Paying attention in the classroom is difficult enough, but paying attention during online courses—when students control when and where they study—may prove even more difficult.

Some online courses, or “distance learning,” is part of a growing trend of open-source knowledge—the philosophy that knowledge should be available to the greatest number of people possible, at no cost. This philosophy has spread rapidly since the ready availability of the Internet.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for example, offers virtually all of its coursework online for free, in an attempt to increase knowledge worldwide.

Many online courses, however, offer degrees and charge tuition like a normal college. Degrees are offered in nearly every topic, from health administration to business administration, through an online course offered by the University of Phoenix.

Washington University does not offer any online courses—a rule unlikely to change—and no student may have online course credits count toward his or her diploma. However, University College does offer a selection of online courses, which University students may take.

The University of Phoenix, conversely, offers programs of varying intensity, all the way up to online doctorate degrees in varying fields. However, some universities closer to home are also offering online courses; for instance, Fontbonne University offers online programs for a Master of Science in Computer Education and a Graduate Certificate in Computer Education.

Dirk Killen, associate dean of Arts & Sciences, said that he often advised students not to take online courses, because the credits cannot count toward a University degree.

“Most instructors feel there’s a place for Internet learning, and it can enhance learning, but classroom interaction is also valuable and can’t be replaced by online learning—not just the teacher-student relationship, but also the student-student relationship,” Killen said. “Most instructors are not negative about online learning, they just don’t feel it should be a substitute.”

In addition, though the University does not have any online courses, many courses have online elements. In language courses, supplemental work is often done online.

Another web supplement familiar to University students is WeBWorK, the online assignments given by the mathematics department. WeBWorK is an online hub of weekly assignments for students, which are graded instantaneously and can oftentimes be tried as many times as needed until the student gets the correct answer.

Students’ feelings toward WeBWorK are mixed.

“I think its good for seeing where the class is, and keeping track of what materials you need to know, but I think the interface is kind of [inefficient],” sophomore Alex Bensick said.

“My problem with it is that you can get instant feedback, but the feedback is ‘it’s right’ or ‘it’s wrong,’” he added. “It doesn’t give you detailed feedback about what you need to work on. It’s fine for the most part, but for something really confusing it’s not adequate.”

Lynne Breakstone, senior lecturer for French, incorporates the online workbook program Quia into her curriculum.  For her, the online programming was a selling point when she chose her books.  On the online workbook, students do fill-in-the-blank exercises and receive immediate feedback.

“It works because getting feedback isn’t dependent on another person. A student could do the work at three in the morning and get feedback,” Breakstone said.

However, Breakstone acknowledged the limitations of online coursework. Academic integrity is a significant concern regarding online coursework, but for language coursework, the ultimate test is fluency in the classroom.

“Language learning is very communication-based. Communication is much more than words and sounds—it’s the face, the body language. Most of language teaching cannot be done online,” Breakstone said. “I don’t think any course should be 100  percent online, but if the mechanical part is online, it is more efficient.”

She also stressed the importance of student-to-student relationships.

“They make learning more interesting, and more personal,” Breakstone said.