SRJC had required that courses taught online also be taught in the classroom. That failed when students filled the online version of the Global Office, but no one signed up for the same classroom course. Online courses also are more time-consuming, for the students and teachers alike, so the junior college limits class size to 20 to 25 students, about what a normal class might be. Frost's classroom-based speech class meets for three hours a week, she said, and she allots herself another five to six hours for preparation. But because the Internet allows students to be more expansive, the A students usually do more in the online class than the A students in the traditional class.
Teachers also say online classes tend to bring students out more.
In class, maybe two or three students will consistently volunteer their points of view. But in online courses, students are required to volunteer their views. You can have people with physical disabilities and nobody knows. It reduces biases.'' For Monteleone, her experience in online education is bittersweet. You miss out on the feedback from the instructor, so you're not sure how you're doing.