COMPLETE ONLINE-PROGRAMMES OF STUDY BY A CONFEDERATION OF CAMPUS UNIVERSITIES: VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES

摘要

As first results from pilot-phases in different courses and the profile of the online-students enrolling for winter 2001 had shown these new kinds of study-programs will be accepted mostly by people who want to learn parallel to their business. The on-line-students of the University of Applied Sciences differ significantly from on-campus students: they are older, they work, but above all they appreciate the flexibility that e-learning provides. That is not the case with many on-campus students who did not take advantage of the flexibility and instead accessed the on-line modules from the schools computer labs during regular office hours, as several tests showed. This might, in part, be explained by the still high costs for Internet access at home. Most of the on-campus students preferred the traditional face-to-face teaching. Thus far, the study program of the Virtual University of Applied Sciences does not compete with existing higher education, but rather supplements the range of teaching methods and courses available. The positive aspect of the network for the universities is that not every institution has to fund and develop costly web-based study-courses on its own. Consequently, even the medium-sized and small universities of the network will now also be able to offer attractive online study-courses.