Online Courses: Do they live up to their hype?

After reading, "What College Students really think about Online Courses," I started to think about all of the online courses that I have taken.  This course is partially online as well.  Out of all of them, (this one makes 4), I am still not sure about how I feel about them.  They are becoming the norm for many graduate degrees.  When I was searching for a master's program, there were many full online degrees that I though about pursuing.  According to this article, other students also have mixed reviews of online courses.

The article made a point about how colleges everywhere are striving to meet students' growing needs and demands for more online courses.  Some colleges were resistant to making more online degree programs, but feared that they would lose out on students and funds that they desperately needed. However, there are many types of online courses and students definitely have opinions on which ones they like and dislike.

Most students prefer to have their online courses that set high standards.  They want the course to match what an "in-class" option would offer and expect.  Students also usually want to be able to have choices in the classes that they take, and take more that fit with their interests.  While math is offered online, the article states that students have a hard time with this subject.  In addition, the format of the class as well as the professor are extremely important aspects and will determine if the students do well and strive to do well.

Overall, the Adobe Connect classroom works very well for me because it provides interaction and time to ask questions and hear and see a lecture.  Out of all of the online courses I have taken, this one has seemed the closest to being in a real classroom on a daily basis.  Although, I do agree with the students in the article.  I would not take math online.

What do you think? What format of online classes works best? What doesn't work? Do you think colleges should stop the trend or keep it up?

Here are some links to the article I referred to and other articles on online courses:

What College Students really think of Online Courses
Benefits of Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning
Six Strategies of Successful Online Students