Online Classes Should be About Enriching, Not Privatizing, Education
By Mary Ellen Flannery
As online courses continue to grow rapidly in number and size, and as some colleges begin to experiment with the use of “academic coaches” or even robots to lead those courses, some educators are wondering whether it’s all a scheme to privatize teaching and rid campuses of tenured faculty.In 2009, enrollment in online courses rose by almost 1 million students in one year, according to the 2010 Sloan Survey of Online Learning, which also found that nearly 5.6 million students were enrolled in an online course that fall. “Nearly 30 percent of university students now take at least one course online,” said the study’s co-author, Babson University professor Elaine Allen.
On some of those campuses, thanks to contracts collectively bargained by faculty unions, those classes are taught by well-qualified faculty members, and those faculty members rightfully retain control over online