<p>Its no secret that many college professors prefer doing research to teaching undergrads. Its also no secret that buildings are expensive to build and to maintain. And it definitely is no secret that the cost of college is too high. So </p>
<p>How would you react to putting some of the teaching on the internet, especially the teaching that goes on in huge lecture halls where there is little to no professor-student interaction? Have the professors record their lectures, set up links and allow the students to access it on their own time. Retain the TA sessions and even allow for guest appearances from the professor if he/she so desired. This would be a more efficient use of the professors time and he/she would avoid having to deliver the class lectures every year. The teacher could even retire or go on sabbatical and the class could still go on!</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in this time of financial pressure, this proposal would reduce the need for new lecture halls. Convert some of that space for other uses-any ideas?-and forego future new construction projects. </p>
<p>Finally, with less direct instruction taking place, colleges could lower professor salaries and pay royalties for the electronic lectures. </p>
<p>The net effect of all of this is a more efficient workforce, a lower fixed cost, a lower variable cost, and a real chance for cutting the cost of attending college.</p>
<p>I have taught on-line courses and they are incredibly labor intensive to set up. It takes a lot of time to get the material on the internet.</p>
<p>I think if there were a big push in this direction professors would incorporate themselves and sell their materials to universities and eventually we would have an entire fleet of Phoenix University with only a few really elite institutions keeping an institutional identity.</p>
<p>I think it would change the relationship between teachers and students quite a bit.</p>
<p>Some elite schools have tried to do this already with a “correspondence” division with differing results.</p>
<p>As an option within the vast market of higher ed options, I think it’s a fine idea – and obviously plenty of others do too. See [Western</a> Governors University](<a href=“http://www.wgu.edu/]Western”>http://www.wgu.edu/) for example.</p>
<p>As the solution to all our education needs… not so much. Different people have different needs and desires. My son is very happy with direct, personal instruction from first-rate faculty who love teaching him and his peers; I don’t want to give that up because someone thinks 100% “clicks and mortar” is the ultimate solution. I like the vast market of options. I’d like it better if the consumers were closer to the payment in all cases; I think prices would tend downward on their own if that were the case. But that’s probably a weak tangent to the real topic of your thread.</p>
<p>BTW, I agree with mythmom – the labor involved in creating and maintaining an online course is often grossly underestimated.</p>
<p>There is an ongoing global initiative for opencourseware. Johns Hopkins, Yale, and MIT have contributed. Google opencourseware for more information; it really is amazing. </p>
<p>It makes classes more widely available, but I suppose it does not address the OP’s topic (cutting the cost of college).</p>
<p>don’t forget the obvious: year-round colleges, with a full summer program. With that simple change, a college could increase its thru-put by 33% (if on quarter system), with no increase in physical plant. (Indeed, that is why Dartmouth created its D-Plan.) With an increase in student count, the average cost to educate will decline.</p>
<p>Having taken online courses and big lecture hall courses, I really think there is a difference. I can’t really put my finger on what it is but it is just not the same as having the professor in front of you. I take online classes when I have the option for courses I don’t care about but I would be disappointed to have to take an important course online.</p>
<p>I definitely think this is the future. While there will always be brick and mortar options available, at some point online education is going to become mainstream, as the cost/benefit equation will make it the best choice for most. Those who need hands on lab experience or small group discussions, can have access to local facilities, although they may not be part of a residential campus setting.</p>
<p>I also believe this is the future of primary and secondary education, where schools will become learning centers, at which online individualized instruction is supplemented with tutoring, group discussions and all kinds of extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>Some universities are already putting lectures (as podcasts), notes, slides, etc. online for on-campus students. This makes it almost entirely unnecessary to go to class, and from what I understand many don’t and still do quite well. As this continues, actually going to class may become increasingly rare. Perhaps we will have a prof in a studio recording a series of lectures posted online, grad students holding discussion sections, and faculty providing office hours, with the savings coming in heating, cooling, and building maintenance.</p>
<p>We do this already- put our lectures video-taped, notes, and other materials online for our regular classes. Some of our texts, written ourselves, are online as well. Some faculty teach online courses, but as a rule, it takes about twice the amount of faculty hours to do an online course as an in-person course. </p>
<p>Hubby and I (who both are primarily researchers but also love teaching) have recently been talking about the whole video thing. If you are going to put us into a large classroom to merely lecture (e.g. above 150), you ought to just tape us and have students watch it at their leisure. Some classes (and students) work well for this kind of large lecture format, some not at all however. Faculty use very different pedagogy, depending upon the type and level of class (it’s not at all just lecture you can watch).</p>
Yes. About half of the class I taught was based on interaction and group research in the classroom. Could one find some way to replicate that experience online – perhaps, but would it be worth the effort just to have it online? Eeeh. Maybe, maybe not.</p>
<p>I think a hybrid approach–with online lectures for classes like General Chem that really are just straight lecture, or where that’s the prof’s teaching style–would work well, but I doubt it’d be implemented any time soon.</p>
<p>^ There are many organizations implementing that sort of approach already, and have been for the last ten years. I think it’s not a bad thing that they’re not all doing it. Choices are good for our kiddos, and for our strength in diversity. :)</p>
<p>^Should have added the qualification that I was referring to “CC” schools. I’m sure many of the introductory lecture classes at even Harvard could be shown online without reducing its impact (with of course TA-led discussion sections to supplement). Indeed, what I’ve seen of OpenCourseWare from several elite universities has been excellent.</p>