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Insights into online learning today , please excuse any duplication /kw "Learning in Dorm, Because Class Is on the Web" By TRIP GABRIEL Published: November 4, 2010 A version of this article appeared in print on November 5, 2010, on page A1 of the New York edition. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/05/us/05college.html Excerpts: GAINESVILLE, Fla. — "Like most other undergraduates, Anish Patel likes to sleep in. Even though his Principles of Microeconomics class at 9:35 am is just a five-minute stroll from his dorm, he would rather flip open his laptop in his room to watch the lecture, streamed live over the campus network." ... Excerpts: ..."Dozens of popular courses in psychology, statistics, biology and other fields are also offered primarily online. Students on this scenic campus of stately oaks rarely meet classmates in these courses."... "Online education is best known for serving older, nontraditional students who can not travel to colleges because of jobs and family. But the same technologies of "distance learning" are now finding their way onto brick-and-mortar campuses, especially public institutions hit hard by declining state funds. At the University of Florida, for example, resident students are earning 12 percent of their credit hours online this semester, a figure expected to grow to 25 percent in five years." ... "This may delight undergraduates who do not have to change out of pajamas to "attend" class. But it also raises questions that go to the core of a college's mission: Is it possible to learn as much when your professor is a mass of pixels whom you never meet? How much of a student's education and growth — academic and personal — depends on face-to-face contact with instructors and fellow students?" ... Excerpts: ..."The University of Florida has faced sweeping budget cuts from the State Legislature totaling 25 percent over three years. That is a main reason the university is moving aggressively to offer more online instruction. "We see this as the future of higher education," said Joe Glover, the university provost."... "Quite honestly, the higher education industry in the United States has not been tremendously effective in the face-to-face mode if you look at national graduation rates," he added. "At the very least we should be experimenting with other modes of delivery of education." Excerpts: ..."Kristin Joos built interactivity into her Principles of Sociology course to keep students engaged. There are small-group online discussions, and students join a virtual classroom once a week using a conferencing software called WiZiQ. "Hi, everyone, welcome to Week 9. Hello!" Dr. Joos said in a peppy voice recently to about 60 students who had logged on. She sat at a desk in her home office; a live video feed she switched on at one point showed her in black librarian's glasses and a tank top." ... excerpts only from the article available in the NY Times ~~~~~ Karen Weaver, MLS, Electronic Resources Statistician, Duquesne University, Gumberg Library, Pittsburgh PA email: [log in to unmask] / Gmail: [log in to unmask] "Leadership is the ability to get people to do what they don't wan't to do---and like it."--Harry S. Truman