By 2017, enrollment on the University of North Carolina campuses is projected to approach 300,000 total students. This would represent a 50% increase in enrollment and campuses are currently considering the best ways to address such growth. Ideas such as increased delivery of online courses, early high school programs and more collaborative partnerships with the community college system are being considered as proactive responses to the growing need for more seats.
What other creative approaches should the University consider? How are other states addressing similar trends in growth? What are your thoughts on growing the number of students we currently educate at the University? Can the University increase its present use of any available resources?
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It's great to see the UNC system embracing the internet and Web 2.0 styles. I'm an extensive user of this new functionality that the internet is providing and even host my own blog at http://your49erpresident.wordpress.com along with my personal blog at http://jritch.net
I think that the future of education lies in open source education. For a better explanation of what I'm talking about check out the presentation by Richard Baraiuk at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/25
We need to make significant investments in education delivery methods through technology to support the increased enrollment required by our institutions.
Being a full time professional and a full time student, I am currently presented with challenges such as this frequently. As classroom sizes and times are restricted, and as the skills of the younger generation are needed for the modern age, we will find that our generation is pushed from the classroom and tapped for work while students still require the formal education that in-class college courses provide. It is important that colleges, and especially our University of North Carolina system find proactive ways to address the college population surge, but also the changing schedules of the modern youth. Online classes are one of many ways that the UNC system can address these issues, but it is important that these online classes are coupled with in-person classes so that interpersonal, interactive and relationship skills are developed along with reading, writing and arithmetic. Video classes, "off-campus" classes and student led instruction are all ways to complement the online jungle that awaits. I fully support the "open source" education as our antiquated system needs to be forward thinking and adaptive. I do, however, believe that online classes, at home classes, or any distance education would be better served with real-time education, such as being able to "dial in" to an online class rather than simply watch a pre-recorded program. The world around us is quickly modernizing and education must keep pace.
While I would agree with Scott's post above that online courses and technology offerings are provocative and innovative, I still believe that nothing beats a face to face education. Maybe our professors need to innovate their lesson plans and our universities need to retrofit our classrooms, but the physical presence of a professor is essential. As a young person, I do admit DE course offerings are still appealing.
BUT - I believe the University would also be well served to truly explore this concept of University Centers and branch campuses. For those students/families in Franklin that may not have internet access yet this notion seems to rise to the top. For those students in Roper that are just becoming computer savvy, this notion seems to rise to the top. Students commuting to centers where they can received face to face lessons OR even access DE courses using the technology offered in the center/branch campus should certainly be part of our future.
I believe the University should embrace this growth as an opportunity to
enhance the competitiveness of the admissions processes on its
constituent campuses.
It's no secret that the University has some institutions that are less
selective than others (and that is not necessarily a negative when
considering a public University), but I believe that the University does
not encourage high school students to sufficiently challenge themselves
during their secondary careers - largely because many students know that
an invitation to study at one of the constituent campuses lies before
them regardless of their academic success.
With faster growth in the size of the applicant pool (relative to the
size of the Universities) though, students who wish to study at UNC
institutions will have to work harder to gain admission, or study at a
community college until they are prepared to be successful on campus.
Thus, in short, the University should plan for this growth by expanding
campuses somewhat, and by enhancing online offerings, but also by
improving relationships between community colleges and universities so
that more students can successfully transfer into universities from
their local community colleges.
It is important to note however, that this growth in competitiveness
should not come at the expense of any particular constituency. The
University should also undertake more initiatives to reach out to high
school students and inform them of their options concerning UNC -
whether that be on a campus as freshmen or through articulation
agreements with community colleges.
Two of the most important ideas for campuses to embrace are (1) more online/video/cable course offerings and (2) better implementation/integration of summer programs across many disciplines.
(1) Online/video/cable courses must be a component of increased enrollment on our campuses. Courses offered via these mediums allow students to learn material on their own without having to significantly increase the footprints of our campuses. We will obviously have to increase the number of classes and professors but these type courses allow us to get double for our money in a sense. A class can be taught both online and in the real classroom at the same time. Utilizing this method teaches twice as many students with nearly half the neccessary resources expended. All non-lab GER classes on our campuses should be offered in some sort of virtual medium.
One key point about this is that these classes should be offered at the same rate as on-campus classes. Currently our system charges students taking online/video/cable classes at a higher rate than students taking an on-campus class. This must be fixed in order to encourage more students to use this method.
(2) The system should encourage all of the campuses to expand their summer course offerings, while at the same time standardizing GERs. This allows who lives in Wilmington but attends NCSU to take a class at Wilmington during the summer that he/she can guarantee will count towards their degree from NCSU. If we standardize our degree requirements and expand our summer course offerings it will help lessen the burden on GER classes during the regular semesters.
