A growing number of physical universities, as well as newer online-only colleges, have begun to offer a select set of academic degree and certificate programs via the Internet. These programs range from Associate’s degrees to Doctoral programs with available emphases in everything from Business Administration to Criminal Justice to Nursing. While some programs requires students to attend some campus classes or orientations, many are delivered completely online. In addition, several universities offer online student support services, such as online advising and registration, e-counseling, online textbook purchasing, student governments and student newspapers.

Online courses generally require a computer with a broadband connection.

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E-Learning Information: Inside
[ Supporting Learning Online ] [ Blended Learning ]
[ Pedagogy of E-Learning ] [ Organizing Content ]
[ Online Learning ] [ Degree Programs ] [ Websites ]

One of the big new markets on the Internet will be that of education. However, beware the hype. You will find that many educational providers, both public and private but especially the institutions that like to think they're at the leading edge of technology, will offer you computer - Internet - delivered courses. Unfortunately, the problem isn't just the computer technology - as governments are wont to suggest. That can do anything you want it to - and the Open University, as one example, has spent literally tens of millions of dollars (perhaps even hundreds of millions) exploring this and developing solutions.

The real problem here is the technology of distance learning, something that the Open University is well aware of - it is its livelihood. As yet it has not found a cost-effective means of making the best use of the interactive capabilities of computer education over the web or Internet. The current material can be equally well delivered by the mailman, and such printed material is much cheaper to support. Even so, as an indication of the investment levels needed, it still costs the best part of one million dollars for each major course. It does use electronic communications for some parts of its business, including general communications and submissions of the student exercises. In particular, we make considerable use of electronic conferences to bring students together. Distance learning students often feel isolated, and giving them an electronic conference - so they can talk with fellow students - helps to ameliorate this. Paradoxically, though, the greatest advantage is that such computer conferences typically stimulates them to set up a self-help group in their local neighborhood, where they go to meet face-to-face in the local bar. Indeed, one of the great counter-intuitive facts about electronic communication between individuals is that it works best if the individuals can - from time to time - actually meet face-to-face; rather than, as normally recommended, when they are so remote that they never meet.

The real problem is that the main providers have not yet managed to productively incorporate Computer-Based-Teaching (CBT) or, as it is often now called, Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) into their offerings. Thus, even with Open University material, what you typically get is large chunks of text which could be in any textbook (though in fact, in the case of the Open University, it is especially developed so that it is focused on the specific job in hand - which makes the education content more powerful). Between these slabs of text activities are inserted, which the students complete, to consolidate what they just learnt.

It now increasingly uses PC-based systems to also allow them to test themselves, usually on the basis of multiple choice questions, to see how much they know. It then provides a degree of feedback; explaining whether they are right or wrong and, if wrong, what the real answer was. Truly effective Computer-Aided-Instruction comes, though, when this feedback is used to manage the progress of the student. Thus, in theory at least, depending upon how well they have learned the lesson you may allow them to skip the next unit - because they already understand enough. Perhaps more likely, they may have learned it so badly that you have to return them to the beginning of the previous section. This all about managing the student's individual progress.

Some software for doing this is available, in crude form, but as yet it needs to be significantly enhanced. More important - and this is a killer - you have to put very much more effort into developing the material content it uses - typically providing at least three times as much (where you have to cater for all the alternative answers!) and in particular the interactions with the management system. This is where most systems currently are held up. CAI is not a cost-free solution!

Forecasts have suggested that the organizations who should find it easiest to get round problems - and produce the most popular education programs using technology very similar to that now available in the games market - would either be the IT multinationals (especially Microsoft) or the Hollywood studios. The logistics of it are very much like making a movie - and in fact the most expensive part is indeed making the moving pictures which illustrate the program. In fact, this does not appear to have happened; yet.

In general, the first problem - and possibly the most insuperable in the shorter tem - for the individual and for the many small providers, will be the vast choice available. It will be difficult to trawl through the literally hundreds of thousands of offerings to find one which matches your individual needs - even with the new artificial intelligence agents - let alone find guaranteed quality. In the case of education it is not just your money you may waste but your time, and that is often much more valuable. So we're likely to see the emergence of various initiatives to host certification authorities.