Jeremy Widder '06 has a hectic schedule. Twice a week, he commutes into Boston and spends the day working with probation officers in East Boston, observing court sessions and interviewing some of the people who step through the probation department's doors.

He then returns to the Brandeis campus and after a quick dinner, attends some evening classes. Along with these, Widder also has day classes on Tuesdays and Fridays. Life might be easier if a college student like Widder could sit down to learn whenever he has the time or energy to do so.

Actually, this option exists at some schools.

Online courses, where all the material and lectures are posted on the Internet, allow students to go at their own pace, have flexible class times, and start the learning when they are ready to concentrate. Students say that the courses also have their downside, though, since the online venue could potentially diminish interaction with faculty and provide less structure.

Currently, very few Brandeis students return to their dorms late at night, log onto their computers, and start class at their convenience. That's because Brandeis' only online course offering during the academic year is a Software Engineering class.

But the incorporation of more online courses into the Brandeis curriculum began with the Rabb School of Continuing Studies last summer.

According to Michaele Whelan, associate provost for academic affairs, the summer school division of the Rabb School offered two pilot online courses this summer.

The courses were Prof. Harry Michael Coiner's The Global Economy (ECON8b) and Prof. Joseph Coroniti's Writing Workshop, (ENG129). In addition, this was the second consecutive summer in which the Journalism Internship course (JOUR92a), headed last year by Prof. Michael Socolow (AMST) and this year by Prof. Margo Melnicove (AMST) was offered online, according to Whelan.

"These pilot course offerings are part of the Summer School's mission of enabling faculty and students to experience new course formats and new learning opportunities," Whelan said. She added that Gwenn Smaxwill, the director of summer school, will review student evaluations to determine the success of the online courses.

Brandeis currently offers an online certificate in Software Engineering and an online Master's degree in Software Engineering. The Division of Continuing Studies also offers hybrid courses, alternating between a week of instruction on campus and a week online.

Nationwide, the popularity of e-learning has skyrocketed recently. More than a million students will participate in a "virtual school" in 2004-2005, according to an education technology research firm, The Peak Group.

The United States Distance Learning Association stated that 90 percent of four-year public schools and over half of four-year private schools offer "some form of online education."

Despite the fact that online courses could potentially aid busy students such as Widder, other students said they would probably not take advantage of such options.

"I don't think I'd take one, but I'd consider it, and I think a decent amount of people would sign up," Alicia Totten '07 said.

Some say that taking courses on the Internet would mean sacrificing the human attention they appreciate in their current courses.

"I wouldn't do it, because I'd miss the personal interaction," Emily Suda '07 said.

On this point, Whelan said that the Division of Continuing Studies, under the leadership of its Executive Director Sybil Smith, has developed an "online course template" that maximizes faculty and student interaction.

Others point out that while the flexibility of doing work at a personal rate, rather than the professor's, can be convenient, it can also promote procrastination.

"It's not for me," Rich Abott '07 said. "I'd have trouble getting my work done."

The one student who took the online version of Coiner's Econ 8b class this past summer perhaps took the course less seriously because it was through the Internet. According to Coiner, besides submitting exams electronically and receiving copies of lecture notes, the other aspect of the class included the student submitting questions each week. Coiner would then respond to her queries.

"For whatever reason, this aspect of the course did not work very well," Coiner said. "The student ignored this course requirement and did not submit any questions...If I do the course again, I will have to think about changing the 'interaction' requirement or, at the least, making sure that this requirement can be enforced."

E-learning can be helpful for students past the traditional college age. Adults with kids, jobs and lives of their own can learn after hours without leaving home. Whelan said that graduate students and older students already have enough academic experience to focus on studies without set class times and the instructors' constant presence.

Besides the all-virtual colleges, such as University of Phoenix online, other universities have also delved into the online market. Boston University contains online programs with such degrees as Master's of Science, and Doctor of Physical Therapy. Harvard University has the Harvard Extension School, which allows a student to learn through video despite not being in the classroom. Harvard offers a Master of Liberal Arts in certain online courses, as well as graduate certificates.

"We are looking into that process right now," said Tracey Leger-Hornby, associate CIO and director of Internet Technology Services, referring to a streaming video system similar to Harvard's.

"We have the technological infrastructure to do online courses as many other institutions have," said Perry Hanson, Chief Information Officer and Associate Provost for Educational Technology.

Leger-Hornby mentioned that Brandeis is a member of Internet2, or I2, "a group of 206 universities working to establish a national research community." This gives Brandeis computers greater Internet bandwidth which could eventually make way for international videoconferencing.

Leger-Hornby said that professors in a few departments have experimented with the new video technology. Brandeis already has audio streaming in place, which has been used mostly for foreign language classes.

But as for exclusively online courses, Whelan doesn't see them moving into the fall or spring semester in the near future.

Hanson explained that this is mainly because of cost and it would be impossible to achieve the academic quality Brandeis desires without vast quantities of money.

"It's not just putting a reading list on WebCT," Hanson said. "To get the rigor that we'd expect from Brandeis, it would have to be a rich course."

"It is not about technology," he continued. "It's about what an online course is and how it might fit into the Brandeis University curriculum. What I consider a true online course is much too expensive for us to build. The courses that I know about cost in the hundreds of thousands to produce."

According to Whelan, adult students in the Continuing Studies program may take unlimited online courses. In addition, there is no current cost difference between an online course and an on-campus course at the Summer School, despite the time demand on faculty for online course preparation.

"Faculty have noted that the amount of time spent during the [online] course certainly equals and at times surpasses time spent in the classroom," Whelan said.

Students who take longer to process lectures or who lack note-taking skills can take advantage of the extra time in online courses.

"Well-structured online courses also support the ability...to repeat sections as required," Hanson said.

He cautions against online courses, however, noting several disadvantages.

"It requires discipline and maturity to move through an online course in an orderly way," Hanson said. "And, of course, you miss the vitality of a human being, that personal intimacy, and the flexibility that an instructor can bring to a class, especially seminars."

Hanson concluded, "Technology in my opinion can supplement and facilitate any number of learning events, but not as a substitute for core, real-time, face-to-face learning.