I believe that the responsibilities involved in teaching a course online are fundamentally the same as those involved in teaching the same course in a traditional classroom setting. I say fundamentally because the goals are the same. I am there to help the student learn. There is an assessment process to evaluate the student's understanding of the coursework and the student "earns" a grade.
What differs is the methods and tools that I have available to me and the "learning environment" in which the student is doing the learning.
Essentially, my responsibilities to the student remain the same - to do my very best to help each student master the course content. The methods to achieve this may differ because of the differences (and limitations) that may exist in the two learning environments and the "tools" that I have available to engage the students and "promote" their "acquisition" of knowledge.
Jeff,
I think I understand what you are saying. I also teach on campus and online courses (same courses) and I would agree that you have to make a stronger effort in an online course to communicate with students and to get them to communicate with you. In a traditional course it seems to come more naturally and you may have to prod them a little, but you have them in class at that moment and they can't get away. Online they can quickly become "disconnected" from the course and content and get disillusioned.
Herbert Brown III
The great part about teaching at the school I work at is that the learners have an online course that is tied to their resident course, with the same Instructor! This works good for communication between the learner and the Instructor.
I have taught courses in a strictly online situation and the responsibility to communicate with the learner is almost MORE important online, just due to the simple fact that you never get that face to face interaction.
Learning from an online course can be just as effective, if not more. With technology advancing at a rapid pace, the experience of online study may well eclipse the classroom experience. With advancing multimedia applications, an online course may offer a richer and more expansive experience for learning with instant access to virtual classrooms and lectures, links for a deeper understanding of the subject, student chat rooms and video conferencing for collaboration, tools for remedial assistance and for advanced exploration of the topic, etc. Much of this is available now. Of course, a student must be motivated and disciplined, and if not, perhaps a traditional classroom course might be better. However, even those students lacking the drive, may have their interest piqued by the array of online options, which can include different teaching approaches for different learning styles along with a spectrum of paces for course completion. Advanced learners can move faster through the subject matter, to reduce the chance of boredom and slower learners can move more slowly and have difficult subject areas explained in a variety of formats. Online courses such as this offer a more customized and individualized course of study and students may also benefit from the lack of distraction often found in the standard classroom experience.
I would disagree. The only difference between the two model is the face-to-face interaction. However, as a good instructor, the preparation of the course, guidance to the students as well as the execution of the educational plan are the same no matter how the lesson is delivered.
I would say that online teaching seems to be easier. From personal experience, I would say that online teaching required much more preparation in advance. Everything will need to be ready at the beginning of each week, and then you check the course progress and then we have to wrap up the end of each week.
In a traditional classroom, you can buy some time between lessons if the instructor need some extra time to get the concept across to the student.
The responsibilities are different, but I believe they are equally demanding. For example, I do not have to be aware of my body language when interacting with students online. I do, however, have to make sure my written responses project the proper tone, since I can't gauge student reaction. So, there are different, but equally compelling, responsibilities.
I teach in both classrooms, online and traditional. I feel they both have the same amount of responsibilities. But that being said the responsibilities are different for each classroom.
I agree with the statement that teaching a course online doesn't equate to the same responsibilities as a traditional class room setting. I believe there are more responsibiilties in an online course. You have to go above and beyond keeping students engaged because there is not the face to face interaction. Many will find a lot of distraction to getting the classwork done. Time management has to be communicated regularly to the students to keep them on track. It is also harder to ensure integrity in the student's work.
Erin,
The online "easy" factor can be a hard one for students to understand somehow. I have also found that a number of students enter online courses and programs with the expectation that courses will be easier and then do not perform well when the reality of the rigor hits them. Hybrid is definately a format we will see much more in the future. Even faculty that have traditionally only wanted to teach in person courses are realizing the importance of CMS systems and online resources to augment the traditional classroom. Expect to continue to see that area increase.
Herbert Brown III
Christine,
I agree that the time commitments are different. I find I also need to be available for my traditional classes outside of normal class hours. Even though many students wait to ask questions in class, I still have to be available if they have questions on assignments, etc. Fundamentally are the responsibilities not the same: instruct the students, help them gain new knowledge, provide appropriate feedback on assignments that reinforce their learning....The way we do it might be a little different, the tools we use and even the need for more flexible communications....
