An excessive amount of online courses and degree programs would water down the value of an education from Syracuse University.

SU will be hosting a panel on Friday to discuss how various schools and colleges on campus are responding to the national trend of online classes. Panelists will include directors, instructional designers and staff from the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the School of Information Studies, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, the Martin J. Whitman School of Management and University College.

The assessment of SU’s online educational offerings comes as the university moves to provide more online undergraduate courses and graduate programs. This demand is reflected by the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, which found a 12.6 percent increase in the number of students enrolled in a distance education course from 2012 to 2013 for nonprofit private institutions.

But just because increased enrollment in online programs is gaining traction on a national basis doesn’t mean SU has to take part.

The expansion of undergraduate online courses and graduate programs will only decrease the worth of a degree a student spends their college years earning on campus. It is for this reason that the university should not consider offering full, online undergraduate degrees, as these are only offered for graduate level of programs at this time, with the exception of University College’s Bachelor of Professional Studies.

Online courses deprive students of an immersive undergraduate experience. The skills and opportunities offered in a classroom setting are often lost online, including in-depth discussion, working in groups, and practicing public speaking. Web-based courses also limit student access to direct contact with professors with the absence of office hours.

Rather than increase the number of degree programs, the university and its individual schools and colleges should look to increase opportunities for specialized online certification programs. However, if the university moves forward with expanding degree programs online, it should only provide opportunities that are not equivalent to degrees offered to students studying on campus.

These programs should be modeled after the iSchool’s Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) and Communications@Syracuse, an online Masters degree program in the Newhouse School that offers course concentrations not available to on-campus students.

While the university is also looking to increase the amount of undergraduate courses offered online, it must do so cautiously and consider the weak points of online instruction.

Syracuse University isn’t a school where what students learn on campus is something that can be fully replicated online, and it shouldn’t attempt to become one.

Published on October 22, 2015 at 1:17 am

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