Brianna Weiss, 24, an accounting major from Warrington, decided to take online courses last fall as “an easy alternative for classroom sessions.” Unfortunately for Weiss, two out of three of her online classes did not prove to be an equivalent alternative for in-class sessions.
“It seemed that my professors thought of their online classes as a side project to their regular classes,” Weiss said. “It was nearly impossible to communicate with them in a timely manner, and my grades ended up suffering because of it.”
While online learning offers tremendous educational opportunities for students who can’t always get to campus, many students agree that it is not yet a perfect system, and that online courses are not for everyone.
There are many reasons people choose to enroll in online courses, such as full-time jobs, children and a lack of transportation. While online learning offers an education to people who are unable to get one otherwise, many of those interviewed say that online learning is sometimes not as effective as face-to-face learning.
 “Communication was way cut off,” said Amanda Patricella, 22, of Fairless Hills. “Many things I needed help with I could not get because communicating through e-mail is so non-personable.”
A number of Bucks students interviewed said the lack of communication in online learning proved to be the no. 1 factor that lead many students to opt out of it.
Many said online learning works well for some students, but not others.
As journalism professor Tony Rogers said, “Distance learning, even with all the cool teaching tools available, is not a substitute for being in class for younger students who often lack self-discipline.” Rogers said students who are motivated and have self-discipline can do well in online learning. Those are typically older, more mature students.
Tara Meikelle, 23, a computer science major from Northeast Philadelphia, said that students who take online courses their freshman year of college are “Taking on too much independence too suddenly. Many younger students do not yet have the time-management skills required for completing online courses and are not able to prioritize them as they would for regular classes.”
Communication Studies Professor Shawn Queeney, who teaches the online course Effective Speaking, feels that “online students must be disciplined and able to structure their time effectively. In face-to-face classes, you build your schedule when you register and follow it for the semester. In an online class, if you are not setting aside time to be ‘in class’ and time to complete all of the required work, you will have a difficult time passing that class.” 
Rogers said that if students lacking self-discipline “don’t  have a professor breathing down their necks every day to get the work done, they often don’t do it.”
“As one of my students once told me,” Rogers said, “there’s nothing like a 200-some-pound journalism professor standing in front of you asking where the heck your news story is to focus the mind.”
One common misconception among Bucks students regarding distance learning is that certain courses just “cannot be completed online,” as Weiss put it.  Professor Queeney and other professors have even been able to transition a public speaking course, which is based around interaction with others, into an effective online learning course. “My goal (and the college’s) is to replicate the classroom, live audience experience for the online students as well,” Sweeney said. 
To do so, students must videotape their speeches in front of a live audience consisting of at least six adults.  Students taking this course online have access to the mindspace/library area and must videotape their speeches in a setting outside their home, in order to keep “the ‘public’ in public speaking,” as Professor Sweeney put it.
Sweeney said that students who work hard to establish a relationship with the instructor and classmates, and who  manage their time sufficiently to get work done, have the ability to do very well in this course.
According to Professor Sweeney, while there are many students who are capable of doing well in the online course, the face-to-face course proves to be more suitable for a number of students due to the following reasons.  Sweeney said research has shown that students who have a moderate to high level of speech anxiety, which typically accounts for 75 percent of the class, tend to do better in face-to-face courses than online courses.
From a communication studies point of view, “If you are in a face to face class and have a positive relationship with your peers and instructor, you will probably be more comfortable when you deliver your speech,” Sweeney explained.  Professor Sweeney also gave advice to his prospective students, saying, “So if there are any readers out there with moderate to high speech anxiety, fight the urge to sign up for an online class!  Take the effective speaking class face to face!”
Many students interviewed, such as Charlotte Grasier, 20, an anthropology major from Buckingham, feel that “The quality of an online class is totally dependent upon the professor.” Grasier has taken online courses in which the professor was very helpful and quick to respond, and ones in which the professor was out of touch, making the course very difficult. 
To ensure that an online instructor will be reliable, and involved with the course, there are many helpful websites such as ratemyprofessors.com that include student reviews, feedback, and opinions of professors. It is also indicated on the website which reviews came from  students that took online courses for that professor.
“My grades definitely suffered in the classes where it was hard to get a hold of the teacher,” stated Grasier.  Many other students such as Patricella and Weiss also reported lower grades in online courses as opposed to regular courses.
In fact, a report by the Community College Research Center stated that students are more likely to fail or withdraw from online courses than traditional ones.  The dropout rate for online courses is actually 15-20 percent higher than traditional courses nationally, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Colin Rockwell, 22, a liberal arts major from Trevose, said the lack of an interpersonal relationship with his professor and peers was a factor in his choice to withdraw from his online English Composition class last spring. 
Rockwell, who suffers from ADHD, felt that “there were too many distractions at the click of a mouse.” Rockwell also said that “Without the human interaction aspect of learning, it is very difficult to stay on task and focused.”
According to Dr. Christian Grandzol of Bloomsburg University, “cognitive theory suggests more interaction in learning environments leads to improved learning outcomes and increased student satisfaction.”
Many students report a feeling of isolation when not getting their education in a classroom of peers. Students have also reported a lack of confidence when unable to compare their work with other students.
Also, there are many technological issues that come into play in online learning. “Technology is not as reliable as we would like to think,” Weiss stated.  The Internet can go down, causing interruptions which restrict one from learning. This can also cause a big problem when it comes to deadlines.
In the spring semester of 2008, an online course management program called CE6 experienced a “severe hardware malfunction” that deleted all students’ work for an entire week.  The crash was due to a disc-drive failure, and the back-up mechanism failed to work as well.  All coursework students submitted through the program throughout the week was erased and never recovered.
Software and/or equipment are also often required to complete an online course, which not all students have easy access to. Such programs can cost extra money that the school does not factor in at the beginning of the semester.  Some of these items can be used at or rented from the library, but it cannot always be guaranteed that the library will have every item in stock, so it is helpful to ensure you will have access to any software or items you may need before taking an online course.
“A computer won’t ever be able to replicate a classroom, no matter what,” Meikelle said. “It is important for people getting an education to have relationships with their peers and teachers; it increases the value of that education.”
Before taking an online course, prospective students can verify whether or not an online course is suitable for them by going to the Bucks website, and visiting the many helpful links on the Virtual Campus under “Academics > Online Learning.”