Across the nation, more and more students are signing up for online and distance-learning courses: Enrollment increased from 8 to 20 percentbetween 2000 and 2008, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Numbers at PSU paint a similar picture: Last year, out of 24,845 students enrolled, 11,441 were enrolled in at least one online course—46 percent of the student body.
The numbers are expected to rise even more. Director for Online Learning Gary Brown explains that PSU is trying to get on board by recognizing students’ technological proclivities, which he says are increasingly shaping the job market students will graduate into. More immediately, the rapidly expanding student population and its nontraditional demographics means that universities must adapt to the online trend and provide the enrollment flexibility students need.
In the next five years, PSU plans to expand the university’s online offerings to include hybrid classes— a mixture of online and in-class work that essentially “flip[s] the classroom,” according to Brown. Two-thirds of the course work would be done online; the instructor would videotape his or her lecture for students to watch on their own time, and then the class would meet in person for group activities and discussions.
Brown feels this arrangement allows students to take advantage of technology and creates opportunities for students to engage more dynamically. Hybrid classes also allow the university to combat serious space issues created by increased enrollment numbers.
Recent research supports the future of hybrid classrooms and the increasing utilization of online courses. Findings from a 2009 report from the U.S. Department of Education suggest that, on average, students in online learning conditions perform “modestly better than those receiving face-to-face instruction,” while instruction combining online and face-to-face elements may have “a larger advantage relative to purely face-to-face instruction than [does] purely online instruction.”
Online classes are very different from the traditional course model. The spontaneous discourse and shared ideas can potentially be limited in the online realm. But Brown notes that many students who for a variety of reasons don’t actively participate in traditional classrooms are able to freely participate in online discussions, where they are allowed more time to formulate their ideas and can perhaps express those ideas more confidently.
Brown believes it is problematic to attempt to replicate what is happening in the classroom in the digital realm because “it’s a different beast.”
“The strength of one medium is not necessarily equal to the weakness of another,” Brown said.