For Susan Melnick, the Internet is an ideal tool for education and enjoyment that she uses several times a day. Therefore, she’s right at home when it comes to exploring the World Wide Web.
“It provides access to a world of information that is not normally available,” said the director of MSU’s Office of Academic Outreach, who is also an associate professor of teacher education.
And Melnick will be among the faculty members instructing courses in an MSU College of Education program that will provide the opportunity to earn an education master’s degree online beginning fall 2001.
“There are a lot of people who want to be in our program, but cannot because of distance constraints,” Melnick said. “This provides an opportunity to the students in more rural areas.”
It’s especially important for education majors, who oftentimes graduate and enter the workforce before planning to seek a master’s degree. Therefore, many students ready to enroll in the program might be physically far away from MSU.
While the full program won’t start until fall, six courses that go toward a master’s have already been made available for teachers this spring. Three of the courses will begin in January with others becoming available in the summer and fall.
Among those starting next fall is “Educating Immigrant Children,” which Melnick will teach. Overseeing an online class is normally different from teaching students face-to-face, Melnick said.
“It’s a lot different because you can’t see people’s faces and you can’t see their body language,” she said.
The spring courses, which will vary between one and three credits, will be instructed by faculty of the Department of Teacher Education.
Like Internet classes in other majors, the courses are offered by MSU’s Virtual University, where students can enroll through a regular computer or telephone.
“The courses are planned to be highly interactive,” Melnick said. “So, we can simulate the kind of interaction in classrooms without actually being there.”
The program will offer a variety of courses in different areas such as teaching, reform issues, technology and learning, special needs students, learner diversity and leadership.
The initiative appears to coincide with MSU President M. Peter McPherson’s goal of continuing to expand the growing Virtual University. Nearly 2,400 students took classes online in 1999 - up 149 percent from 1998.
In 1999, for the first time at MSU, seven students earned master’s degrees via the Internet.
