Better Teachers with Online Education

The entire country is suffering from a shortage of teachers that are qualified and rigorously trained to effect real change, in particular within high-need and urban school districts, according to the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future. The good news is that great teachers can be found anywhere—a physics major, a stay-at-home mom, or a Wall Street trader. However, how do we ensure that we are producing a new generation of high-quality teachers?

It is clearly time to consider new options for educating, training, and preparing future teachers. This country needs to employ a new generation of learners, wherever they are. The teacher shortage coupled with the current economic crisis makes a great case for the possibilities of an online degree program, especially considering the major advances in interactive technology and online learning platforms in the past decade.

Although Columbia University’s Teachers College is ranked No. 4 in the country for best education programs, according to U.S. News & World Report, the fact that it does not offer an online option for students overlooks a huge and rapidly growing population. The University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science does offer a wide selection of classes online that are videotaped and uploaded for students who want to take courses from home. The Columbia Video Network, as it is called, also allows students to take the same exams as on-campus students and do the same homework. Teachers College, however, does not offer any such program and, as more students turn to online learning programs, those pursuing a Master’s degree in education may find the University lacking and be discouraged.

Recently, I came across a new program from the University of Southern California called MAT@USC. Offered by the school’s Rossier School of Education, the program is an online Master of Arts in Teaching program that not only educates new teachers—even those without an undergraduate degree in education or previous teaching experience—but also provides the tools and resources students need to achieve certification in whichever state they are teaching.

By using familiar social media tools and interactive lectures using streaming video, animation and Web 2.0 technologies, MAT@USC has the potential to produce new, talented teachers by enabling students to attend the school’s program without having to relocate to southern California. The program offers a chance to specialize in language arts, mathematics, science, and history, or to get a general certification in all of them to teach in elementary schools. The curriculum includes online courses and field-based teaching experiences in each student’s current location, from New York to Los Angeles.

All lectures, exams, assignments and course materials are made and taught by USC professors—ensuring that students are getting the same education from their home as they would from inside the classroom. The program also has job placement, mentorship, and tuition reimbursement options for students upon graduation. Furthermore, MAT@USC students have to meet all USC standards to enter the program. The students are of the same caliber as those sitting within the brick-and-mortar university buildings, removing the stigma that online learning is a second-rate degree.

Of course, teachers learn to teach not only by watching others teach, but by teaching in a classroom. They need those practical, hands-on experiences that cannot be found on the Web. MAT@USC also provides field-based experiences and a mentoring program for all students to ensure there is a face-to-face, human element to the program.

One might think the online experience would still not be as deep or interactive as it would be for a student physically sitting within a lecture hall, but in this case one would be wrong. A recent Carnegie Mellon study, “French Online: Supporting Hybrid Instructional Models,” suggested there is no significant difference in either achievement or satisfaction between classroom and hybrid course models. In some cases, students actually did better in hybrid course models because they had better teacher-student relationships due to regular one-on-one meetings (albeit online ones).

We, as the future generation of potential teachers, have a responsibility to be more aware of the growing options for top education degrees across the U.S., as well as the changing face of online learning programs. No longer is online learning second-rate or just an alternative program. For some students, online learning will be the best option for an advanced education degree and will better prepare them to relate to and meet the needs of young students today—something I think we can all agree is well worth the investment.

Online degrees are convenient and accessible for students based anywhere in the country. Those who graduated from Columbia as undergraduates and want to move away or those who cannot make the move to New York City are currently missing out on the potential for a Teachers College education. Today’s current economic environment has created less financial freedom than ever for students to relocate to the university of their choice. An online learning program is a compelling and necessary alternative, and one that, in the 21st century, is in Columbia’s best interest to explore.

The author is a junior in the School of Engineering and Applied Science majoring in mechanical engineering.