As an incoming college freshman, Jonathan Elrod had no idea what he was getting himself into.
The 18-year-old UF student registered for a once-a-week general psychology course because it was required for his major, applied physiology and kinesiology, and fit into his schedule. But the first day of school, he found out it was an online course.
"I was kind of taken aback by the way that it was designed because it was basically, 'Here's the book. Go read it. Come back, and we'll take an exam and that's that,'" Elrod said. "There really isn't much actual teaching. It's everything's on my own."Even though he was surprised that his course was taught online, Elrod said online classes can be beneficial to students, and he would consider taking an online class again.
Elrod's willingness to take online courses is reflected in the rapid growth rate of online learning at colleges and universities across the nation, according to the fifth annual study by The Sloan Consortium, a collaboration of education and research organizations.
The study's findings, which were released this month, show a nearly 10 percent increase in the number of students taking online courses during the fall 2006 semester at 2,500 U.S. colleges and universities.
In total, almost 3.5 million students took at least one online class that semester, the report stated.
About 42,000 UF students are taking at least one course this semester with an online component, said Doug Johnson, manager of e-Learning Support Services.
More than 3,000 sections are offered, he added.
When he started working at UF in July 2000, UF's online course management system consisted of 100 courses, and there were only a few thousand students enrolled in those courses, Johnson said.
"For better or for worse, the use of that course management system exploded," he said. "And I've been hanging onto the tail of that tiger ever since."
The most popular online courses at UF are in the business and professional programs such as medical, dental and pharmacy, he said.
This semester, Emily Nichols, a UF food science and human nutrition senior, is taking an online medical terminology course.
"I'm not crazy about it, but I don't mind it," she said. "If I was given a choice, I probably would've still taken it online, especially with a heavy course load."
Johnson said he wants to ask students what they think of UF's online services and what technologies UF should implement.
"If the University of Florida wants to be a Top-10 university, we can't be a technological laggard," he said.
