Humboldt State has recently increased its number of courses offered via the Internet and Campbell has been one of a collection of professors who have been quick to adopt the new format. As the semester went on, he became curious as to the environmental impact of his Internet classes.
To satiate his curiosity, Campbell sent out an email questionnaire to the students in both courses. He asked if the students made fewer trips to campus as a result of taking the online course, what their primary mode of transportation was and how long the commute was for those who did drive to class. Of the 108 students enrolled in Psychology of Critical Thinking, 52 responded to the survey.
“About 36 percent of the students typically drove to campus and the average round trip distance traveled was 17 miles,” Campbell explains. “The students in the online course made two and a half fewer trips to campus every week. The students’ cars averaged about 26 miles per gallon for a total savings of 266 gallons of gas for the semester. A gallon of gas emits about 19 pounds of CO2.”
Campbell then calculated the course’s carbon dioxide or CO2 savings—a whopping 2.6 tons.
“My Senior Seminar class had 14 students and they saved about one ton of CO2 over the course of the semester,” Campbell says. “I thought the savings in both classes were pretty significant.”
Is the take-away then that online courses are key to becoming a more environmentally friendly university and we should all stay home and become avid telecommuters?
“Online classes save CO2, but there is a cost,” Campbell says. “Some students miss the face-to-face interaction, there’s a richness to that type of discussion that is difficult to capture online.”
On the other hand, some students excel in an online environment where they might be hesitant in the classroom.
“Online courses can be as or more effective than classroom discussions because the time element isn’t as critical,” says Riley Quarles, instructional designer at HSU’s Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT). “Some students, when they have time to compose their thoughts over time, they perform better. Classes with online discussion forums are sometimes more effective than the classroom.”
Joan Van Duzer, an instructional technologist for CELT, says that the effectiveness of an online course will vary depending on the class and the individual. While some courses like an introductory psychology class might work well online, others with a lab component or where training needs to be supervised, like in the fields of education or nursing, might not be as effective, Van Duzer says. But, if a course does make sense to offer online, individual personalities also play a role.
“One drawback with online learning is that it really requires someone with specific personality traits,” says Van Duzer who earned her master’s degree in Education from California State University, East Bay via the Internet. “You need to be self-motivated and disciplined. The flipside of the flexibility and freedom of taking an online course is taking the initiative to go online and participate in the class.”
Aside from concerns over learning, Campbell notes, there is also a social element to school that is absent over the Internet.
“Online instruction has real advantages but it can’t totally replace traditional teaching. What I like is the idea of teaching online for some specific courses like an introductory psychology course. I think it makes sense to have the face-to-face class and give the students the option of an online course.”
Campbell says other advantages to online courses include accessibility and scheduling flexibility. Research shows that student learning and retention is essentially the same between online and face-to-face courses, he says.
“I think there will be some time before the California State University system has a broad assortment of online alternatives, but to the extent we can, it gives students choices and they can select what works best for them,” Campbell says. “I think that’s a real plus so I’m going to stay with it.”
Oh, and that aforementioned moral? Well, it goes something like this: while online courses can be convenient and indeed save CO2 emissions, nothing can fully replace the good old-fashioned classroom experience.
For a complete list of HSU’s growing offering of online courses, visit the Academic Affairs website.