Economics Professor Gives Eight Reasons to Support Online College Courses
Posted on June 30, 2009 by Mark Schlesinger
Margaret Brooks is a professor of economics and chair of the economics department at Bridgewater State College. She is also the president of the Massachusetts Council on Economic Education. Writing recently for The Chronicle of Higher Education in a viewpoint entitled The Excellent Inevitability of Online Courses, Professor Brooks provides eight reasons for colleges and teachers to support online education.
What’s interesting about this opinion piece is that Professor Brooks acknowledges there are those on campus who have a less than positive view of online learning. And she notes there are some who can find no fault with it at all. She’s not in either camp. Unlike some critics of online education she recognizes within her eight reasons that online education enhances learning for many; it’s not merely an alternative, a convenience or a concession to the technological bent of new students and instructors. Here’s what she writes:
I belong to the third group. Within our lifetimes, technology has fundamentally changed the way we get the news, make purchases, and communicate with others. The Internet provides a platform for learning about and interacting with the world. It should be no surprise that students line up for courses that make the best use of technologies that are so integral to their lives. It’s not just the economy. It’s not just the convenience. It’s the integration of technology within society that’s driving the development of online courses.
If you have a minute, take a look at what Professor Brooks says …eight reasons that colleges should proudly — and without apology — offer online courses.
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