 "Photo: Paul Chouy")
A growing college student population has led to an increase in demand for more flexibility in higher education, specifically the availability of Internet courses. Major universities, community colleges and for-profit online institutions have risen to the challenge.
More than 67,000 students from the 15 UT System institutions have enrolled in the UT TeleCampus, an online campus for UT students. The TeleCampus offers more than 300 courses in three dozen majors as well as 25 graduate and undergraduate programs.
The UT System created the online course program in 1998 as part of a master plan to look into available technology.
The TeleCampus was started to increase the quality and accessibility of a UT education and let those who might otherwise not make it to campus participate in UT courses, said Rob Robinson, director of the TeleCampus.
"There are many folks who would like to finish a bachelor's or get a master's degree, but because of kids, ailing parents and work, they can't get to campus," Robinson said.
For-profit online institutions have also grown in popularity. The University of Phoenix, which has a physical campus in Austin, is the nation's largest private online institution with 300,000 students enrolled nationwide.
Chris Helmueller, director of The University of Phoenix Austin, said that, unlike UT, the online campus caters more to part-time students who have to work and cannot attend school full time.
"What we do is provide greater access for higher education," Helmueller said.
Courses in both the UT TeleCampus and The University of Phoenix differ from traditional courses in that they engage students much more than a traditional lecture class would, said
officials from both institutions. Students have to participate in online discussion boards and maintain frequent communication with classmates and professors.
"I do think online courses are harder than lecture classes," Helmueller said. "In lecture classes, you can be in class but not participate. In online courses, you have to put significant participation within the class, which the professor monitors."
Students who take courses through UT TeleCampus get the bonus of accreditation of the entire UT System, a feature which separates the TeleCampus from other online programs, Robinson said.
The University of Phoenix is fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, said Karen Solinski, assistant director of legal and governmental affairs of the Higher Education Commission.
Paul Resta, director of UT's Learning Technology Center and instructor of TeleCampus courses, said online courses also are more demanding on the professor because students are in constant communication with the professor.
Resta said his students are able to participate in activities in online courses that they wouldn't be able to in a classroom setting.
In his class, students had to create a strategic plan for a theoretical campus in which students had to prioritize and earmark resources for the campus.
"I just could not do that in a traditional classroom where students read a book and come in once a week," Resta said.
Resta uses videoconferencing and on-campus workshops to accommodate on- and off-campus students participating in his class. Students taking his classes use Skype, an internet phone provider, to call in questions and participate in discussions.
He said the lecture-based class is still widely used, but online courses have greater application outside the classroom.
"The online courses are really representative of the new workplace," Resta said. "I think it's the direction education is going."
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