[Roberton3]

"The most positive things I've heard those faculty say are that online classes can be adequate for some intro-level classes"

Do you think there is any chance that professors have a vested interest in this matter? There is plenty of information available about the benefits of on-line classes. But, you are not going to hear much from those whose livelihood is threatened by it.

As somnambule and garvin noted, even those professors who are benefitting from having more online classes tend to be negative (in private) about them.  The professors I was talking about are the ones who are teaching online classes, and getting a bonus or some other incentive for doing so -- so if anything, they'll be biased in favor of online classes.  If you talk to professors whose livelihoods are being threatened by online classes, you'll get a vastly more negative view.

As I noted, there are some big potential benefits of online education -- reaching students who otherwise couldn't attend college (the programs targeting military servicemen stationed overseas, for example).  But there's also a lot of unjustified hype, and far too little attention to the disadvantages.

[Roberton3]

"The most positive things I've heard those faculty say are that online classes can be adequate for some intro-level classes"

Do you think there is any chance that professors have a vested interest in this matter? There is plenty of information available about the benefits of on-line classes. But, you are not going to hear much from those whose livelihood is threatened by it.

As somnambule and garvin noted, even those professors who are benefitting from having more online classes tend to be negative (in private) about them.  The professors I was talking about are the ones who are teaching online classes, and getting a bonus or some other incentive for doing so -- so if anything, they'll be biased in favor of online classes.  If you talk to professors whose livelihoods are being threatened by online classes, you'll get a vastly more negative view.

As I noted, there are some big potential benefits of online education -- reaching students who otherwise couldn't attend college (the programs targeting military servicemen stationed overseas, for example).  But there's also a lot of unjustified hype, and far too little attention to the disadvantages.