Spencer Sipes

10/12/19

Mrs.Thomas

URWT 1103

Inquiry Synthesis

So, online education. What’s the deal with it? Well after my research I realized it’s a two

sided topic. Some sources like it, some sources hate it. It ranges from loving online education ie.

colleges that are entirely online and hating online education ie. colleges that hate the idea of the

classes and do their best to prevent the classes from existing. Barbara is the main neutral source

of my research. She understands that there are positives and negatives of online education, just

like there is with traditional education and believes that the application of online learning in

certain situations could be beneficial to one’s overall learning experience. She introduces the

concept of blended learning in her article, which is something that I actually use in my classes

currently. It involves students learning material before class and then reviewing the material in

class with the teacher and classmates in greater detail. This allows for the student to ask

questions and develop a greater understanding of the material. Overall Barabara gives me a good

intro to the debate of online education versus standard education. A good quote from her is

“Student performance is assessed using two traditional multiple-choice/essay exams; one

take-home essay exam; weekly journals; participation in the three discussion forums; the short

biographical timeline and personal practical theory papers; and the beginnings of a

developmental portfolio in lieu of a final exam.”.

 Now it’s time for negative opinions! James has a negative opinion of online classes. He

believes in statistics. Some stats show the people who take online classes are 11% less likely to

pass their classes. His view is that without face to face experience someones learning experience

will be overall worse in quality. A good quote from him is “Furthering the bad news for online

education is the fact that the drawbacks of online coursework disproportionately harm

lower-income students and community colleges.”. His views directly agree with Tom. Tom has a

very simplistic view of why online education is bad for students, his view is that due to the

increase of technology it will be easy for students to get distracted from their work. His major

points is that online classes require a larger amount of focus that traditional education. Basically

saying that college students can’t handle themselves properly. A good quote from him is “Online

courses typically require a greater amount of reading and assignments than traditional classes.

Programs in general are improving the quality of their online courses, and this means that

students will have to do more to prove that they’ve mastered the material.”.

Now it’s time for positive opinions! OEDB has a positive view on online education.

That’s because they need to have it for their business as well as the fact that they believe in

college students. As we are adults it makes sense that we can handle the responsibility of online

classes. A good quote from OEDB is “Lower total costs: Online programs prove a more

affordable option than traditional colleges. Though not all online degrees offer less expensive net

tuition prices than traditional colleges, associated expenses almost always cost less. For example,

there are no commuting costs, and sometimes required course materials, such as textbooks, are

available online at no cost. In addition, many colleges and universities accept credits earned via

free massive open online courses (MOOCs), the most recent advances in online education. These
free online courses can help students fulfill general education requirements.”. Aurora strongly

agrees with the integration of online learning into colleges and different learning environments.

They list at simple reasons as to why it is better, world wide connections, cheaper costs, more

time, as well as many others. A good quote from Aurora is“Online education can cost less due to

a variety of reasons. For example, there is no cost for commuting. Assorted costs that are related

to transport, such as fuel, parking, car maintenance, and public transportation costs don't affect

the online student.”. Another positive view is from Dr.Lynch. Dr.Lynch goes into great detail on

the application of online education in the future. He realizes that online education can be applied

in many different ways that will be extremely beneficial to the students. These ways are covered

in more detail in my summaries. A good quote from him is “Students are encouraged to interact

with peers and faculty members in projects that allow them to demonstrate real-world skills.

Through the use of technology, they can research, present, and broadcast their ideas simply and

quickly with stakeholders.”.