Newcomers to the field can find it easy to invest in technology when they aren't bound to classroom traditions, said Joe Graba, a former state legislator who now heads Hamline University's Graduate School of Education. But he added that public institutions still should pursue electronic niches to serve students who cannot routinely leave work for school. Nationally, faculty organizations have wondered whether investments in online learning will come at the expense of staffing and building projects. Concerns also have been raised about corporate ties in higher education. Capella is one of 15 online schools that are to be subjects of a U.S. Department of Education study on degree completion rates and other data aimed at determining how many students are promoted or get new jobs as a result.
Outcomes are important.
Graba, who long has championed distance education, said that technology still is limited as well, particularly in the presentation of video over the Internet. In 20 years' time, we're going to look back and smile at what we thought was cutting-edge stuff. Questions also remain about intellectual-property copyrights and compensation. Skinner teamed with a classmate from northern California to write her master's thesis in school-age care. She said that online learning also proved beneficial when she was pregnant.