Offline education

Why is Portland State so behind in the online-class revolution? The average age of a PSU student is anywhere from 26–28, depending on where you look on the school’s Web site. At that age, a student is likely to have a job, even if it’s only part time. Many also have families. This group would certainly benefit from the many conveniences of fully online courses.

 “[It’s] the most annoying thing about PSU,” according to Portland State alumnae Marissa Gordon, is the lack of online courses and degrees.

When registering for courses each term, the number of fully online courses available to students, especially in certain majors, is woefully slim. Most of these offered courses are continuing education units (CEUs) or independent study—not classes that count toward an undergraduate degree.

Mark Jenkins of Online Program Services states, “Very roughly the number of fully online credit-bearing courses is currently around 500. In addition to that, there are some one-meeting-only hybrid courses and other kinds of interesting outliers.”

However, on their Web site is a list of fully online courses offered at PSU. At my count, there were a meager 56 offered that did not fall under the CEU or independent study category. After I looked over the fall schedule and selected Web-based-only courses, I found nowhere near 500.

Portland State does have many benefits for busy, nontraditional students, such as support groups, tutoring, evening classes and two day care centers. Why the lack of online support?

Comparing PSU to two other colleges from the Oregon University System, Oregon State and University of Oregon, it fits somewhere in the middle. UO does not offer any undergraduate degrees online, and few classes fully online. However, Oregon State University offers at least six undergraduate degrees, four graduate degrees and five certificates fully online, not to mention a number of online courses. Portland State offers only one undergraduate course fully online, although they are in the process of designing a degree in liberal arts online. Across the border, even Washington State University has more degrees and courses online than PSU, the largest school in Oregon!

Perhaps the most frustrating part of this is that it’s not for lack of technology. Most courses have a partial online component, utilizing Blackboard or another Internet platform of the instructor’s choice. So why does a student who is busy already have to come sit in a classroom, perhaps even from a distant commute and with day care bills to pay, when the course could be offered online instead?

So many questions, so few answers. From a business standpoint, this just makes no sense. Offering accredited degrees and commonly required classes online would be a fantastic financial move for the university. Distance learning for credit bearing courses opens up the floodgates to not only Portland area residents, but to people all over the country and possibly even overseas. Again, it becomes baffling why Portland State does not make this option available to students.

When it comes to what is most beneficial for what makes this college run—the students—offering a variety of online choices makes the most sense. Consider the all too common PSU student who must work to support themselves, while also attending classes at Portland State. Or the student who travels a number of miles to get here. Or even the student who has a family to care for. An online PSU would serve these students far better, while attracting others like them.

What is the incentive to stay enrolled at PSU when some students have to choose between paying the bills and staying in school. They could transfer to another university (such as OSU or WSU) that caters more to their needs allowing them work a full-time job all without missing any class time. This is the sort of issue that online courses could address.

Portland State would do well to consider student needs and keep up with technology, and other schools. It could do wonders for not only the student population, but for PSU as well.