Covering the business of education and training

The Sloan Consortium has issued its fourth annual publication on the state of e-learning in United States Higher Education.

The report addresses several key questions:

Fifth Question: What are the barriers to widespread adoption of online masters in education and similar programs?

Answer: Faculty don't accept the value of online learning. Faculty complain that it takes more time and effort to teach online.

Well, what a surprise - faculties are complaining about a system that allows students to meet outcomes more objectively.

Evidence: Only 4.6% of Chief Academic Officers think there are no barriers.

Two-thirds of academic leaders think online students need more discipline.

Faculty still don't accept online learning outcomes and don't want to commit the extra time and effort to teach online to help others achieve online graduate degrees, for example.

Student demand for or acceptance of online degrees by employers was an obstacle.

The faculty is in the way. Repeat after me...the faculty is in the way.

Could it be that online teaching pays less? Has less prestige? Does not allow for profs to mess around with their students in all sorts of ways? Is an online teaching degree worth the effort?

I like to be in the classroom with my students, too. But, I also like to take my classroom with me to the pool side so I can grade/interact while I watch my college jr. participate in collegiate swim meets.

I'll take online courses anyday and pit my best student reports against an f2f best any day.

What do you think?

The complete report can be found here.