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The mission of the Division of Instructional and Information Technology (I&IT) is to provide stewardship, leadership, and service to support the teaching and learning mission of the university. More...

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Online Class Offerings Triple in 1 Year

The number of online courses offered at Cal Poly Pomona has more than tripled in the last year, according to data released by I&IT.

In fall 2008 81 classes were either online or hybrid, a combination of online and face-to-face. By fall of 2009, there were 291 such courses. Many academic disciplines have adopted the remote learning model and have seen the benefits.

“If you use the right set of tools and apply the right pedagogy, you can deliver the same, if not better, instruction and have an engaging form of delivery with online classes,” commented Hye Ok Park, director of I&IT eLearning. “Online classes should not be limited to a few academic disciplines.”

Some cynical observers might be surprised at the variety and types of online courses. Park pointed to some examples:

  • Athletics – The university has an instructor that teaches swimming online, using video tapes to show the specifics of navigating through water and how to use various swimming gears effectively.
  • Linguistics – A language instructor teaches American English pronunciation by having students tape themselves pronouncing words and sending the video snippets to the instructor for critique.
  • Information Security -- A Computer Information Systems (CIS) professor teaches an information secruity class completely online.
  • Accounting -- A College of Business professor teaches an accounting class totally online.

Park noted eLearning’s latest student survey showed a majority of our students like online classes. And they are spawning thinking and research among students in the area of environmentalism.

“Two students at the Center for Regenerative Studies (CRS) recently published their masters’ thesis, showing if one department offered all their classes in online/hybrid form with no face-to-face class time on Fridays alone, it would significantly reduce carbon-monoxide,” Park said.

Another interesting environmental benefit of online learning is in the area of less printed paper. Park noted that roughly 3,000 classes are offered each quarter with as many as 50 students each. At 10 cents per page, this amounts to approximately $75,000 for printing paper for a five-page syllabi.

The university’s push to get more classes online includes a special effort to convert more General Education (GE) classes to online instruction. Park noted this is a trend among California State University (CSU) campuses, with some CSUs offering selected Master’s or Bachelor’s Degree programs totally online.

To read an interesting article on the popularity of online classes, see this news story in The Poly Post at classes .

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This page was last updated on January 22, 2010.