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At this time, the use of online courses varies widely with the university. All universities use the web to communicate information. Some instructors present their material online but the extent varies quite dramatically from full web courses to notes to simply the course content and schedule. This approach is changing rapidly with the use of university web portals and technologies like Blackboard that make course content easy for professors to put online and for students to access. Most if not all aspects of the course can be presented online. Students can also access their marks and communicate with their teaching assistants and professors.

Did You Know?

With the proliferation of web-based courses, entire degrees can be obtained online. Of course, such an approach is not practical for all subjects; areas like the sciences include many courses that require hands-on laboratory or tutorial work. In addition, studies suggest that employers prefer degrees obtained the “traditional” way. One survey of hiring executives found that given the choice between a candidate with a traditional degree and a candidate with an online degree, 96% of employers would hire the applicant with a traditional degree.⁸ Some reasons given for this choice include the candidate’s lack of peer interaction and practical classroom experience, the employer’s perception that an online education is less demanding and the potential for academic dishonesty.

Some courses are entirely web-based, without the need to attend classes. Lectures, readings and all other course materials are made available on a dedicated portal. Other features these courses offer include discussion boards where you can interact with other students. Assignments and quizzes are submitted online. Note that some online courses may still require taking supervised exams at a campus location.