Are online classes good for UMD students?

Online courses can be a good supplement to higher education, said Dr. Raymond St. Leger, but they do not serve as a replacement.

St. Leger, a professor in the entomology department at the University of Maryland, will be teaching an online course titled “Genes and the Human Condition (From Behavior to Biotechnology),”  which begins April 22, 2013.

Photo by Elvert Barnes

The professor indicated that there were many things that the traditional classroom approach provided that an online course could not.

“I understand it will not be a replacement [for the class],” said St. Leger.  ”It’s more a replacement for the textbook really.”

Among students, however, online courses are received differently.  Freshman kinesiology major Kassie Coulson said that, for her, online classes were a big success.

“I took one in the winter and I was like ‘oh this is great, I love this, I’ll do it again,’” said Coulson. “It really depends on the person and also on the professor.”

Coulson enjoyed her online class over the winter enough to enroll in one for the spring semester titled “Sport in American Society.”

Sophomore Paulina Grajewski, an accounting and finance double major, said that online learning leaves plenty to be desired.

“It’s not a substitute,” said Grajewski, referring to online lectures that supplement her traditional finance class. “It helps us with learning the material but it’s not very good.”

Professor St. Leger also said that there was much to be worked on before this type of class could rival a traditional learning experience.  He cited issues with keeping the class interactive, an issue that Grajewski also said she had with the online class format.

“It could work. Maybe if they were kind of interactive, because it’s really passive just kind of sitting and watching videos online,” Grajewski said. “It’s easy to get distracted.”

For those interested in trying online classes, the University of Maryland’s Office of Extended Studies will be offering certain online classes for free, but not for credit, on a range of topics beginning at different dates throughout the spring 2013 semester.

Though some professors and students make it clear that online courses cannot replace a traditional class, other students, like Coulson, find them to be a great learning experience. Coulson also warned that students should be prepared to stay on top of their work when taking online classes.

“Taking online classes puts a lot more responsibility on the student to keep up and to do everything as you’re supposed to do it, as opposed to just putting it off,” Coulson said.