I disagree. When developing the online course, you need to cover the same areas that would be covered in the traditional classroom. It will take just as long to complete both types.
I disagree. I have found that both e-learning and on the ground courses require the same development commitment. I have however, found that in many case e-learning grading is often less time consuming than traditional grading.
I disagree, since I was involved in helping design an online course takes time in the following:
1. Making sure that the learning objectives are met
2. Assignments in relation to those learning objectives are met
3. Discussion Forum questions design either from the book or using real world examples
4. Putting together a Quiz or Test in making sure that student's learning of the material can be assessed
It has to be an investment of time and effort because the students have to learn on their own in online environment so they can be successful without a disjointed online course.
Michael Haws
I completely disagree with this statement. Within the "traditional" classroom delivery you can be more explicit with the specific needs of the students. In addition, with an on-ground class parts of it can be speed-up or slowed down as need arises for a majority of students.
When you are teaching in an online environment everything needs to be broken down and spelled out for the students so as to reach all of them. From personal experience I know that often teaching in an online environment is more tedious because you have to take personal time to tutor or help struggling students. However, in an on-the-ground class you can take extra class time or use office hours.
It is important that the students not become frustrated with the technology or platform we use because that could lead to them just giving up and quitting.
That immediate feedback comes in many forms and when students can't see the excitement (or confusion) from the instructor, and vice versa, it is not as easy to reach many of the goals for the course.
I think it takes more time to develop an online course because there are so many factors you have to plan out more diligently. For example, your discussions in a traditional classroom might not be as planned out but might produce a lot of thoughtful reponses on one topic. When creating discussion for online courses you have to think more about what you want the students to get out of the discussion and make sure your disucussion question lends itself well to that desired outcome.
The amount of time should be similar because much of the creation is the course content part. The online classroom part is scalable and the basics laid down and repeated for each new course but much of that is true with exhibits and materials created for a live course they can be repeated as well.
I disagree. Let's look at discussion questions as an example. If the discussion questions are not well thought out this could lead to students that are not engaged in that weeks materials. When preparing online materials you have to anticipate the answers. You do not have the flexibity to try something else during the class if the original discussion is not effective, like you do in a traditional classroom.
I do not agree. It takes many more hours to develop an online course I feel as you cannot wing as they say as you can in a live classroom where you are talking and move from subject to subject freely, online takes more time and more enegry to have a good solid class for the learners.
Having worked in both environments, I definitely disagree. In a classroom setting your design allows for the face to face interaction of the student with the instructor. Teaching online, the classes must be designed to allow the student to navigate without near as much interaction. Online classes have to be designed to be much more user friendly.
I have never designed a course but have seen the development of a class and it takes much more effort for a good online class than even a great traditional class. Online must use the look and feel aspect we talked about in discussion 1.
I disagree-- I have helped design online courses and ground courses and the time frame can be much longer as it needs more items. An online course needs to be visually attractive and user friendly since, unlike a ground class, the instructor is not at the front of the room to constantly guide them.
what about in five years from now?
I believe I am joining in on the chorus of "I disagree." Although I see the points that a few individuals were making concerning travel time and getting to class as part of the on-the-ground time, I feel as though online classes do take more time in the development stage. Yes, once it is up and running you may just have to tweak sections, but the same can be said for frontal teaching as well. I do not use quizzes so to speak in my on-the-ground classes, but I would see more merit in them in the online environment as they would be great self-checks for the students. In this instance, it would take me more time to prepare for this type of assessment for online than it would my on-the-ground courses.
How can this be increased?
Disagree. I have found that teaching creating and designing an online course takes more time than on onground course. In an onground course, you can improvise in the classroom. If a lecture or discussion goes longer, better than expected, or vice versa, you can adapt on the fly. This does not transfer to an online course. You have to have the entire course from the opening student Welcome to the final exam created and in place the moment the course starts.
The time invested in an online course may be less than that of a traditional classroom only due to the lack of a commute in traffic lol =)
No I do not agree. Proper course preparation is the same in both cases from my experience.
No, you really need to plan more carefully as you cannot simply "wing it" on an online class as you might be able to do in a classroom.
