A different viewpoint to eLearning

I’ve just finished reading Glen Gatin’s post on Online learning prevents on-campus assaults and was quite surprised that I’d not read something like this from someone else before … or indeed, thought about it myself.

A very good summary of what, to many, is the advantage of eLearning to the average student:

“You don’t have to trudge across town, find a parking spot, find the lecture theatre, look for a chair furthest away from the guy coughing with his mouth wide open spewing every imaginable germ. All this for 50 minutes of some guy reading his PowerPoint slides and passing out mountains of useless handouts. 60 minutes to get there, 50 minutes of lecture, 60 minutes home.”

The time spent getting to and from a face-to-face lecture can often (as above illustrates) be longer than the actual lecture itself. The advantage to the student is they could spend that extra time reading and learning, or on something that is certainly more profitable instead.

However, the basis for the post by Glen is the link between real-world campus assaults and eLearning. Quite rightly, Glen says, you don’t get assaulted online.

Could this be a good advertising perspective for encouraging people to online degree courses? What about the pressure groups who support people who are often attacked on campus (ethnic and religious minorities, etc); why aren’t they suggesting, requesting, or recommending an eLearning solution?

“Online learning is hugely safer than on-campus learning. Why doesn’t the local University Women’s Centers promote online learning for this purpose and demand that more programs and courses be offered this way?”

This is surely a very emotive subject, especially with the media coverage of cyber-bullying. Anyone got any comments they’d like to share?