next »

[anon-z]

I took an online course in literature, and it was very demanding (in some ways, even more demanding than my on-campus courses, particularly those where you could take a slack day when you didn't have time to get to certain bits of the material, or read and re-read for clarity).  I agree that the quality of the course depends on the design and delivery (and perhaps topic?)--but it is possible to deliver a successful online course (if your goals is strictly centered around learning vs. relationship-building, etc).

[LarryC]

Another thing I love about online is the student participation.  I structure my classes so every student has to write about 400 words on the discussion boards every 2 weeks.  If I give the students interesting things to write about (which is easy teaching history) they run with it and many write much more.  I teach 160 students online and every one participates, and gets graded very objectively on their participation.  No way to do that in a lecture hall!

Another thing I love is that online courses make college possible for people who otherwise couldn't get a college education.  This semester I have a student in Iraq and another in Afghanistan (both reservists who got called up in the middle of their education).  I also teach more single mothers than anyone on campus!  

One thing I don't like is the attrition rate.  Has anyone else found this?  I do everything I can to warn students about the rigor of the class and give them tips to succeed, but 25-30% fail to complete the course.  I hate seeing that.

The other thing I dislike is the lack of personal interaction.  No, the truth is I miss having an audience!  My classroom courses feature a lot of jokes and stories.  I miss hearing 40 students laugh at my jokes.  Because it is all about me, you know!

[Dansuri]

Alan wrote:

> How do you conduct the online exams? I'm not saying that your
> online students are cheating. I am just curious and I want to
> know if there are some pointers I can pick up for my future
> class.


My Big Dream is that some day there'll be regulated test sites nation-wide for online students to take a properly proctored exam.

Meanwhile for the online exams:I tell the students, fine it's open book but there is a time limit, so don't count on being able to look up very many answers. I lean the test questions towards comprehension/application of the material rather than rote memorization so that it doesn't bother me if they are using the book anyway. Plus for the online class, the tests cover more material per chapter in comparison to the F2F version.

[Sweetheart]

LarryC, I too have high attrition and mentioned this to my chair the first semester I taught ("Oh my God, they hate me--what am I doing wrong?!")  As I recall, he showed me statistics then current that showed something around 40% as being the national average--slightly above or below that figure, I forget.  But you're right, there are a large number who drop, in my case, often because they just don't have the basic skills (so they'd be dropping a classroom course, too).