Students today can now get a degree without leaving their home. 

Online classes have made their way to the forefront of the post-secondary education field. 

Schools like the University of Southern New Hampshire and University of Phoenix allow people to get degrees all over the country through enrollment in their online classes. 

Although Ashland University is far from having an online program like either of those schools, AU does have a large number of classes you can take online. 

There are multiple classes students prefer to take online then actually in the classroom.

“Lifetime wellness should be online,” said Maria Erste, a student at AU.

When surveyed, most students believed Lifetime Wellness was a much better class to take online. 

“It saves time during the week that you would usually spend in the classroom” said Ethan Patterson, another student at AU who had taken Lifetime Wellness.

A poll of AU students showed that when asked what classes they would recommend taking online, more the double said Lifetime Wellness over any other class. 

A similar poll was conducted for the exact opposite cause. 

A survey was conducted to see what students recommended taking in the classroom more then online. 

Most students recommended taking any science class or statistics in the actual classroom because the amount of content online is overwhelming according to multiple replies on the survey.

“In my opinion, based on my experience with both, classes taken in a physical classroom are much more beneficial,” said Dane Zunich, a psychology major.

Zunich preformed an experiment last semester to figure out whether human interaction, or simply searching the answer online helped with learning. 

“In my study I found that retention rates are significantly lower when information is accessed online than through interpersonal communication,” said Zunich. “I feel this is applicable to the online/actual classroom debate. The two classrooms are not comparable.” 

For those who don’t want to fully do online classes, but also prefer not to fully indulge in lecture classes, AU offers a mix between online and in class classes, called hybrids. 

A hybrid class incorporates meeting with the class for two days, and the third being online. 

Tyler Begley, an AU student who took a hybrid class believes that hybrid classes are a reasonable and logical way to going about classes.

“I felt that this format style was efficient. In the classroom, the teaching style was lecture with outlined handouts. This was the ideal way to optimize the utilization of time for myself,” said Begley. “I would recommend other professors, with similar course material, to give thought on the utilization of this course format.” 

When students were surveyed, they had mixed reactions on hybrid classes. 

A third of student’s surveyed preferred hybrids, while another third said they did not enjoy the mix. 

The last third of students said that they have not taken a hybrid class.