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[melba_frilkins]

I teach the same class both face-to-face  and fully online. I just realized that I require more work from my online students. Both sections have basically the same set of quizzes/tests. But the online students are required to post to three discussion topics almost every week. That online discussion participation makes up 20% of their final grade. I do not have mandatory attendance for my lecture class nor any attendance-based grade.

So, I'm thinking is it fair to have that additional requirement for my online students. Why should they have to do that much more work? On the other hand, they have the luxury of open-book tests/quizzes. And for some students, the discussions may provide an opportunity to bring up their grade average in comparison to their test scores alone.

But, should I even be worried about this? The two classes are different, so what? That happens all the time between instructors, what's wrong if it happens between two types of course delivery?

[magistra]

Plus, you have to count in the time that would be spent in class -- 3 hours a week of discussion, which is what the discussion posts are supposed to substitute (more or less).

I wouldn't worry about fairness between the classes.  I think it is a good pick up, though, and it's always worth assessing if you're asking too much or too little of students, thinking about time spent, whether assignments work better with a certain class type, which challenges each class faces, etc.    If it bothers you, next year cut the posts down to 2 per week or have them be shorter.  If it's good for the online class, then it's good for the online class and you leave it.

I think it's a sign of a good teacher that you worry over these things. 

[zuzu_]

Yes, I would say that time spent on online coursework = time spent on in-class coursework + time spent sitting in classroom.

[infopri]

I think it's fine, melba, for all the reasons outlined above.