Dive Summary:
- A new poll of 1,500 registered voters conducted by the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles Times shows 59% of respondents favoring the idea that online courses at the state's public universities will increase affordability and accessibility.
- Conversely, 34% fear that online expansion doesn't save money, makes cheating easier and reduces access to professors as well as the value of degrees, though the majority in favor of such courses held across both young and old voters.
- The survey comes amid national debate about education's online expansion, while in California specifically, Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed an additional $10 million in funding for the U. of California and California State University systems for increasing online courses, and several California universities are partnered with MOOC providers like Coursera and Udacity.
From the article:
... For Ancheta, 21, an accounts manager at a telephone company who participated in the poll, the scheduling freedom of online classes "is a very pleasant alternative." Moreover, he said, "You can pull away the exact same amount of knowledge you can pull away from a traditional classroom." ...