I doubt that when the Big Ten and ACC already have moved beyond that to 18 teams. The direction is down the road of an alpha confernce Big Ten of 26-28 teams that is forever #1 in everything college athletics.

Imagine being a softball player for Stanford and finding out next year you'll have to play at Boston College & UNC. 3 game weekend series, can't possibly be paired with another road opponent without missing an entire week of school. This is so incredibly stupid it really enrages me.

The question is, just how much are students learning in on-line classes.

I can only speak to what we've seen at FDU with kids who took on line classes
for math and introductory engineering.

We've found that, even though they passed their on line classes, they didn't have anywhere near the grasp of the course materials as students who took the same classes on campus.

Guess it depends on what classes you take and what you hope to get out of it,
other then a piece of paper.

What really amazes me is how easy it seems to be for some students to get multiple Masters Degrees.

I went through hell just to get one in engineering.
That required a minimum GPA of 3.5.
AND
You were only allowed 2 B's or you had to retake classes.

I will say that the professors did work with students to avoid that.

The question is, just how much are students learning in on-line classes.

I can only speak to what we've seen at FDU with kids who took on line classes
for math and introductory engineering.

We've found that, even though they passed their on line classes, they didn't have anywhere near the grasp of the course materials as students who took the same classes on campus.

Guess it depends on what classes you take and what you hope to get out of it,
other then a piece of paper.

What really amazes me is how easy it seems to be for some students to get multiple Masters Degrees.


Every generation says it about the one before, but honestly it's wild to look back - bc I feel pretty young, but we really didn't even have cell phones in class. 2009 was really bizarre, because it doesn't seem that far away, but the iPhone had just come in the summer of 2008 (maybe 2007?) so college kids didn't have them yet, and most technology was not even attempting that kind of pocket computer level. I mean text messages cost money, per message. I once had a $1,000 phone bill and couldn't go on spring break, bc messages were like 25 cents to send. 5 to receive. Mind blowing.

The first Macbook didn't come out til 2008. Online classes were extremely few and far between. It was not even 15 years ago and I feel like I'm talking about tunneling under the Pyramids.

Now kids have Chegg, and AI applications.

I'm envious.

As someone who grew up with a slide rule (and yes, I still have one), I remember when calculators came out, and I remember the controversy when they began allowing student to opt for typing exam answers (in a separate room) instead of writing them longhand. So much change over the years, but that doesn't necessarily make things worse. I would argue, though, that the more manually you had to do things (e.g. slide rule versus app), the more you needed to understand the underlying calculations.

In the end, though, the proof is in the pudding. If modern buildings or bridges start falling down because of structural errors, we have a problem, but if they last longer, then all the increased automation of calculations is a good thing. Yes, for many products, "they don't build them like they used to", but that difference is accounted for in dramatically cheaper prices, adjusted for inflation.