandwidth connections. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of reason for it, beyond some edu-IT guy thinking the features are cool and make a school's web presence look contemporary or something.

 

+1. Meanwhile, these are often making their websites less accessible not only to people with older browsers and lower-bandwidth connections, but also to persons with disabilities. Think people with blindness and low vision using screen readers, Deaf or hearing impaired people where videos aren't captioned, etc.

Oh! They might also also be less accessible to people with some newer browsers. Try browsing some of this stuff on a smartphone.