Online university

Last updated

A virtual university (or online university) provides higher education programs through electronic media, typically the Internet. Some are bricks-and-mortar institutions that provide online learning as part of their extended university courses while others solely offer online courses. They are regarded as a form of distance education. The goal of virtual universities is to provide access to the part of the population who would not be able to attend a physical campus, for reasons such as distance—in which students live too far from a physical campus to attend regular classes; and the need for flexibility—some students need the flexibility to study at home whenever it is convenient for them to do so.

Contents

Some of these organizations exist only as loosely tied combines of universities, institutes or departments that together provide a number of courses over the Internet, television or other media, that are separate and distinct from programs offered by the single institution outside of the combine. Others are individual organizations with a legal framework, yet are called "virtual" because they appear only on the Internet, without a physical location aside from their administration units. Still other virtual universities can be organized through specific or multiple physical locations, with or without actual campuses to receive program delivery through technological media that is broadcast from another location where professors give televised lectures.

Program delivery in a virtual university is administered through Information and communications technology such as web pages, e-mail and other networked sources.

As virtual universities are relatively new and vary widely, questions remain about accreditation and the quality of assessment.

History

The defining characteristic of all forms and generations of distance education is the separation of student and teacher in time and space. Distance education can be seen as the precursor to online learning. Before the advent of virtual universities, many higher education institutions offered some distance education through print-based correspondence courses. These courses were often referred to as a "course in a box". [1] These have been developed so that students can obtain almost immediate feedback from professors and online tutors through e-mails or online discussions.

When the term "virtual" was first coined in the computational sense, it applied to things that were simulated by the computer, like virtual memory. Over time, the adjective has been applied to things that physically exist and are created or carried on by means of computers. [2]

The Open University in the United Kingdom was the world’s first successful distance teaching university. [3] It was founded in the 1960s on the belief that communications technology could bring high quality degree-level learning to people who had not had the opportunity to attend campus universities. [4] The idea for a "wireless university" was first discussed at the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) by the educationalist and historian J.C. Stobbart. From these early beginnings, more ideas came forth until finally the Labour Party under the leadership of Harold Wilson formed an advisory committee to establish an Open University.

With the goal of bringing higher education to all those who wanted to access it, the committee came up with various scenarios before settling on the name Open University. The first idea floated in the UK was to have a "teleuniversity" which would combine broadcast lectures with correspondence texts and visits to conventional universities. In the "teleuniversity" scenario courses are taught on the radio and television and in fact many universities adopted the use of this technology for their distance education courses. The name "teleuniversity" morphed into the "University of Air" which still had the same goal of reaching the lower-income groups who did not have access to higher education. The name "University of Air" did not stick and by the time the first students were admitted in January 1971 the name had become what it is today "Open University". OU proved that it was possible to teach university-level courses to students at a distance.

By 1980, total student numbers at OU had reached 70,000 and some 6,000 people were graduating each year. The 1980s saw increased expansion continue as more courses and subject areas were introduced; as the importance of career development grew, so the university began to offer professional training courses alongside its academic programmes. By the mid-nineties, the OU was using the internet. As of 2008, more than 180,000 students were interacting with OU online from home.

The idea of a virtual university as an institution that used computers and telecommunications instead of buildings and transport to bring students and teachers together for university courses was first published in works like "De-Schooling Society" by Ivan Illich that introduced the concept of the use of computer networks as switchboards for learning, in 1970.[ citation needed ] In 1971 George Kasey, a media(activist)ethicist, delivered a series of lectures on "the Philosophy of Communications De-Design" under the sponsorship of Phil Jacklin PhD, professor at University of California San Jose, a member of "The (San Francisco)Bay Area Committee for Open Media and Public Access." [5] The lectures contained the theoretical outlines for use of telecommunications and media for de-schooling and de-design of mainstream education and an alternative Virtual Free University system. By 1972 George Kasey established "Media Free Times - periodical Multimedia Random Sampling of Anarchic Communications Art" a prototype for remote learning with the use of "multi-media periodicals," that are now commonly referred to as "web pages".[ citation needed ] In 1995 by John Tiffin and Lalita Rajasingham in their book "In Search Of the Virtual Class: Education in an Information Society" (London and New York, Routledge). It was based on a joint research project at Victoria University of Wellington that ran from 1986-1996.[ citation needed ] Called the virtual class laboratory it used dedicated telecommunication systems to make it possible for students to attend class virtually or physically and was at first supported by a number of telecommunication organisations. Its purpose was to seek the critical factors in using ICT for university-level education. In 1992 the virtual class lab moved onto the Internet.

A number of other universities were involved in the late eighties in pioneering initiatives and experiments were conducted between Victoria University in New Zealand, the University of Hawaii, Ohio State University and Waseda University to try and conduct classes and courses at an international level via telecommunications. This led to the concept of a Global Virtual University. [6]

Coursework

Providing access to higher education for all students, especially adult learners, is made easier by the fact that most virtual universities have no entry requirements for their undergraduate courses. [4] Entry requirements are needed for the courses that are aimed at postgraduates or those who work in specific jobs.

