A strict attendance policy – two strikes and you’re out. I guess the idea is that you have to be there to get the most for your money.
But do you?
Pros and cons of this particular attendance policy aside, the discussion did get me thinking about the entire concept of getting a university education without actually arriving to a campus every day.
During the first week of this semester one of my professors was asked by a student whether or not his lecture notes were going to be available on moodle. The professor was adamant that they would not and that he, for one, would never do such a thing because that would be the first step towards getting rid of professors altogether.
He actually likened Moodle to the development of banking machines that resulted in fewer and fewer human tellers.
He may have a point. Unfortunately though, that ship has long sailed.
Distance education at the post-secondary, and even secondary level has been a growing fact of life since snail-mail started delivering bulky packages of dubiously accredited courses advertised on the back of match packets decades ago.
Today, many well regarded universities regularly augment their traditional delivery of learning through electronically transmitted media. In fact, even St. Thomas has offered a mostly on-line political science course this semester. The first of more to come I would guess.
The benefits to the student are substantial, first and foremost being the cost. Yes, as it stands now, most accredited distance courses cost about the same per course as any traditional university course, but, once you factor in either travel or residence expenses, the difference in price is significant.
Secondly, distance learning can be done on a much more individualized schedule, which means students can more easily fit in full or part-time work while studying, or simply reap the benefits of organizing study time around an already tightly packed life style.
I know I’m not divulging anything here the powers that be at St. Thomas University don’t already know. Like every other facet of modern life, education is becoming more and more harnessed to the web. Who knows at some point maybe a university education will go the way of news and the media, readily available to all through the airwaves and free.
And to be perfectly frank, if there were an accredited on-line journalism degree available by a university anywhere in Canada or the U.S., I no doubt would be a student of that program as we speak.
But, it would have been my loss, totally.
And besides, how else would I have ever known what the word “twerking” meant.
