(1888PressRelease)
November 09, 2006 - Many educators says that the man who is lazy takes the online degree, but new research has suggested that stigma is not only fading, but transforming into eLearning accolades. Recently, an in-depth study from Sloan Consortium, a group supporting online education, confirmed what advocates of cyber-academics had been saying for years: Online learning can be just as good as -- if not better than -- a classroom degree.
"A majority of academic leaders (57 percent) believe learning outcomes for online education are equal to or superior to those of face-to-face instruction," proclaims the Sloan study.
Dr. Michael Otaigbe has had the unique chance to compare both types of learning. A classroom professor for 15 years, Otaigbe began teaching online two years ago through Strayer University. And, this semester, he's teaching the same course -- Sociology of Comparative Religions -- both online and in a classroom at Strayer's Woodbridge, Va., campus.
"Online, I have the freedom to require contributions. Every week, my students have to submit essays and participate in group discussions," Otaigbe says. "I get a better sense of the learning process."
Whereas in a classroom setting, students must respond instantly during discussions, he explains, the online students have more time to research an answer and reflect on what to say before posting a response.
"In fact, what I have learned from the online class, I have used to improve my class teaching," Otaigbe says.
"I have students from Japan, from China," says Otaigbe. "I know my student from India contributed a lot when we were talking about Hinduism."
"Typically, a person with an online degree is someone who is also working in an organization, so they have experience," says Dooney. "You're getting someone who has the total package."
As online learning continues to evolve into a well-respected educational option, perhaps the Sloan Consortium was on to something when it stated that almost one-third of academic leaders "expect that learning outcomes for online education will be superior to face-to-face instruction in three years."
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