Module 4 presented us with the costing of educational technologies. The topic that interested me the most was in regard to print media. Print, or texts, are still the number one choice of many institutions when deciding on course materials. Within the topic it would appear that institutions configure the costs of using print/texts in their course when undergoing the course design and development phase. This sounds good but what I've begun to see in many online programs, excluding the MDE program at UMUC, is the fact that a course will require a student to purchase a particular text or set of texts in order to complete the class.
I know it seems as that is not a problem and it may be somewhat different than what the topic is referring to but it's something I felt the need to write about. The problem I've begun to see is that courses are requiring these texts and are barely using them throughout the duration of the course. Now why increase a student's cost for materials that aren't going to be used extensively? I mean I have at one time spent $250 on course material only to have used it ONCE!! That's outrageous! And yes, it has occurred in an online course.
I personally like the way UMUC's MDE program works in that the majority of the course material used is provided free for the students. Now, there may be a fee for us to access this material for free but if there is, it has already been included in our tuition and fees. I think more online courses should try to incorporate course materials that can be accessed for free or in other words, not be an additional expense on top of tuition and fees. Students already pay LOTS of money to even enroll in the course, can't some slack be cut for us? I'm just saying...
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