Taking Exception to a Toledo Times Editorial

Posted on September 17, 2007 by David Gray

Here is an editorial column that appeared recently on the ToledoBlade.com site, which appears to be an online version of The Blade newspaper, all of which seems to be under the management of the Toledo Times. In this opinion piece, the author or authors assert that a college classroom experience is essential to real learning, high quality interaction, and intellectual development. Interesting.

This paragraph seems to summarize the editorial’s viewpoint:

Going to college means exactly that: Going to classes where the exchange of ideas and ideals helps shape intellect. Students need to be in the classroom, participating in the give-and-take between themselves and with professors, in order to begin to understand the power of ideas and the need to keep learning, thinking, and growing. However, this social interaction that is so vital to learning is essentially eliminated when students take online courses.

The editorial board at the Toledo Times is not alone in this view. Others take this position. Unfortunately, most, if not all, of the people expressing this opinion have never taken or taught an online college-grade course from a leading institution like UMassOnline. And none of them has tested their hypothesis with basic logic. If a college classroom is the only place anyone can get a real education, how can one explain that some of the most learned men and women in history never set foot on a college campus? Abraham Lincoln, for example, might take as much exception to this editorial as I do.

Good learners in the presence of skilled teachers and mentors gather knowledge and experience from one another anywhere, anytime. To say otherwise is to believe, for example, that sons and daughters can’t learn from mothers and fathers unless all are congregated in a classroom. The key to the first sentence of this paragraph and to the entire essence of my disagreement with the Toledo Times, however, is understanding what the italicized phrase “in the presence of” means in this day and age. In days gone by, “in the presence of” meant literally that, i.e., to be physically with someone else. Today, however, one can be virtually “in the presence of” others and interact with them in a highly meaningful, authentic manner. A well-designed and well-executed virtual classroom (or, phrased alternatively, an online course) can and should be the equal of its physical counterpart. Sometimes, arguably, the virtual experience may even be superior in terms of learning results. Great online teaching entails high levels of interaction with both the instructor and with student peers. The interaction takes place at a distance, yes, but is no less real. Engagement happens and bonds do form. The classroom is shaped differently, but students connect and learn all the same.

To be fair, not everyone attending college today, whether in traditional classrooms or via online courses, is on an intellectual par with the likes of Lincoln. The Toledo Times is not wrong to contemplate whether or not the online versus on-campus alternative offers more or less of what college students need and want today. But I’m confident if they were to do some further analysis… by taking an online course or at least talking to the growing number of students opting for the online solution, they would learn two things that I know: there are differences in the two methodologies, but learning happens both ways; and, the major difference is that the online option brings learning opportunities to people in places and at times of their life who otherwise would not be able to continue their learning at all. As the French would say, vive la différence!