Studying in a virtual university has essential differences from studying in a brick and mortar university. There are no buildings and no campus to go to because students receive learning materials over the Internet. In most cases, only a personal computer and an Internet connection are needed that traditionally required physical presence of students in the classroom. Course materials can include printed material, books, audio and video cassettes, TV programmes, CD-ROM/software, and web sites. Support is offered to learners from the professor or a tutor online through e-mails if they are having problems with the course.

Taking courses online means that students will be learning in their own time by reading course material, working on course activities, writing assignments and perhaps working with other students through interactive teleconferences. Online learning can be an isolating experience since the student spends the majority of their time working by themselves. Some learners do not mind this kind of solo learning, but others find it a major stumbling block to the successful completion of courses. Because of the potential difficulty of maintaining the schedule needed to be successful when learning online, some virtual universities apply the same type of time management as traditional schools. Many courses operate to a timetable, which the student receives with the course materials. These may include the planned activities for each week of the course and due dates for the assignments. If the course has an exam, the students will be informed where they have to go to write it.

An example of a university that maintains a tight schedule is the Virtual Global University (VGU) in Germany. VGU offers a graduate program "International Master of Business Informatics" (MBI)—a master program in information technology and management that takes an average of four semesters to complete (for full-time students). Each course has a lecture or a virtual class meeting every week. Afterwards, students get a homework assignment; for example, they have to solve an exercise, elaborate on some problem, discuss a case study, or take a test. Lecturers give them immediate feedback, and one week later, the same happens again.

Coursework can be the same for a Virtual University as the On-campus University in certain cases. NYU Tandon Online, for example, provides the same course work to its online students as the on-campus students at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. This is done using advanced technologies.

Teaching modes

When online courses first began, the primary mode of delivery was through a two way audio-visual network. Then as well as now, many of the virtual study programs were mainly based on text documents, but multimedia technologies have become increasingly popular as well. These web-based delivery modes are used in order to expand access to programs and services that can be offered anytime and anywhere. The spectrum of teaching modes in virtual education includes courses based on hypertext, videos, audios, e-mails, and video conferencing. [7] Teaching on the web through courseware such as WebCT and Blackboard are also used. See Virtual education.

Quality

Students taking "virtual" courses are doing real work to get their degrees, and educators preparing and teaching those courses spend real time in doing so. That is, students meet a comparable level of academic learning outcomes and are evaluated through programs constructed according to standard university-level criteria.[ clarification needed ] Though it should not be assumed, virtual universities may be accredited in the same way as traditional universities and operate according to a similar set of academic standards.

However, questions remain about accreditation and the quality of assessment. Accreditation is required to assure students that the online institute has certified online instructors who have the expertise and educational qualifications to design and carry out the curriculum. Assessment standards need to be particularly closely monitored in virtual universities. For example, respondents in studies of opinions about online degrees will rate an online degree from Stanford the same as an on-campus degree, because the name of the granting institution is recognized. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually involved correspondence courses wherein the student corresponded with the school via mail. Distance education is a technology-mediated modality and has evolved with the evolution of technologies such as video conferencing, TV, and the Internet. Today, it usually involves online education and the learning is usually mediated by some form of technology. A distance learning program can either be completely a remote learning, or a combination of both online learning and traditional offline classroom instruction. Other modalities include distance learning with complementary virtual environment or teaching in virtual environment (e-learning).

Bottega University is a for-profit, accredited distance learning university headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.

Asynchronous learning is a general term used to describe forms of education, instruction, and learning that do not occur in the same place or at the same time. It uses resources that facilitate information sharing outside the constraints of time and place among a network of people. In many instances, well-constructed asynchronous learning is based on constructivist theory, a student-centered approach that emphasizes the importance of peer-to-peer interactions. This approach combines self-study with asynchronous interactions to promote learning, and it can be used to facilitate learning in traditional on-campus education, distance education, and continuing education. This combined network of learners and the electronic network in which they communicate are referred to as an asynchronous learning network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Online school</span> School that teaches students entirely or primarily online or through the Internet

An online school teaches students entirely or primarily online or through the Internet. It has been defined as "education that uses one or more technologies to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the instructor and to support regular and substantive interaction between the students. Online education exists all around the world and is used for all levels of education. This type of learning enables the individuals to earn transferable credits, take recognized examinations, and advance to the next level of education over the Internet.

Educational technology is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, "EdTech," it often refers to the industry of companies that create educational technology. In EdTech Inc.: Selling, Automating and Globalizing Higher Education in the Digital Age, Tanner Mirrlees and Shahid Alvi (2019) argue "EdTech is no exception to industry ownership and market rules" and "define the EdTech industries as all the privately owned companies currently involved in the financing, production and distribution of commercial hardware, software, cultural goods, services and platforms for the educational market with the goal of turning a profit. Many of these companies are US-based and rapidly expanding into educational markets across North America, and increasingly growing all over the world."