Also we should offer discounted summer housing on campus for students wishing to remain on campus during the summer to take a course. This would encourage students to remain on campus and take classes which helps lessen the burden during the regular semester.
I believe it depends on the person taking the course and the subject matter. So we should offer different options. If you want to take a course in person that should be an option. If you want to take it online that should also be available. A certain amount of face to face is nice even if its just with the other students for discussion and brainstorming.
Professors and TAs should remember that the person on the other end of the email is a real person. Students should be encouraged to still met with their professors at least once or twice.
Suzanne I agree it should definitely be a choice. We shouldn't rely exclusively on one or the other. But there are definitely some students who would choose a virtual option for many different reasons.
You're also absolutely right that it must be ingrained in professors and TAs that they should extend the same offers of help and assistance to virtual students as they do in-class students. It is up to the student in both cases whether they want to accept that help.
Does the projection enrollment figure of 300K students by the year of 2017 include UNC Online students? Should it be taken into consideration? What is the system's office input here?
I think that as we look at how to grow our university system we must look at both on-line education as well as traditional growth. While I think that on-line education can work well for professionals who find it difficult if not impossible to fit into the traditional educational system when pursuing advanced degrees while still maintaining a full time job and in a lot of cases a family. I don’t think that online courses are able to develop soft skills and facilitate discussions and interaction with faculty and other students in the way that traditional education can.
The reason that I say "can", and not does is because soft skills and in depth interaction and discussions with faculty and other students thrive in liberal arts type education settings where classes are no bigger than 15-20 and dialogue and group discussion and interaction with the expert faculty is not only allowed but actively encouraged and expected. In these types of settings traditional liberal arts education settings traditional education style produces the interaction and soft skills necessary for graduates and undergraduates. However, the lecture style of education which constitutes a bulk of the teaching methodology in our larger universities is antiquated and out of touch with effective teaching methods and while it might be effective at producing a high volumes of students I do not think that it can produce as high a quality. We hear all of the time that class size is critical to effective teaching in our K-12 grades; the question that I pose is why is it that at age 18 and entrance into college that the size of the classroom should no longer be a consideration in how well we are able to educate our students. Is there some miraculous change in the two months between high school graduation and the first day of college that makes a student all of a sudden capable of learning in all class sizes? Does a person who is in a class of 300 learn as well as one who is in a class of 20 where they can question and interact with the professor and learn from the expert and not a TA. From my above statements I think that most of you will correctly deduce that I would say no. Our online degrees need to play a very vital and active role for those who need added flexibility in both graduate and undergraduate education but, for undergraduate classes I think that allowing excessive use in an individuals undergraduate career will not allow them to grow the soft and human interaction skills that are needed and will also provide a sub standard education.
I would also say that to educate all of our university students in classes of 20 would in my book be an amazing accomplishment for higher education but one which would not serve our need to produce the large number of graduates in technologically intensive fields which we desperately need. It is a fine line that we walk when we talk about quantity and quality. How we determine the middle ground between online education, traditional and a more liberal arts style of smaller more interactive education practices needs to take into consideration the different needs in learning and skill growth required at different undergraduate and graduate levels. On-line education is a part of the answer but not the silver bullet.
Honestly, I have both my undergraduate and graduate degrees from a North Carolina university and am having a difficult time finding employment. Much like the rest of the state, I am hearing more and more about economic downturn coming and how hard it is to find work. Maybe this is a supply and demand issue, but I just don't think we are aligning our higher education institutions with the needs of the real world.
I think some of the older programs at the universities that no long apply in the real world are being held onto by profs., those who can not and will not change. Those resources can be redone to support better distance education development and training for the educators. It is a changing world and we are simply not keeping up. (PS, tell the universities that using Blackboard is not the end all be all of distance education...I was on the user end of a Blackboard class and found it to be the worst thing for collaboration in the world)
What are the people in our own universities telling us about the best way to educate online? What innovations have they created to solve the problem...and what has the universities adopted to those ends to help with this population explosion coming to the universities?
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Since wages are related to education, more people are demanding college degrees. It is important that degrees reflect qualified training rather than a dumbed-down credential to meet the extra demand. The UNC system should focus on raising it acceptance criteria in order to still attract qualified, driven students. It may also increase its tuition but not enough to drive away qualified applicants.
So, the university has to choose between being a more elite college of choice or market itself toward the masses with lower acceptance and training criteria. Either way, college will be a profitable growth industry for the foreseeable future.
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