ASU students study inside the Computing Commons, which is located in the heart of the Tempe campus, on Jan. 21. ASU has been recognized for its innovation in online classes, despite a negative stigma of cheating associated with online classes. (Daniel Kwon/The State Press)ASU earned a ranking of eighth place for online education programs in 2014, according to a report issued by U.S. News and World Report, despite a student stigma that online classes make it easier for students to cheat.
ASU credits the gain to an innovative way of designing the courses. Unlike a traditional online course, ASU Online prides itself in a more interactive class design that maximizes students' participation, ASU spokesman Marshall Terrill said in a press release.
ASU officials said enrollment in online courses and online degree programs continues to be a fast-growing trend, with students enrolled in online classes across the country and even across the world.
Phil Regier, dean and executive vice provost of ASU Online, said in a statement he was proud ASU was being recognized for being on the cutting edge of online innovation and education.
“We are committed to offering the best experience possible to all of our students and ensuring that anyone who is motivated to pursue a bachelor’s degree has the opportunity to achieve his or her educational and career goals,” Regier said in a statement.
According to the report, 10,339 students are enrolled in ASU Online’s degree programs. Both in-state and out-of-state students pay $480 per credit hour, which is between a $200 and $400 savings per credit hour than traditional in-person classes depending on a student’s residency status.
The report lists registered nursing as the most popular online degree program for enrollment, boasting about 17 percent of online enrollment. According to the report, 260 faculty teach online accessible programs.
Pennsylvania State University received the top ranking for online undergraduate programs.
In addition to receiving accolades for undergraduate programs online, the Mary Lou Fulton Teacher's College was also recognized by the U.S. World News and Report as the 23rd ranked program for online graduate education programs. Last year, it made the list as number 25.
Programs from the W. P. Carey School of Business, the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and the ASU College of Criminology and Criminal Justice were also among the top ranked in their respective categories for online graduate education.
However, online classes have yet to shed the stigma of being easier, or easier to be academically dishonest. The State Press previously reported that more than 600 students from Arizona regularly visit a website to hire people to do their homework, especially for online classes. The owner of the website told The State Press most of the website’s visitors from Arizona are ASU students looking to buy classwork.
However, online cheating is not always so formulaic. While online classes try to minimize opportunities to cheat with lockdown browsers and sometimes even video proctoring of exams, many students agree cheating is an ongoing issue in online classes.
While the rankings did not take potential for cheating into account, relying more on data from how fast a program was going, students like biology junior Catherine Kotarba agreed while online classes can be convenient and easier to schedule, classmates cheating can ruin the opportunity for everyone.
“I have heard of people taking tests while googling the answers,” Kotarba said. “People sometimes will take exams or do assignments in groups and then look up answers together. If a test allows multiple attempts, I have heard of people opening multiple tabs to keep track of all the answers.”
Reach the reporter at cvanek@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @CorinaVanek.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
