“We live in a society in which technology develops at a crazy pace,” Vasile Niculescu, an associate professor of physics at VCU, said. “If you learn everything about technology today, in five years it will be totally different.”
Niculescu teaches a class called Wonders of Technology at VCU – a course he said he developed in 1997. The class, which deals with technology used in everyday life, began with roughly nine students enrolled, he said.
“Now we offer it to 380 students,” said Niculescu, “which is at capacity.”
The course’s growth prompted Niculescu to develop an off-campus course last year, he said. The professor said his off-campus students conduct its laboratory component at home.
“It’s very convenient because they don’t have to waste their time driving to VCU,” Niculescu said. “The time they use to travel they can use it learning.”
Brad Brubaker, a theater major, said he chose the online course last fall because of its flexibility.
“I liked the concept of the self-paced class,” Brubaker said. “I also could do the work whenever I wanted within the allotted time period. This meant I could fit it in rather than having to fit in other things around the class.”
The professor said his off-campus students take the course for various reasons: Some take the course as they pursue their master’s degrees, while other students are undergraduates who need to fulfill a general education requirement.
“There’s a variety (of students),” Niculescu said. “This fall I have at least one student who is 40 or so. Two semesters ago I had a student who was older, and of course I have the students (who are) 18, 19, 20.”
He said he supplies each of his off-campus students a box filled with materials for the semester. The off-campus students need more initiative than the average student, Niculescu said, because they don’t have an instructor to oversee their work.
Brubaker said he used the textbook and the course’s Web site to conduct the experiments, but the absence of an instructor frustrated him at times.
“Sometimes I got lost in some of the wording or figuring out what exactly it was supposed to do,” he said. “I would get really frustrated when this happened because I couldn’t ask a professor for immediate assistance.”
When his students had problems, Niculescu answered questions via e-mail.
“He was pretty speedy with e-mail,” Brubaker said, “but nothing’s as speedy as raising your hand and getting immediate attention.”
Even with the disadvantage, Niculescu said his off-campus students have the great advantage of convenience and flexibility.
“They can start the lab and go to work,” he said, “come back and finish the lab.”
For students who may be struggling, Niculescu offered advice.
“If somebody decides to do something, the worst thing (to do) is to give up,” he said. “Every time you invest energy or time into any endeavor, (you) should try to finish it. Anybody who thinks that life is without struggle sooner or later will realize it is not so.”