1 . Online education has grown fast over the past ten years. The explosion of technology has made teaching outside the traditional classroom possible for teachers and has provided learners with easy access to course materials. Its attractiveness, benefits, and challenges are addressed.
In April, 2005, I was approached by a student who was interested in our doctoral program. However, the first question out of her mouth was, “Do you offer any online courses?” Later that day, as I was reading the conference program guide trying for interesting presentations, I noticed many workshops on web-based learning and online education. I later attended two of those workshops and met several professors from different universities who had either taught online courses for quite some time or who were discovering the best practice for teaching online. These experiences helped me realize at least to some extent the degree of growth in online education.
My responsibilities for the term included gaining more understanding of online education. Consequently, I made several attempts to enrich my knowledge of distance learning and online teaching. I consulted with my colleagues who were teaching online courses. This helped me recognize the importance of getting materials prepared even before the start of a term. I also learned that online courses may consume more time than regular classroom teaching. And I attended several workshops regarding online education and established a network with those who were involved in online programs at other universities. I will consider these people as my consultants as I begin to design my own online course. Also, I conducted a brief survey with 15 students and two faculty members who had taken or taught an online course before to understand their experience. Eventually I completed a literature review which gave me the foundation and the background of understanding the need for online education.
1. What benefits the development of online education?
| A．Teachers’ good teaching ability. | B．Lack of traditional classrooms. |
| C．Learners’ access to free courses. | D．The rapid advance of technology. |
2. Why did the author take a student for example?
| A．To show students’ love for the doctoral program. |
| B．To persuade learners of traditional education. |
| C．To explain the growing trend of online education. |
| D．To predict the future of the teaching career. |
3. What caused the author to know more about online education?
| A．The appetite for knowledge. | B．The professional responsibilities. |
| C．The requirement of research. | D．The colleagues’ encouragement. |
4. What is the author’s attitude to online education?
| A．Carefree. | B．Doubtful. | C．Supportive. | D．Unwilling. |
