Online College Clubs: Worth the Hype?
March 11, 2010 | Alicia Ostarello
College is a really great place to expand your horizons, wear pajama pants for every occasion, and experience living away from your hometown. But for some students, college is just about learning, earning a piece of paper, and passing tests – and a lot of these students are attending classes online, and feeling like they’re missing a piece of the college experience.
Going to college online has plenty of ups, like doing classwork on your timetable, but there are some pretty big downs, too. According to Chris Stout, “You don’t have the thrill of relocating, or the focus of total collegiate immersion. Your exposure to new ideas, people, places and practices will be limited by your Internet connection and web browsing capabilities.” When put like that, it’s hard not to focus on what you’re missing.
Luckily, students involved in distance education are doing what students do best: getting creative. According to USA Today, “…students working toward degrees online are meeting outside of class via the Web.” Thanks to applications like Skype video chat and free conferences calls over the internet, online students are starting up clubs, holding meetings, and even getting totally wacky and organizing meet-ups in Second Life.
It sounds a little odd at first, meeting strangers with common interests online and getting to know them through alternative communication. But with everything from shopping to customer service to buying a house to finding a date being available online, I suppose it’s not that peculiar after all. Yet I cannot help but wonder, does this mean these online students are missing some essential part of the college experience.
So what does the college experience mean to you?
