Depersonalization of Students. It only takes a couple of minutes to realize that Real Education's profitability is tied to selling something, a lot of somethings in fact, to students. Currently, we are undergoing a very time-consuming process of trying to reconnect this campus with the community. Treating students as profit centers flies in the face that exercise. That doesn't mean we should not vigorously pursue online instruction.
Online instruction is one part of the solution to that problem.
But, we owe a lot more to our students than to send the message that we're only in it for their money. The Real Education spokeman mentioned in-house studies with less dramatic results. But, not mentioned was the relative absence of research in peer reviewed journals that convincely argues on either side of the issue. It is fundamentally wrong, bordering on unprofessional, to launch an online course where only the first 4-5 weeks have been materially completed as the Real Education spokesman indicated was his company's practice. The Real Education spokesman made some illogical pronouncements about online class sizes.