Online education: focused on the students
About a year ago, The Chronicle of Higher Education published an article titled, “Lectures on the Go,” which outlined the benefits and drawbacks of professors using ‘coursecasting.’ One professor of American University commented, “If you make your lecture available as a podcast, students can relisten to troublesome passages, and it’s easy for them to slow things down.” The University of California Berkeley took coursecasting to a new level last week, by making over 250 hours of symposia and whole courses available to the general public for free.Last Tuesday, September 26th, 2006: the UC Berkeley announced that it “will be the first university with its own page on the Google Video Web.” Course topics include Physics, Biology, and Information Technology with Humanities features like poetry readings and discussions regarding current global affairs. The Executive Director of Public Affairs and Google Video project manager, Dan Mogulof, commented: “Now, through our collaboration with Google Video, we can more easily share those resources and bring extraordinary value to the people of California, the taxpayers who help support our institution. This is a perfect example of how technology is expanding our idea of what it means to be a truly public university."UC Berkeley’s latest addition to the World Wide Web only reiterates the trend to make education available to a wider audience. An article last week from the Arizona Daily Star highlighted the benefits online learning. Students interviewed for the article mentioned that they are able to find the courses that best suit their career goals, continue working as they earn their degrees, and are “able to balance every important part of … life.”A survey from Northern Arizona University finds “students are just as satisfied with online classes as they are with the on-campus programs.” NAU’s vice-president for extended programs and dean of distance learning, Fred Hurst, commented, “The bread and butter for universities is providing access to students to degree programs so they can get a degree and better their lives. As we continue to build up additional (online) programs for students to enroll in that’s the big payoff.
The Chronicle of Higher Education. "Lectures on the Go." 28 October 28 2005.Arizona Daily Star. "Web option offers flexibility." 29 September 2006.UC Berkeley News press release. "UC Berkeley offers courses and symposia through Google Video." 26 September 2006.
