Elastic Education: Online Education
Posted by Sharon Cece on March 3rd, 2009
I hop on a plane to visit a friend, who lives in New Jersey. I’m a student at FSU and have a quiz scheduled the same day I plan to be hanging out with my friend 600 miles away. In a traditional university environment this would present a conflict; instead, I simply stroll into my friend’s home office, log onto her computer and voila! take my online quiz. As soon as I’m finished, I resume our sociable sojourn in the lovely Garden State.
Same semester; same curriculum. I need to submit a short essay this particular day and as life would have it this particular day I encounter a few unexpected glitches (read: car problems, toddler problems, insect problems, sinus problems, problem problems) which rearrange my schedule quite a bit. I finally catch my breath much later and recall the essay. No problem; I log onto my course site and submit my work despite the fact that the clock reads 11:30 PM.
Following semester; new curriculum. I’m trying in vain to study for an exceedingly brain-warping exam and because I’m sleep-deprived from my son waking me the night before and because my brain is warped past maximum warp quota, I can not for the life of me align my thought process with my study notes. So, I throw all my papers onto the floor, succumb to the beckoning of my alluring chaise and wake up refreshed and ready to rock; a little later in the evening I go online and take my exam fresh as a daisy. I don’t recall the time since it doesn‘t matter–I just need to take the test at some point that day (or night).
These vignettes are just a few of the many scenarios emblematic of my online courses. Today’s college students need flexibility more than ever–to submit coursework and participate in class discussions when their busy schedules, full family lives and challenging careers permit. Student online participation has increased exponentially in recent years and college schedules are adapting to the student instead of the other way around, as they should, because one student will have a radically different agenda, study habit and scholastic pace than the next. Educational success is augmented when the online student is able to form-fit the course load around his or her distinct and individual timeline and tackle cognitive tasks at the student’s optimal learning disposition.
Truthfully, besides Bill Gates, who ever really aced those 8 am classes anyway?
