Online Courses at Western Kentucky Taking Off

By Associated Press, Kentucky.com

3/12/06

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Jennifer Wilcutt teaches during the day and pursues her master's degree in education whenever she can log on to the Internet.

Wilcutt, a Logan County resident, is part of Western Kentucky University's growing number of students who are pursuing degrees online.

"I can travel with my laptop and wireless modem, and log on from anywhere," Wilcutt said.

When Western Kentucky offered its first online courses in 1998, 35 students enrolled. For the spring 2006 semester, more than 9,000 students logon to school, said Robert Wyatt, Western Kentucky's director of distance learning.

Western Kentucky offers six online master's degrees - four in education, one in business administration and one in biology. The school also offers several certificate and undergraduate programs entirely online.

Wyatt said teachers such as Wilcutt are the perfect candidates for online degrees, because they need the convenience of not having to drive to campus after work and the flexibility about when to go to class.

"Teachers, after teaching a certain amount of time, they have to earn a master's degree and they have to do it while they work," Wyatt said.

One of Wilcutt's professors, Marge Maxwell, said the flexibility of online classes is what drew many of her students to enroll.

"Everyone likes the convenience of taking the classes at home in their pajamas," Maxwell said.

Holding class online means providing plenty of reading material, answering questions via e-mail and directing students to online resources, rather than standing before a class and discussing the assignments, Maxwell said.

"E-mail, I pretty much do it seven days a week," Maxwell said. "Since it's online, students pretty much expect you to be right there. If they're face-to-face they'll wait for class."

Don Swoboda, dean of Western Kentucky's division of extended learning and outreach, said most undergraduates at Western Kentucky will take an online class while they are enrolled.

While web classrooms are expanding at both traditional universities and at for-profits schools like the University of Phoenix, undergraduate students say it won't replace the traditional chalk-on-blackboard format anytime soon.

Sophomore Jamie Fogg, 19, said online courses can make it tougher to have a concept explained in a way that's easily understood.

"When you have a professor giving the information and you don't understand it, they can give it to you 10 different ways until you do understand it," said Fogg, a hotel, restaurant and tourism management major, who has taken three online courses.

Another tourism student, junior J.P. Bonaguro, said the in-class exchanges with the professor and among students helps him learn the material better.

"I'd take an eight o'clock class over an online class any day," Bonaguro said.