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Going The Distance
Point. Click. Learn. Imagine a classroom that's open 24 hours. For busy adults juggling careers, kids and hectic home lives, it's a dream come true. In traditional distance learning students waded through print materials sent via the mail, watched public TV broadcasts and spoke to instructors rarely (if at all). But that's changed with the World Wide Web, CD-ROMs and computer disks. Gone are geographical boundaries, as universities reach out beyond traditional borders. Atkinson College at York University is a pioneer in the field. Suzanne MacDonald, a psychology professor who heads up Atkinson's Centre for Distance Education, claims the Net does away with many of the difficulties associated with traditional distance education. Atkinson offers three business administration courses over the Net, three psychology courses, and an English and a natural science course. MacDonald concedes it takes a lot of lead time to design a course for the Net. But once that's done, faculty need only monitor and auto-grade students' work on-line, answer questions, participate in on-line discussions and provide students with feedback. One advantage of Internet-based courses is the ability to direct students to course-related Web sites, many of which offer the most current, in-depth information on a specific subject area. Another benefit is, paradoxically, the virtual "intimacy" the Web provides. Classes of 150 are not unusual and professors don't have time to get to know individual students. "It makes students feel special to have direct access to a professor," says MacDonald. But she acknowledges technological change is an issue. "There's the issue of the potential impact on jobs or about copyright. But I think people who say this is going to put us out of work are wrong." Long distance links
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