Outsourcing College Courses

I work for SMARTHINKING, which is the parent company of StraighterLine, so I have mixed feelings about the issue raised in this article about outsourcing basic college-level courses to private corporations that offer online instruction in subjects like composition, math, etc. In some ways, giving students the opportunity to finish coursework for cheaper prices seems like a plus, especially with the ever-rising costs of university tuition and fees, and as a colleague and friend of teachers who work at StraighterLine, I am not as apt to question the quality of the education received by these students as I normally might--I know that these instructors have graduate degrees in their subject areas, have years of tutoring and teaching experience, and are both trained and evaluated periodically by other experts in these disciplines. But as always, the corporate model raises question marks and eyebrows. And although I of course support giving students whatever resources they need to supplement their educations, such as tutoring (either online or on-campus), I have always had difficulties with the idea of one's primary learning occurring over the Web--I have always thought that classroom face-time between student and teacher as well as individual conferences and office hours are major factors in increasing student mastery of course materials and skills. I suppose, however, that technology (including video conferencing, chat/IM, email) can afford the necessary accommodations of this faculty-pupil interaction.

But this still leaves the question of whether outsourcing college courses to for-profit corporations is a viable option for the future of higher education--one that will not jeopardize the standards of teaching and learning while also giving students the skills and knowledge they need as citizens, (future) workers, and educated human beings.