Building an Online University

We were pleased with the news today that Colorado State University is going online with its learning:

Colorado State University is launching a $12 million online university that will help students who don’t have the time or money to get a traditional on-campus four-year education.

Called CSU-Colorado, and approved by the CSU Board of Governors on Friday, the online university will serve Coloradans and out-of-state students.

CSU is facing the inevitable fact: University Learning no longer requires a campus. Your students do not need dorms. Your faculty must not live in Colorado to teach.

In a decade more students will be earning degrees online than in traditional classrooms because distance learning is convenient, cheap to create and propagate, and gets easier as technology gets better.

Virtual Chats Using Famous Avatars

The University of Illinois at Chicago have come up with a method of providing interactive video chat online using realistic avatars:

UIC also has developed technology that provides viewers with 3-D images that do not require wearing special glasses.

One important factor in the project is to impart appropriate body language to the avatar as it responds to comments and questions, said Steve Jones, a UIC professor of communication.

"In real life, it's just assumed that you can read a person's responses without saying anything," said Jones. A subtle hesitation before speaking can have meaning, but such nuances have been mostly lacking in software programs created so far.

The project will use video cameras to record a person's mannerisms, and that information will be fed into the programs that activate the avatar, Jones said.

This technology means you could become your favorite actor or politician or family member and "chat" online as that person or even with that person.

Professors could hold online virtual meetings with students -- and neither student or instructor would have to dress up or even look special for the occasion.

We are quickly moving into the Age of Masks and with that virtualization of our real selves, we must remember to always preserve our humanity in the negotiation.

Laptops in the Classroom

Many universities are giving up on their idea of "One Laptop Per Student" theory in the classroom because computers interfere with learning.

Traditional Universities also want to remove WiFi and other communication connections from being available during teaching sessions because students are surfing the web and creating email instead of being involved in class.

When the classroom becomes virtual and the only way to communicate and learn and interact is through the keyboard or the video conference -- one begins to realize the irreconcilable conflict between traditional learning methods and the necessary collaborative memes of Distance Learning.

We believe not in "one laptop per student" but in "multiple computers for all students" and we get there by internetworking and creating connectoids to each other.

Safety and Online Learning

In light of the terrible Virginia Tech tragedy, we cannot help but realize one massive strength -- that some think is a weakness of Online Learning -- in that our classrooms are virtual and intensively interactive.

Distance Learning has no doors or rooms or dorms -- we are in the ether of the world -- and we educate through flying bits and bytes from afar while being right next to the eye.

Others claim Online Learning is too impersonal and impractical in a human sensation -- we argue Distance Learning is safer, cheaper and more modernly precise on so many more human levels than traditional classroom learning.

Is Virtual Learning as Effective as In Person Teaching?

We are often asked if learning online in a virtual environment is just as good as taking a class in person.

We believe "Going Virtual" is the way of future teaching because you don't need buildings. You don't need travel time. You don't need to worry about parking or finding a chair or a particular room on a certain day.

Your computer is your classroom and you can "attend class" from the park, your bedroom or a fast food joint.

The key to finding success online is the quality of your professor. It can be easy to ignore student needs and to recreate an in-person class with a virtual one. Students are gifted and important.

Teaching virtually takes special needs and conditions to create a warm and inviting intellectual learning experience that will stay with your forever. We provide that sort of setting right here at Boles University.