By Jennifer Goodman, Inside Higher Ed
Melanie Finn, elementary school teacher in East Granby, Conn., enrolled in a program at Drexel University, her grandfather’s alma mater, that allowed her to participate in a week of free training and demo programs to experience the ins and outs of virtual learning. In March, she took part in the one-week Drexel University Online Test Drive course, which allowed her to interact with professors, grad students and alumni. She completed a virtual scavenger hunt, uploaded a paper and got mock feedback on her work. The test drive helped her realize she would be comfortable learning in an online setting, and she enrolled in a 10-week online educational policy class at Drexel just a few weeks later. “It was a really good way for me to see if an online learning program would be something I could manage,” she said. Finn’s experience is similar to that of many of Drexel’s online students who participate in the test drive and end up enrolling, according to Susan Aldridge, president of Drexel University Online, which has an enrollment of 7,300.
Share on Facebook