He also teaches a master's class in business administration that he said is enriched by the students' shared real-life experiences in class, but he said the online class has not abandoned the Socratic approach. The difference is the discussions are held over computers, he said. In some classes conducted online, students are assigned identifications allowing them to log onto newsgroups, similar to chat rooms where sports fans argue about their favorite teams or where groups with any number of shared interests meet. In this case, however, students are told to log on at a certain hour and contribute to an ongoing discussion on an assigned topic. The online approach has its advantages over classroom discussion because it gives students more time to articulate their thoughts and gives equal time to students who would be too shy to talk in class.
Distance learning has other advantages.
In Jankowski's class last summer, two of his five students lived in Orange County, and the other three carried reduced schedules because of work commitments. Every single office, every single classroom is wired. The answer to both may be the same solution, and it may forever change what anyone who already has graduated remembers from their college experience. It's doubtful that any professor would say all classes can be converted to totally online, but it's likely that most classes eventually will introduce Web pages, online discusses and e-mail homework, Nicolson said. That may mean less classroom time, which will mean more rooms will be available for professors to share.