College Students Prefer Taking Non-major Classes Online rather than on Campus
The field of education has experienced a wide range of changes along with a rapid development of IT technologies. The practice of online courses shows that knowledge can be gained by the use of various approaches, and it is not obligatory to attend classes in order to obtain the necessary specialization. The recent discussions of this issue have resulted in a number of arguable questions. One of them is whether college students should better take non-major classes online instead of attending the campus.
Many up-to-date investigations were conducted on the question. As a consequence, Baldwin (2015) has a conviction that traditional models of education in the contemporary conditions the society functions in cannot achieve the same success as in the past. This is why, there is a constant necessity in changing and improving methods due to which different subjects can be taught. Furthermore, the author states that non-major classes have been proved not to bear such an importance as the major ones. Hence, they can be studied in online format.
This assumption is widely supported by Helms (2014). In accordance with his investigation, students who study the non-major disciplines via Internet have shown better performance in their major subjects. The author states that, “the frequently expressed concern that mass online education reduces local instructors to mere teaching assistants for remote lecturers” (Helmes 568) has not been proved. Oppositely, the outcomes of work both teachers and students perform have noticeably improved due to obtainment of extra time. In addition, the reduction of campus non-major subjects and their transition to online courses have contributed to the overall performance of an educational establishment, enhancing the learning outcomes.
The idea of preferring the online courses to the campus ones is strongly supported by Greenway and Makus (2014). The authors, who have been investigating the example of economics students, have a conviction that non-major classes contribute to the overall and versatile education of a student; however, they are not as important as major subjects, which have to be primarily considered. Consequently, the non-major disciplines can be easily performed online. Furthermore, the results of the investigation showed that the amount of C and D marks in online students has been reduced to minimum. Moreover, the obtainment of A and B marks has increased. This tendency is generally perceived as a positive one. It serves as a proof to the assumption that online non-major courses are fruitful in comparison to the same courses, which are taken offline.
It is also necessary to emphasize the fact that Draeger and Mahler (2015) follow the same idea. The authors assume that the general perception of knowledge gained through online courses is not harmed. The general performance of a student is not worsened. The teachers and professors have the same amount of work; hence, they do not lose their salaries. Taking the positive results into consideration, online education in non-major classes gives many benefits, which have to be followed.
It becomes possible to assume that if all non-major courses are taken online, both students and professors achieve a great number of benefits. On the one hand, the benefits consider the time saving for both participants of the teaching-learning process. On the other hand, the results of students’ performance are not negatively impacted; on the contrary, their improvement has been evident. These results consider both major and non-major classes, which are of great importance.
Hypothetically, the absolute transition of non-major subjects to online-based courses will play a purely positive role, resulting in a wide range of advantages for students and teachers.
Works Cited
Baldwin, Douglas. “Can We Flip Non-Major Programming Courses Yet?.”Proceedings of the 46th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. ACM, 2015.
Draeger, John, Pixita del Prado Hill, and Ronnie Mahler. “Developing a Student Conception of Academic Rigor.” Innovative Higher Education 40.3 (2015): 215-228.
Greenway, Gina A., and Larry D. Makus. “Grade Performance of Face-to-Face Versus Online Agricultural Economics Students.” Natural Sciences Education43.1 (2014): 57-63.
Helms, Jeffrey L. “Comparing student performance in online and face-to-face delivery modalities.” Online Learning 18.1 (2014).