Herbert Brown III
I feel there is a big difference between online and onground responsibilities. Onground you do not have to be available to your students after hours. You teach during a set time frame and students wait until the following class to ask questions or get help. Online you need to try to be available at all times of the day and over the weekends to answer questions or help a student so that they can finish/submit an assignment that is due. Communication with online students is more time consuming because there is more written communication via email than verbal. Students online come from different time zones which has to be taken into consideration when scheduling chat sessions or live labs.
Students enroll for online courses to be able to attend school at their leisure or the best suitable time for themselves. They therefore want you to be available at a time that is good for them for interactions and communications. For onground classes the students share the same time frame that we do for class and only expect our interaction at that time.
I believe the responsibilities between traditional and online courses are equal but in differing formats. For both, you have to work with students, give feedback, create an orderly classroom, etc. It is just that for online, there is little to no face to face interaction with students. Students are still students whether they are going to an online or traditional classroom. As teachers, we have to teach and be responsible for the students' learning.
Teaching is a collaborative activity. It is an agreement between the student and instructor, i.e. an unwritten contract. In some ways teaching online is a more intimate arrangement. We don't have the benefit of physical cues in our communication. So we must be sensitive to the messages and non messages we receive from our students.
The responsibilities of engaging in the process of teaching and learning are the same. But the form of the engagement is different. I work with open discussion, private emails, invitations to phone calls, office appointments, etc. But most important is an emphasis on their initiative and commitment to pursue their extended educational goals.
Different platforms to achieve the same result: the education of our students. I find face-to-face teaching more challenging in that it takes a lot more of my time: preparing lesson plans, driving one hour (one way) to campus, showing up to teach, staying for office hours, hiking back home. Teaching online, I save two hours in commute time, and I can combine my office hours with other work. So yes, while I need to be constantly connected to my online students in a way I don't necessarily need to be (as much) for my face-to-facers, this is easy in today's environment of being able to check email on your phone.
Changing course content in an online course is infinitely more difficult and time-consuming. I've stuck with the same texts for two years because as a graduate student, I simply don't have the time to recreate my modules and everything therein: the discussion questions, assignment prompts, video lectures, written lectures, etc. I miss the pliancy of the onground classroom.
I think the most useful classroom format is the hybrid course. You meet once a week for an hour to discuss the course content and get that essential face-to-face time in, but the rest of the course is done from home.
I will say that I have to warn my students each semester that my upper-division Literature class online is exactly the same as my face-to-face incarnation. They expect it to be easier online, but it is perhaps even more challenging because students need to be self-starters and engage with the material on their own.
There are several shared responsibilities that span the classroom and online learning environment. Both require classroom management, engaging content, encouragement and clear objectives, to succeed. In my experience, the online learning environment also requires more attention to the student interaction, behavior, and quality of work. In a traditional classroom, many of the disruptive learners are easy to identify and pursue action, however in an online environment, these actions are often times more subtle, so it often takes longer to identify the issue.
I agree that at the onset clear espectations, scheduling, due dates, etc., are as important online as in the traditional classroom. A difference may be making sure 'how' students gain access to the clear expectations and asking for a reply/feedback (same as in a traditional setting) as to the understanding of these expectations. I agree that in an online environment, students may perceive that an instructor should be providing an 'instant' response (based on our collective consumer view of the online 'purchasing' experience?), thus clear expectations spelled out in the beginning and an exchange that the student understands all expectations, procedures, scheduling, and intervals of feedback, etc.
I disagree. I think that you can equate the responsibilities except that they appear in a different way in an online class. One basic example is class participation. You can directly monitor class participation online, but in a classroom (unless you have a specific assignment)knowing to the exact time and quality of participation is a little more difficult. In other words you get more of a general feel for participation in a classroom, where the online class is very well documented and can be reviewed
I disagree. The student is still expecting to learn something from me. The focal point may change since the student is doing a lot of self-directing, but I am still responsible for ensuring they understand the material. It is the evaluation of their progress that is different. At the end of the course, the student will still say "I took Professor Brown's class and..." It's my responsibility to ensure that whatever follows the 'and' is positive and accurate.
I disagree. The responsibilities for providing meaningful content, assessing student work, and maintaining a productive learning environment are all still there. The ways we go about doing all of this may change, but the responsibilities do not.
Ron,
They are fundamentally the same. The tools and pedagogy we use to connect with our students online might be slightly different but fundamentally they are the same.
Herbert Brown III
