Published: November 19, 2009

We’ve all been there. After weeks of stressing over your schedule for next semester, the morning of registration arrives. After hours of searching Banner and a few futile meetings with your advisor, you’ve finally arranged your schedule to fit in all of the classes you need. You set your alarm for 7 a.m. and sit down at your desk with course codes in hand. Bring it, Banner, I’m ready for this. But of course it’s not that simple, and the wily Banner has a few unforeseen tricks up its sleeve. That sociology class you need to fulfill your core requirement has an extra hour discussion lab that you forgot to consider in your planning, and the philosophy you wanted is already closed out, throwing your entire schedule off.

Many colleges across the country have eased the stress of scheduling classes by allowing students to take online courses in conjunction with their traditional classes.  Online courses offer many benefits to students, allowing them to have more time to hold a job or an internship while being able to complete coursework in times convenient to their schedules. But are online classes a valid solution for the students of Fordham College at Lincoln Center’s (FCLC) scheduling conflicts, or is too much like a scene out of “Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century?”

“I think we should offer online classes at Fordham,” said Elizabeth Darroch, FCLC ’13. “I believe some students would learn better if they were able to take classes at their own pace. Online classes [would] allow students to learn at the pace that works best for them. It also eliminates the stress of having to work around a set schedule; you can do the work when it is convenient for you.”

“Online classes would be very helpful to the students of FCLC,” said Vera Bennett, FCLC ’13. “I have a double major, and with all the requirements I need to graduate, taking online classes would really help, especially with getting the core requirements out of the way.”

“I think online classes could be beneficial,” said Stephanie Chase, FCLC ’13. “Two of my roommates are dancers and they have a difficult time scheduling their academic classes because their dance schedules are so time-consuming. Online classes would enable them to fit in all the classes they need to take.”

Other students weren’t as convinced that online courses are the solution to scheduling conflicts.

“I think that if I took classes online, I wouldn’t take school seriously,” said Kusum Dhansinghani, FCLC ’13. “Taking a class online would be my absolute last resort.”

“I’m more attentive in a classroom,” said Misti Roy, FCLC ’13. “If the class was online, I’d be more prone to spend the time on Facebook.”

“I need the structure of a traditional class,” said Brian O’Connell, FCLC ’11. “Otherwise, my interest for the class would fall by the wayside and I’d get nothing done.”

“In one of my classes, the professor asked us to post discussionquestions on Blackboard and then answer the questions posted by other students,” said Megan Tribble, FCLC ’13. “I feel that the exchange wasn’t as beneficial as the in-class discussion that followed.”

A concern associated with schools offering online classes is the ease with which students can cheat. With Google only a click away and no professor to remind students of Fordham’s academic integrity policies, resisting the urge to cheat can be a challenge.

“Offering online classes would just contribute to laziness,” said Grant Herman, FCLC ’13. “People wouldn’t do real work. In the past, I have taken online classes, and I ended up just looking up all the answers to the work I was given.”

“I think offering online classes is a good idea, but I don’t think they would be practical for most students,” said Katy Corum, FCLC ’10.

Professors seemed to agree that, while online courses can be helpful, they are not a practical option for FCLC.

“I [can] see how online learning could be beneficial to certain communities of students, such as students who have a hard time getting to school because work hours make it difficult to attend class, or for students with limited motor skills, such as those in wheelchairs. Not all universities adequately accommodate such students, so they may prefer to work on the computer,” said Clara Rodriguez, professor and associate chair of sociology. “But I enjoy the interaction of students in class. I wouldn’t enjoy teaching an online class because I would miss the immediate response to material presented in class.”

“Online classes will never be suitable for everyone,” said James Fisher, professor of theology. “As a professor, I believe face-to-face interaction is essential for teaching. I believe online classes would contradict the spirit of FCLC and its mission.”

“I recognize that online classes could be beneficial, even crucial to some students who are geographically isolated or those with demanding, full-time jobs, but I don’t think it matches with the mission of FCLC,” said Anne Fernald, assistant professor and director of the writing program at FCLC. “I think the spirit of the school depends on an almost old-fashioned learning community of people talking, face-to-face, supplemented by technology.”

While online classes may be the wave of the future, for now it looks like students and faculty alike believe they are unnecessary at FCLC. It’s already difficult enough to find the motivation to do schoolwork; if you take away a traditional classroom and face-to-face interaction with a professor (and factor in the holy trinity of procrastination that is Facebook, YouTube and Texts From Last Night) students recognize that the chances of actually reading those 45 pages they were assigned in their history textbooks are slim to none.