A virtual campus or e campus, refers to the online offerings of a college or university where college work is completed either partially or wholly online, often with the assistance of the teacher, professor, or teaching assistant. Many colleges and universities now offer such courses either partially or wholly online. There are an estimated 4,500 such institutions with total enrollments approaching perhaps 2 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of the Philippines Open University</span> Public university in Laguna, Philippines

The University of the Philippines Open University(UPOU) is a public research university and is the fifth constituent university of the University of the Philippines System. The majority of UPOU students are based in the Philippines but all of its programs can be taken anywhere in the world. While primarily a virtual university, it has a physical campus that houses admin and faculty offices in Los Baños, Laguna, with Mega Learning Hubs (MLH) in Manila and Cebu.

An online degree is an academic degree that can be earned primarily or entirely through the use of an Internet-connected computer, rather than attending college in a traditional campus setting. Improvements in technology, the increasing use of the Internet worldwide, and the need for people to have flexible school schedules while they are working have led to a proliferation of online colleges that award associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.

A correspondence law school is a school that offers legal education by distance education, either by correspondence or online by use of the internet, or a combination thereof.

The Virtual Global University (VGU) is a virtual university offering online distance education or virtual education on the Internet.

CU Online represents the University of Colorado’s fully-online bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate, and certificate programs. Originally launched by the University of Colorado Denver in 1996, it is one of the first fully-accredited online higher education platforms. Today, CU Online offers degree programs from all four University of Colorado campuses – CU Boulder, CU Colorado Springs, CU Denver, and CU Anschutz Medical Campus.

In the history of virtual learning environments, the 1990s was a time of growth, primarily due to the advent of the affordable computer and of the Internet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open education</span> Educational movement

Open education is an educational movement founded on openness, with connections to other educational movements such as critical pedagogy, and with an educational stance which favours widening participation and inclusiveness in society. Open education broadens access to the learning and training traditionally offered through formal education systems and is typically offered through online and distance education. The qualifier "open" refers to the elimination of barriers that can preclude both opportunities and recognition for participation in institution-based learning. One aspect of openness or "opening up" education is the development and adoption of open educational resources in support of open educational practices.

The Mississippi Community College Board (MCCB), formerly the Mississippi State Board for Community and Junior Colleges (SBCJC), is a statutory coordinating board tasked with oversight of the public community and junior colleges of the state of Mississippi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University</span>

Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University is the first smart university in the United Arab Emirates, established in 2002. The President of the university is the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Being the first e-learning institute in the UAE, its working model has paved the way for the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MOHESR), UAE to design standards for accreditation for an e-learning institution. Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU) follows in its delivery of learning a blended learning. These methods may include a mixture of face-to-face classrooms, online classrooms, and self-paced learning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of virtual learning environments</span> Home

A Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is a system specifically designed to facilitate the management of educational courses by teachers for their students. It predominantly relies on computer hardware and software, enabling distance learning. In North America, this concept is commonly denoted as a "Learning Management System" (LMS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valencian International University</span> Private international university in Valencia, Spain

The Valencian International University (VIU) is a private university in Spain with an international remit. It was founded by the regional government of Valencia in 2008. 70% of it was later acquired by the Planeta publishing house. The university is officially recognized by the Spanish Ministry of Education. It is headquartered in Valencia, Spain.

Oregon State University Ecampus is the online education unit of Oregon State University. OSU Ecampus develops and delivers courses, degree programs, certificates and microcredentials online and at a distance to students worldwide. Ecampus courses and programs are delivered online as well as in a blended or hybrid format that combines virtual learning with face-to-face instruction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Online learning in higher education</span> Development in distance education that began in the mid-1980s

Online learning involves courses offered by primary institutions that are 100% virtual. Online learning, or virtual classes offered over the internet, is contrasted with traditional courses taken in a brick-and-mortar school building. It is a development in distance education that expanded in the 1990s with the spread of the commercial Internet and the World Wide Web. The learner experience is typically asynchronous but may also incorporate synchronous elements. The vast majority of institutions utilize a learning management system for the administration of online courses. As theories of distance education evolve, digital technologies to support learning and pedagogy continue to transform as well.

E-Learning, or educational technology, in Pakistan has developed mostly in the 21st century. Online universities and e-learning platforms in the country have also opened in recent years. The introduction of 3G/4G technology has contributed to the growth in m-learning, allowing the incorporation of e-learning in classrooms as well as in informal education. Education in Pakistan is under the administration of Federal and provincial governments, allowing multiple e-learning opportunities for individuals in Pakistan.

References

  1. ↑ "USF College of Education Home Page". Coedu.usf.edu. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
  2. ↑ "Can We Talk About "Virtual" English? « f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku". archive.blogs.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2024-04-20.
  3. ↑ "Open to Change: An Interview with Leaders of the Open University". Educause. 14 March 2008. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Distance Learning Courses and Adult Education - The Open University". Open.ac.uk. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
  5. ↑ Kasey, George. "De-Design and the Ethics of Information Architecture".
  6. ↑ Tiffin and Rajasingham (2003)The Global Virtual University London and New York, Routledge
  7. ↑ Sanford, Michael Ellis; Peters, Sophia. "On Teaching Modalities Of Virtual Universities & Online Course Providers". Class Consultants. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "News". Online UC. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.