In case you were unaware, we have a pretty decent presence on Twitter, among other social networking outlets. This morning, a friend made sure I didn’t miss the following tweet:

Is online education inferior to face-to-face teaching? Our blogger thinks so

At first, I read it like it were a call to arms. I put my special war headdress, cinched down my holier-than-thou armor, and drew my rhetorical blade–only to find out that I heartily agreed with the blogger in question. I took off all of my figurative garb, and tweeted back something to the effect of “Different strokes for different folks,” and–you know what?–I bloody well meant it!

Online Education: No, It Isn’t for Everyone

A lot of our content is geared towards online degree programs and how awesome they are; it’s true (true about our content and true that online education is awesome–it is; deal with it). It’s sort of our specialty, but we don’t think it’s the best for everyone, nor do we think that campus programs are entirely outmoded. The point of the aforementioned blog post was simply to say that it’s probably wrong that many campus-based students are being forced to take strictly online classes. And, yeah, I totally agree. It’s not keeping up with the times; it’s putting a smiley-face spin on budget cuts.

Online education is great for students who don’t fit the traditional profile, which, as it turns out, is a whole lot of people. Got a day job? Online education lets you work around that schedule without being relegated to night classes at the local community college. Got a full-time family? Again, online education is a scheduling life saver. Not good with social interaction? Hey, online education has got you covered!

If, on the other hand, you need that disapproving look from a mentor when you blow it, if you crave the way a college campus makes you feel, if you paid for a traditional education, then–no–strictly online classes probably aren’t going to be your cup of tea. Given the choice, I’d still go for an on-campus program, but certain things, like paying the bills, make an online degree a much more viable option for someone like me. If I didn’t live in a city that happened to be home to a pretty decent university, I’d be even better suited for online education.

The truth of the matter is that, while online education does beat traditional face-to-face learning, it’s the union of the two that produces the best results. It’s no secret that you can’t please all the people all the time, so let’s just agree that learning is a wonderful thing. The more people we get to do it, the better.