Universities Outsource Instructors Via Virtual Classrooms
Here is another view concerning on line education as a follow up to the prior post :
Instructional outsourcing using e-learning platforms is becoming increasingly popular at college and university campuses across the country. Daniel Hurley, Director of State Relations and Policy Analysis for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, comments, “Given the significant reduction in state support for public education, compounded by the fact institutions need to maintain quality programs, we are going to see additional innovative attempts at partnerships that will address both issues of being able to provide cost-efficient programs that are high quality.”
usatoday.com
The instructional outsourcing game is a dangerous one for (brick and mortar) universities to be playing. Suppose they’re wildly successful; then universities have just proven the soundness of a business model that invites competition from all across the world and does not draw upon any of their strengths (personalized instruction, access to labs/equipment, the “university experience” from living on campus, etc.)
IMO, universities would be wise to reinvest the savings from these ventures in improving aspects of education that cannot be replicated online. E.g., perhaps use virtual classrooms to teach the basic mathematics/computations required for physics 101 and then use the savings to provide a top-notch lab experience on top of this.
Peru I completely agree with your comments however in the current economic climate in which we find ourselves universities much like any other organisation have to find ways of providing the same standard of service, if not better to keep ahead of the competition, but on a reduced budget. Outsourcing instructors via virtual classrooms would allow this – however would the hierarchy model of universities collapse under this business model with potentially every university providing the same services via its virtual classroom?
I agree with many of the points that Peru raises. The only way for universities to outsource their teaching is to maintain necessity of the campus. Students must still need to live at the university for this to work. I would recommend possible limiting the outsourcing to “elective” general credit type courses and keep the core curriculum for majors in person. As Peru stated, there is no substitute for hands on training and lab experience in person. Universities would need to stress this point. They should also place a maximize number of credits that can be taken “virtually” in order to graduate. This is a very dangerous and slippery slope that schools must evaluate.