To prepare for that, Palomar must add online student services, Eberhart says. Palomar is also scheduled to have information on financial aid, tutoring, health services, job placement, extended opportunity programs and services, disabled student programs and services, student activities, and college policies and procedures online by June, 2000. To put courses online, some community colleges buy software and train staff and faculty members to adapt courses for the Internet. Colleges don't get a payback on courses they develop, he says. They can't market to the world themselves, and it's politically incorrect for community colleges to do direct marketing.
Some academicians are skeptical of programmed online courses, however.
At Salt Lake, an on-campus programmer put the management system together. The instructor, the content person, works with the design person to get the course online, Schaefermeyer says. Although online classes still make up only a small part of an average college's catalog, the number of courses offered through the Internet is growing exponentially. Students and faculty members who have worked with online courses say flexibility is the major advantage. There is no realtime discussion between instructors and students.