The revolution in education that has produced the plethora of online
colleges continues unabated. Although largely driven by financial
considerations as tuition costs continue to rise dramatically, shutting
many poor and even middle-class students out of the traditional college
experience, the college online experience is growing in reputation and
desirability as new software innovations combined with growing support
within colleges and universities themselves creates a workable
environment for earning an accredited degree without ever physically
attending a single class.
Online courses are cheap to produce and conduct for colleges, and thus are an easy source of revenue for them.
Still there are significant cocerns among academics who are worried
that the 'college online' movement will result in the unexpected
extinction of a fixture of the academic world: The tenured professor -
or perhaps all professors, entirely.
Professors Importance in Online Colleges
Whereas when physically attending courses students often place a
great deal of importance on the professor conducting classes based on
their reputations, experience, and real-world achievements, there is
much less focus on this when it comes to online classes. And where it
does exist it tends to focus on the 'rock star' status of some
professors conducting 'MOOCs' - massive online open courses. For
everyday courses taken in pursuit of a degree, there is much less focus
on who is planning and teaching the course.
And colleges like it that way, because it cuts costs and gives them leverage:
- In 1969, 78% of courses were taught by tenure-track professors. In 2013 that number has dropped to 33%.
- The bulk of courses are today taught by Adjuncts, who are basically freelancers and earn about $3000 per class.
The move to adjunct professors is exacerbated by the move to college online, which can be taught by any qualified individual.
Virtual Educators and College Online
Another concern is that even the 'rock star' professors that people
will pay extra to learn from may find themselves teaching from beyond
the grave. As online colleges are already reliant upon pre-recorded
materials and lectures, the expectation is that someday a famed
professor with excellent course materials may simply be continuously
sold to new students, with no need to find a replacement professor
unless significant changes and breakthroughs in the field make the
existing course material useless or deprecated.
While the end of professors may be considered to be a melodramatic
concept or perhaps even nothing of much concern, it does herald an
upheaval in how we educate and learn - and therefore cannot be ignored.
