Online learning

So says Jerry Fullmer, director of information technology for the Utah System of Higher Education.

Soothsayer?

Nope. In fact, that time is already here for most Utah schools.

Fullmer made the statement to Salt Lake Community College officials in a recent request for an extended leave of absence. But his time away from his job at that school has been no vacation, as he's spent it working with USHE.

Fullmer and others have been working with Utah's public institutions on using software to enhance a course's Web-based components. Schools like SLCC and Weber State University, which has about 800 courses that use some aspect of Internet technology, have already embraced the future.

The "key" at WSU, Fullmer said, is that the faculty have been accepting of technology to enhance a student's learning experience. If he were teaching now, Fullmer said he'd feel "guilty" if he didn't at least have his course syllabus posted on the Web.

"To me, that's the bare minimum," he said. The extreme would be a class taken 100 percent over the computer. "I think the hybrid is the future."

The hybrid course combines high tech with high touch, meaning there's still face-to-face interaction between professors and students.

"It's the present and the future of learning," said Ryan Hobbs, interim director of distance education for SLCC.

More than 200 courses at SLCC have sections that are completely delivered online while another 200 plus are at least Web-enhanced. Hobbs identified another 45 classes that are labeled "blended" or hybrid, where a student might spend two hours in class and one hour in a "virtual" classroom.

Dave Richardson, SLCC vice president of academic services, taught a chemistry course online last fall. Many of his students were working adults who found taking a class via a computer was convenient.

One drawback, Richardson added, was that it took longer to explain difficult concepts through a format where students type in questions and then watch their computer monitors for the answers.

"It's just an additional format of learning," Richardson said of using the Internet.

A danger of relying too much on the Web is that a segment of the population who can't afford to have the latest technology in their homes will be shut out of the cyber-based classroom.

SLCC tries to solve that problem by providing computer labs, which is where SLCC sophomore Nathan Dickinson can be found taking Communications 1010.

"You can do it at your own convenience," he said of the class. Except for meetings on group projects and seeing the professor a few times, the rest of the class is all taken on computers at the school or in his home. Dickinson said online courses are a good alternative if the traditional classrooms are full.

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