Emerging Technologies

Something that sparked my attention right in the beginning of the document was "Emerging technologies." I was speaking with one of my instructors about online courses. He has been teaching at Stout for about 30 years. He is being forced to facilitate online courses. He does not like online courses because he likes the face-to-face interaction of students. This is a very hard thing for instructors to move to when they have always taught in the classroom. I have notice in my program that the majority of classes are offered online. Why is this, why is everything going online? In 10 years, do you feel like everything will be onlnie? Another question I have is cost for online course cheaper or more expensive? Does the school pay money to have a online system to teach classes?
Some great benefits of the emerging technologies is that instructors are now able to have their grade book online. As a student I really like this concept. I am always able to keep on top of how I am doing in the course. This also helps the instructor because they do not have to keep calculating grades for students. Another perk is that instructors are able to have the exams/quizzes all online. This is helpful because the instructor does not need to correct the exams, unless they are short answer.
I have been a teachers assistant for a couple years at Stout, helping instructors with grading and duties. I have had the opportunity to enter grades and upload content. Entering grades was not easy to me. It seemed to be hard to navigate around, because only so many students were listed on each page. I have also heard my instructors complain about the Learn@UWsystem. I believe that this will change. After time new upgrades will occur and make things easier for both the student and instructor.

** I got quite the response on this topic.