The Top 10 Unique Features and Benefits of the Virtual Classroom

Originally Submitted on 11/5/96.

Brick-and-mortar classrooms in colleges and universities will always have their place in the process of education, but the virtual classroom -- in its many forms -- is the future of education in every country with decent Internet access. Woven into the points below are actual examples of how Coach University virtually-delivers its Coach Training Program.

1. Leverage: 100,000+ students can learn from a single professor.

Using mega-teleconferencing and chat-based systems, potentially 100,000 students can be in the same class at the same time, listening and learning via voice, watching the professor write on the electronic white board, posing questions via chat/email and viewing related materials during class time to facilitate learning. Plus, the back-end class management systems can support homework submission, immediate Web-based testing of the students' knowledge of facts, concepts and application and quick links to chat rooms for after-class student discussions on every aspect of the professor's points that day. Coach University currently conducts 40 classes each week by live, interactive national voice conference call with over 500 participants from 35 states and 4 countries. Starting in October 1996, most students will also take classes via Web-based chatrooms featuring audio, hypertext, real-time chat, teacher slides/visuals and message areas.

2. Cost Savings: Virtual school/program admin/delivery costs are 80% less

than brick-and-mortar schools. Due to the fully automated, no-real-estate-needed, high-capacity virtual classroom, a university can eliminate 80% of their facility, faculty and administration costs, overnight. Coach University invested $50,000 to create a world-class TeleClass and virtual classroom facility and automated 100% of the student registration and class administration process, so that a half-time administrator handles everything for over 500 active students. We won't need to hire another administrator until we reach 5,000 students.

3. Quality: Students can learn from the best instructors and experts.

Worldwide, the student is becoming a smarter consumer and will continue to require only the best instructors -- not teaching assistants, not name-only professors who can't teach, not wanna-be's. With the Internet and large virtual classrooms, this requirement for quality can be met. Students will not mind the class size -- they just want the best instructors. Coach University has 60 instructors who teach from 20 states. All instructors are full-time professional coaches who share the most current techniques and approaches with students at Coach University. With their assistance, our content continually evolves and improves.

4. Accessibility: Students from over 100 countries can be in the same

virtual classroom. The world is getting smaller when you can now have students from 100 countries in the same classroom. The social and economic benefits of this interchange are enormous and will redefine education itself. Coach University has students from 4 countries other than the U.S. who participate in weekly TeleClasses. As of October 1, with the introduction of our high-end Web-based classroom, students from over 100 countries will be able to participate, given there are no "long distance" phone charges to access the Web.

5. Convenience: Students and faculty alike can learn and teach from home

or from Bermuda. This is a tremendous benefit to both parties. As work and play continue to become more integrated, both professors and students will prefer to have a LIFE, and fit their education/teaching into that life. The geographic flexibility and highly efficient teaching process available via a virtual classroom makes this high-quality life a reality. Coach University instructors call in to teach their classes from wherever they are -- on vacation, skiing in Colorado, from the GTE air phone on an American Airlines flight, from their cellular while enjoying a day at the beach -- oh, and occasionally from the hot tub at sunset (documented!).

6. Flexibility: Students can learn in the teaching format that best suits

their learning style. Brick-and-mortar classroom learning is highly inefficient and is only moderately effective. It simply does not value the students' time or need. Virtual classrooms offer instant solutions to problems, individual attention, immediate feedback and a self-paced learning environment that every student deserves and will soon demand. Coach University packages its 2-year Coaching Training Program into several formats available to all students: TeleClasses, CyberClasses, printed and electronic Self-Study materials/workbooks/self-tests, and a Situational Coaching Advice area on the Web for instant solutions and ideas to use with clients, even while the client is on the phone with the student coach!

7. Efficiency: Students can learn just-in-time, as-they-need-it vs

investing a straight 7 years in college.The real cost of education is far more than just the tuition expense -- it's the opportunity cost that is the highest of all. However, with the development of virtual education and classrooms, training can occur just as the student needs it, which also integrates learning as a life-long process, not a 7-years-and-that's-it one. Most coaches-in-training at Coach University already have a practice as a consultant, therapist or other professional and they begin immediately to coach new clients and learn-as-they-need-to the techniques and skills required to effectively coach their clients. There is no need to wait until finishing the program before coaching. Students at Coach University learn far faster because they can immediately apply what they are learning with their clients.

8. Competition/Free Market: The best teachers will reign supreme, not the

school's reputation (aka Harvard). Schools and universities face competition with each other, certainly, but nothing in comparison to business. This because of the excellent reputation, limited availability and high demand for entrance into the prestigious universities. I predict that the smartest, savviest and most able professors will leave even prestigious universities such as Harvard when they can see a way to teach 100,000 students electronically and skip the politics, publishing pressure and constraints imposed by every brick-and-mortar institution. I predict a brain drain as these experts set up their own virtual schools and programs and build a name for themselves, not for their brick-and-mortar institutions. By the year 2000 we'll start seeing the first major defections. Coach University has established Virtual University, designed along the Coach University virtual classroom model, which can support over 1,000 instructors offering thousands of classes to hundreds of thousands of students, worldwide. (Virtual U launches October 1, 1996).

9. Professor's Income Increased: Due to volume of students and fees from

downloading of texts/materials. The Professor-as-entrepreneur-and-electronic-author is the emerging model for education today. Professors with a solid reputation can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in tuitions, program fees, consulting and book sales (and not just royalties, given the books can be downloaded electronically -- who needs a publisher?!). What smart professor wouldn't opt for this? Many Coach University instructors teach classes to students other than those interested at Coach University and earn tuition and program fees, attract well-paying clients and have a wide open channel to sell programs and materials to students and to the public, via their Website.

10. Administration Automated: Web-based student registration and program

administration lowers costs. This is key. Every aspect of a virtual school can be automated, systematized and made electronic, offering instant service to students at any hour of the day or night. Coach University and Virtual University have developed the most advanced Web-based system in the world.

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