Imagine taking a class while sitting on your couch with your laptop in hand. You can eat, watch television or listen to music while learning.
University College classes here at Fairfield make this possible by offering online classes to some undergraduate full-time juniors or seniors free of charge during the fall and spring semesters, according to Robert Russo, director of University Registrar.
“I needed the credits this semester to graduate,” said Andrea McCarthy ’06 who is currently taking the online course, Fundamentals of Astronomy. “It was included in tuition which made it even better.”
The classes are offered on a limited basis and only six full-time undergraduate juniors and seniors can register for the online classes offered during the fall and spring semesters. Students must also get a note of approval from their dean in order to take the online classes, according to Russo.
Until this semester, undergraduate students have not been permitted to take an online class during the spring and fall semesters except for students with extenuating circumstances, according to Janice Miles Dunn, director of Distance Education at University College.
“This semester was like an experiment,” said Dunn. “They were not really open to undergrad students unless they paid the full rate of $395 per credit. Then the administration here [University College] thought that that was unfair after all.”
Online classes can be beneficial for students, especially seniors who are behind in courses because the last ten credits must be fulfilled at Fairfield University in order to graduate, according to Russo.
However, the online classes are not as easy as most students had anticipated.
“Students I have spoken to have liked them, but said that they are just as demanding as normal classes,” said Russo.
Dunn agreed by pointing out that students are doing the same amount of work in a much shorter period of time.
“The English writing courses online are great,” said Dunn. “The other classes that work well are the statistics and accounting classes.”
Jackie Conway ’06 feels the same way.
“The statistics class that I took online was great,” said Conway. “I also took a philosophy class but had to drop it because the discussions were very demanding.”
Acquiring a spot in one of the online classes during the spring and fall semesters is not very easy for undergraduates. Students cannot sign up for the courses until after University College students have registered because it would be unfair to those students, according to Dunn.
The same policy applies to University College students registering for daytime classes as they must also wait until the undergraduates have registered before they can register for daytime classes, according to Dunn.
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