'If you build it, they will come' for blended online learning, Butler finds.

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- Butler Community College student Steven Lee had never taken an online class before, so he thought a "blended" learning class with half the work in a classroom and half on the computer would be a way to try online learning.

The blended English class saves him almost an hour roundtrip drive to campus every other week.

"It's one extra day I can make money," Lee said. "And it saves gas."

Online course offerings are rapidly expanding at several Wichita-area colleges this year and the schools expect to add more e-schooling options in the future as more students demand them for convenience.

This is the first year Butler has offered blended learning classes, partly in response to growing concern among students about rising gas costs.

Online course enrollment has risen about 20 percent each year for the past five years at Butler, said Meg McGranaghan, director of instructional technology for the multi-campus school.

This year, more than 2,000 of Butler's estimated 8,000 students are taking online courses, with a total of about 10,000 credit hours earned over the Internet, Butler officials said.

"The phrase, 'If you build it, they will come,' is true for online learning," McGranaghan said.

About 650 students enrolled in the blended course pilot program. "For a pilot, that's very successful," McGranaghan said.

Butler's online-only courses target nontraditional students, or those older than 25, who have the self-discipline to earn their degrees outside the classroom. Blended classes are intended to help undergraduates fresh out of high school save some time and money but still have the structure and accountability of meeting in a classroom every other week, she said.

Friends University has offered the part-online and part-classroom courses, which it calls "hybrid" courses, as well as online-only courses for several years, said John Yoder, the school's vice president for academic affairs.

"The national trends for online programs and courses is increasing, and I suspect the increases in prices in gas are going to fuel that trend," he said.

Most students who take online courses at Friends live within 15 miles of the university, Yoder said. "It really is a convenience factor," he said.

At Wichita State University, the majority of students enrolled in about 70 online courses are from Sedgwick County, said Keith Pickus, the school's associate provost of academic affairs.

"For students working, it's a question of access," he said.

The greatest growth in online courses has been in master's degree programs, because those students tend to have day jobs, he said.

He said WSU's gerontology program saw declining graduate enrollment until the department added online courses. Now, enrollment has grown and the master's degree is offered only online.

Mark Jarvis, a Butler English professor, used his three-hour class time one recent Wednesday to allow the 22 students in a blended-learning class to meet each other in a type of academic "speed dating."

Each student spoke to a classmate for two minutes about the class or college life before moving on. "They could work individually online, but there's a lot to be said for face-to-face interaction," Jarvis said. "They come in here and apply it."

While the class was together, he also showed students how to access readings online, discussed class requirements and distributed laptops so students could write one of the 100 journal entries required this semester.

Student Amanda Jarvis, who is not related to her professor, said a blended course was an expedient way to complete a requirement.

"It's nice to come in only every other week, especially in a morning class," she said. The part-time student said she often does most of the online assignments at home on weekends because she works during the week.

Santosh Shrestha, from Nepal, said he was impressed with the blended-learning concept, which provides a smaller class size and saves him a biweekly trip from the main campus 14 miles away in E1 Dorado.

There, he shares computer and Internet access with roommates, but he said by being flexible, he has been able to complete the online course work so far.

"If you make up your mind, you can do well in a blended course," Shrestha said.

Based on interactions with students and the success of online master's degree and nursing programs, Wichita State officials last year launched an initiative to expand online-only programs, Pickus said.

Details are being worked out, but he said Wichita State is teaching faculty members how to create online courses, which could cost WSU more to start than traditional classes.

Upgrading computers, hiring more tech support and limiting class sizes to 40 students could mean an online class costs more than placing a professor in front of 200 students in a lecture hall, he said.

Online students have to be more engaged with their professors, Pickrus added. They can't blend with the crowd as some do in classrooms.

And professors must respond to each student personally.

"Online learning is more labor intensive to teach," Pickus said. "It makes students into active learners."

Friends University may expand degrees offered exclusively online, such as a master's in teaching, which has attracted students as far away as Alaska, Yoder said.

He added that online programs "force us as an institution to sort of go back and think in a fresh way what we teach."