Posted on: Monday, October 7, 2002

Online learning gains ground

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

Air Force Dr. Karen Bartku goes over some printouts of her online work toward a master's degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Bent over her laptop in the belly of a lumbering C-17, Air Force Dr. Karen Bartku would study online by the hour during long flights home from Yokota Air Base in Japan where she was stationed before coming to Hawai'i.

Signing into a virtual classroom created by the University of Phoenix and nestling plugs into her ears, Bartku was oblivious to the droning engines while she worked uninterrupted for 14 hours as the plane crossed the Pacific.

"Some people prefer the face-to-face experience, but not me," says the 40-year-old military podiatrist, who last week hit the computer 'send' button to turn in her final project for her master's degree in business administration.

"I wouldn't go to school any other way. After sitting in classrooms for 12 years, who wants to do that anymore?"

Bartku isn't the only one. In droves, college students of all ages are flooding the gates of online learning, drawn by the flexibility and ease it offers.

"This is a program for working professionals who need flexibility," said Bartku. "And with a family, when the kids went to sleep I went to school."

From homey Windward Community College to expansive Penn State to unique Hebrew University, online education is beating a path to every door. Thousands of courses from hundreds of schools are available for associate's, bachelor's and master's degrees — whether you're stuck at home with a toddler or juggling the midnight shift at the downtown deli.

Hawai'i-based Army Sgt. Stephen Starbuck said the only problem he has ever had is keeping up with all the online class discussion that accompanies his courses in business administration through the University of Phoenix.

"There's so much discussion from the other students it would be almost like sitting in the classroom and everybody talking at once," said the Schofield soldier, who signed up for an online education because of his rugged Army training schedule and the duties required of a dad with two young children.

"It's the freedom of not being locked into a time frame," said the 37-year-old NCO. "You can get on at noon during lunch, or midnight when you couldn't sleep."

Online classes can even help shy college students speak up, said Hawai'i Pacific University Options College Dean Joe Schmiedl.

"What we're finding in the online environment is the introverts are more comfortable expressing themselves and they're finding they have a lot to contribute," said Schmiedl.

Thirteen years ago, the University of Phoenix was one of the first colleges to offer online classes. Now 45,000 students — more than one-third of its 125,000-student body nationwide — log in for Internet-based instruction. And they trim months from the usual time required for advanced studies, though the courses are more expensive.

And they do it by logging on in the middle of the night, in the middle of vacations, in the middle of coffee breaks.

"Most people absolutely love it," said Debra Jonsson, director of admissions for the University of Phoenix in Hawai'i. "But you have to be more disciplined. Online you're on your own. If you're a touchy-feely person and in a human services program, you'll probably not like online very much. Probably it's not enough contact for you."

If it's not for you, said Jonsson, students can switch to an on-ground learning center. Or try Flexnet — a combination program that offers a classroom visit for the first and last meeting of a six-week course and then schedule online classes in the middle.

Starbuck certainly fit that picture. On a recent vacation hunting trip to the mountains of North Carolina, it was a snap to knock off some schoolwork — without having to lug books.

"We had a slow morning, so we headed out there toward the Blue Ridge on Route 52, and we ran across a little coffee shop that they converted from a country store," says Starbuck. "They had a couple of computers, so I logged on and checked the news group and found out what assignments were due and when."

The Army sergeant combines an online and on-ground system to suit his work schedule. When he's frequently in the field during winter months, he'll switch to online classes. When he isn't, he can check in with real people in a real classroom.

"You can tailor your program no matter what job you have," he says.

But the online version is strict. You might be able to skip classes on the ground, but online you have to check in five days out of seven, he says. "They track how often you're on," he says.

Starbuck is delighted he'll finish the bachelor's degree in business administration he started more than a decade ago. "You've gotta keep up with the kids," he says.

Keeping up with the kids means that the major university institutions in Hawai'i are increasing their online capability almost daily. Even though online offerings are still only about 5 percent of the total, at the University of Hawai'i online courses have increased 4,400 percent in four years, going from five classes in 1997 to 225 in 2001. Over the same period, the number of students has risen from 86 to 1,910.

At UH, distance learning started about 10 years ago with an interactive TV system, said Kenwrick Chan, instructional technology development coordinator. But it has quickly grown to offer a wide variety of delivery systems, or an integration of several, including the new HITS interactive network where all campuses can communicate live.

"When you have Internet-based instruction the instructor could be on one campus and students on another," said Chan. This works especially well for Neighbor Island community college students who want to go on for bachelor's degrees but can't move to O'ahu.

Hawai'i Pacific University has a similar story. The private Honolulu and Windward university began offering online courses in December 1999 with 16 students; within three years it had 800.

Langley Frissell, HPU's director of Distance Learning Programs, hopes to double that number by this time next year.

"HPU has a large international student body," said Frissell. "And it's amazing how many European and Asian students we have, and some of those begin by taking classes here and then, if they have to travel home, or have passport complications, they can continue their education when they're back home."

Already the online student is a different breed from the one 10 years ago. The older, nontraditional student that at first was so typical of online coursework is now a recent high-school graduate.

"A lot of younger students are saying, 'I'm 19, I have a part-time job and I don't have to come to campus and fight for parking,' " says Paula Mochida, special assistant for distance learning in the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs at UH.

But some are doing land-based and Internet classes, putting together every combination imaginable.

"A majority of the online students are taking some classes in the classroom and one or two online," said HPU's Schmiedl.

However it works, students are becoming as adaptable as today's new-age classroom. For Bartku, it meant always keeping two clocks in her home — one on local Tokyo or Hawai'i time, depending where she was, and one on Phoenix time so she'd know when to turn in her assignments.

But she especially loved getting to know the students who shared her studies.

"I go to school with people all over the world," she says. "People stationed in Korea. People who work for multinationals in Europe. All over."

But none of them ever knew that she was sitting in her jammies at the kitchen table.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.

Correction: Online courses from the University of Hawai'i have increased from five in 1997 to 225 in 2001. Information in a previous version of this story was incorrect due to a reporter's error. Also Interactive distance learning began at the University of Hawai'i about 10 years ago. Earlier programs of outreach, also called distance learning, began many years earlier and established the concept, which has since been expanded. An earlier version of this story was not clear because of a reporter's error.