Yes I, myself, DO realize that an online course done right can be just as consuming as a face to face course. Honestly, with retirement on the horizon, I would not consider it. Way too many skills to learn so as to do it right.
BUT I can see enterprising people taking short cuts, just providing the book and prepackaged goodies and getting away with it, especially for a 'degree mill'. Maybe not having 50-100 sections, OK, I exaggerated; but could have hundreds of students enrolled with the "instructor" paid by the "institution" on a head count basis, thereby encouraging big numbers. And hiring some slightly-above-minimum-wage money-strapped students to help out. And if you throw in sponsorship, then the whole thing can become a disastrous nightmare that I hope we never encounter; but given society's current zeitgeist, I just wouldn't be surprised. Anyway, it was the juxtaposition of those two emails that triggered that frightening thought. Also to address David's post: I think there is a huge learning curve for doing online courses well, and perhaps some of the "misconception" comes from experiences and examples of instructors who are new to the pedagogy who DO, in fact, do it poorly, and then get held up for public scrutiny. Those who are quietly doing it well are way too quiet--perhaps their energy has been expended on the task itself. Back to a notion that we need to "sell" ourselves more effectively as a profession because after all, what do I do? I am in the classroom 6 hours a week and I make those big bucks for what? I just parrot the same lecture I have for 20 years. Piece of cake. It's not just the online component that is misunderstood. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 tay...@sandiego.edu ---- Original message ---- >Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:31:33 -0700 (PDT) >From: David Campbell <david.campb...@humboldt.edu> >Subject: Re: [tips] News: Cash for Courses - Inside Higher Ed >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <tips@acsun.frostburg.edu> > > I realize that Christopher's post dealt with the > idea of sponsors stepping up to fund courses that > were at risk of being cancelled due to budget > limitations. But Annette's reply raised a different > issue -- one that I keep confronting. She said "... > I envision: a few enterprising people getting very > rich teaching maybe 50 or 100 online courses a > semester--same course offered through many colleges > nationwide..." As if a few people could really teach > 50 or 100 courses a semester! For some reason people > who do not teach online courses tend to view the > online format as simply the construction of "robot > courses" with videotaped lectures and automated > testing. Once such courses are set up, the students > take them in a self-paced manner and the instructor > has nothing to do -- no "teaching" required. As one > of my intro psyc students said on > ratemyprofessor.com , "I took his class online, and > he never had to lift a finger, the $165 book came > with a web site that did everything (right down to > midterms and the final)." This student could not > have been more wrong but her impression matches that > of some of my colleagues who feel we are getting > away with something when we offer classes online. In > their minds teaching is the giving of lectures; if > you don't have to go into class to lecture then you > aren't doing your job as a teacher. The comments on > this thread about how distance education requires > more time/effort of the instructor just doesn't sink > in. Until it does, those of us willing to provide > the online option simple won't get much respect. The > reality is that high-quality online teaching > requires a new skill set for instructors. Canned > lectures are often of little value -- the students > simply don't watch them. What is required instead is > an online teacher presence. We are still working out > the details but teacher presence appears to involve > such actions as : (1) individual comments to each > student in response to each homework submission, (2) > personal messages to individual students > acknowledging their work to date and encouraging > future effort, (3) facilitating online class > discussion in a way that stimulates (rather than > dampens) group discussion of course material, (4) > periodic messages to the class as a whole evaluating > progress and providing direction for the work ahead, > and (5) quick response to all student quiries > indicating course-related concerns. Research to date > indicates that online teacher presence is a critical > feature of high-quality online instruction. But > engaging in the actions described above becomes a > serious challenge when class enrollments approach > 100 or more. Recent articles in Inside Higher > Education and Chronicle of Higher Education indicate > that some major universities are beginning to take a > serious look at online instruction (formerly viewed > as a teaching mode engaged in only by cash-strapped > community colleges). But as I read the articles, it > seems that online education is still viewed as > nothing more than traditional lecture mode with the > lectures placed on the web, maybe followed by a > brief chat session. I don't get it. Don't any of > these "ivy-league" types bother to read the research > on instructional methodology? IMHO we all are going > to witness an expansion of pedagogical strategies to > encompass interactive web-based techniques of > teacher-student communication, online simulations, > broader acceptance of ebooks, and so on. And this > should all be to the students' advantage. But the > hurdles entailed in such progress are associated > with a substantial degree of inertia, disbelief, > misunderstanding, misinformation, and perhaps a bit > of fear of the unknown. Is it just me or do some of > you suffer from the same angst with this issue? Side > note to Annette: I am sure you are well aware of the > points I just made, so please don't think I placed > you among the misinformed folks who have not > experienced online instruction. You just happened to > be the one who pushed my button on this issue. > --Dave > ___________________________________________________________________ > David E. Campbell, Ph.D. d...@humboldt.edu > http://www.humboldt.edu/~campbell/psyc.htm > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
