Of course, I don't see it that way at all. Student surveys at the end of class indicate overwhelming support of online versions of my courses. I think online classes have merit for many reasons, but they also are challenging to develop and time-consuming to deliver. This is not a panacea for improving student contact ratios. In order to offer an online course, we need a qualified teacher to teach it and we should have the same enrollment limit as the on-campus version.
Teachers have just as many papers, projects, and exams to grade.
They have the same challenges of getting to know students as individuals and presenting the course material for a variety of learning modes. In the next two editions of The Advocate I plan to investigate a number of issues surrounding online education. In December, I will focus on the benefits to students.