Online Education -- Changing the Way We Learn One Mouse Click at a Time
(ARA) - It is hard to imagine a world without the Internet. Since the mid 1990s, it has revolutionized the way people around the world communicate, shop, entertain and conduct business. Today, at the crest of this global transformation, colleges and universities steadily have added online courses to their curricula -- not only to compete with other schools, but to afford educational opportunities that meet the demands of a student’s busy lifestyle.
Online courses can be coupled with the traditional classroom setting, creating a successful hybrid of convenience and education. Dr. Elaine Artman, chair of the Department of Education at Argosy University/San Francisco Bay Area, explains an enrolled student’s course load in the school’s new Teaching Credential Program. “Methods courses are face-to-face on weekday afternoons and Saturdays for seven weeks, and the theory courses are taught online. Students can then complete all the coursework in one 15-week term this way. The second 15-week term is for the field work (student teaching).”
A university’s online education offering is often designed with an eye toward the adult learner who may be struggling to balance the demands of work, family and classes. For example, Argosy University/San Francisco Bay Area’s Teacher Credential Program provides an opportunity for career advancement for Northern California educators and can help them meet all requirements set forth by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
Over two thousand miles across the Pacific Ocean, students at Argosy University/Honolulu also take online courses, breaking geographical boundaries if the students live on the other Hawaiian islands besides Oahu, the island that is home to Honolulu.
“Online courses enable students to have access to high-quality education no matter where they live or work,” says Dr. Boris Porkovich, president of Argosy University/Honolulu.
Jean Ramage, head of Argosy University/Honolulu’s school psychology department, emphasizes the economical advantage that helps many of her school’s students: “Online courses assist us in serving students on the neighboring islands who would have to pay hundreds of dollars for a round trip airline ticket, just to attend a class in Oahu,” she says.
Innovative online formats allow students to engage in online activities such as visiting Web sites, performing virtual exercises and taking part in online tests and analyses. “Traditional classroom settings are not conducive to this,” says Porkovich. “This is part of the excitement and immediacy of the online experience.”
Universities are not the only institutions offering online education. In 2001, the U.S. military launched eArmyU, its first Army University Access Online, and more than 12,000 soldiers enrolled as initial participants in the program.
Peter C. VanAmburgh, a graduate of Argosy University/Sarasota, made the decision to complete a doctoral dissertation in education while stationed in the deserts of Iraq. He is a Lieutenant Colonel with the Georgia Army National Guard whose unit was mobilized in February 2004.
Argosy University offers the Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) program in an accelerated format, giving students the option to complete coursework online, in the classroom or a hybrid of both methods.
“Most of my fellow soldiers were very surprised I brought my educational pursuits to the Gulf operation with me,” says VanAmburgh. “Even after a hard day’s work, I was known to dust off -- literally -- my dissertation project on my laptop to make some progress on it during downtime.”
As the online experience continues to evolve, so does the way college students of all ages and backgrounds are improving their lives. Forget eBay -- whether students live on an island in the Pacific Ocean or are stationed in a Middle Eastern desert, the Internet can enable them to pursue one of the most valuable possessions they can ever own -- an education.
For more information about the online programs offered by Argosy University, log on to www.argosyu.edu.
Courtesy of ARA Content
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