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[labwench]

I'm starting a TT position this summer (teaching begins in the fall) and am quite happy with the teaching package, etc.  My background is multidisciplinary and I just got a call from another department asking if I would be willing to develop and teach an on-line class for them this fall via a temporary appointment.  The class has been taught before and I would have access to those materials and could use as many I'd like.  The class subject matter is one in which I have expertise and would probably be fun BUT it will be my first semester at this new school and I've no experience teaching on-line - though 2 years of classroom teaching.  It would also allow me to start making contacts in other departments which is a goal of mine.

Any advice from those of you who have taught before?  Should I teach the on-line class?  How much time will I have to put into it over the semester if I get the lectures/classes together over the summer?  If I think about taking it, what issues should I be aware of when it comes time to negotiate?  I'm already thinking about ownership of materials in addition to salary.  My home department is agnostic as to whether I do this, so not an issue. 

[larryc]

Careful. Your #1 priority right now is tenure, and this will not help you earn tenure. On the other hand it will help you build bridges, earn some extra $ (right?) and expand your skill set. Take careful stock of what you need to do to earn tenure and how hard that will be before you say yes.

[infopri]

As you probably already know, the first time you teach any course, it's a time sink.  Doing so online will be a time sink on steroids.  I did this last year.  It was the first time I'd taught this course (although I'd taught one something like it), and I had full access to another professor's teaching materials.  It still took all my time.  Conversations that take three minutes in person take forever, in part because you have to type everything out via email, wait for a response, determine that something you said was somehow misunderstood, type more, etc.  I use an instant-message feature a lot, which helps because the communication is happening in real time, but it's still very time consuming.

Still, if you have everything--all your lectures, all your announcements, all your assignments, all of your explanations concerning everything (grading, common errors, hand-holding tips, etc.)--done in advance, that will help enormously.  Do you have time to do that over the summer and still prepare your regular classes?

BTW, teaching online is radically different from teaching in a classroom.  Be prepared for tried-and-true things not to work, and start thinking about things you might have to do differently to accommodate the fact that your students are geographically distributed and logging in asynchronously.

[bone_gal]

I agree wtih the reasons above, and I wouldn't do it your first semester or year. You need to get settled, into the routine with your primary responsibilities including research (as required). It does take a tremendous amount of time to teach online the first time, and also to build your course (even with the help of previous materials). Ideally you'd also have training to ensure that you know the course management system that you're using as well as issues around online pedagogy (effective teaching online isn't just sticking your in class materials into the computer). If it were me, I'd say that I'm very interested in building these cross-departmental ties but that I need to get settled first, and can I take a rain check for next fall? 

[melba_frilkins]

I too would hesitate. There are so many pieces to teaching online. You have to learn the platform/CMS (Blackboard, ANGEL, Moodle, whichever), you have to actually set up the class for the current semester, you have to figure out the pedagogy of how to offer the course online. Then you have to actually do it.

The pre-semester training and set up will run at least 40-80 hours or much more. Then regular weekly hours per semester.

Generally, I would not recommend taking on anything additional during your first semester that is new to you like that. You've got enough on your plate with the regular bunch of tasks that come with  starting up a new job.

Also, do not consider it at all unless you are certain that you'd have the desire and opportunity to teach online into future semesters (whether that course, or others). There's no way it's worth the training and start-up headaches to teach online one time. It's got to be something you're doing to build on in the future. I'd hesitate to even teach a given class online, if I knew it were only for that one semester. It's just too much work for a one shot deal.

Before jumping into online teaching at any particular school, you'd do well to find out what CMS is in use, is it reliable and stable? Is your campus likely to change platforms in the near future? If change is likely, don't jump in until after the change. (Hint, campuses using WebCT or ANGEL are particularly likely to be changing platforms, sooner or later). Is there decent technical and administrative support for online instructors and students?  

If we haven't scared you away already, your first step is to immediately get technical training for the CMS. Ideally, complete the training before making a final commitment. If such training is not available by early this summer, I'd run the other way. Fast.

--
PS: Congratulations on your new TT position!

[spyzowin]

I'm starting a TT position this summer (teaching begins in the fall) and am quite happy with the teaching package, etc.  My background is multidisciplinary and I just got a call from another department asking if I would be willing to develop and teach an on-line class for them this fall via a temporary appointment.  The class has been taught before and I would have access to those materials and could use as many I'd like.  The class subject matter is one in which I have expertise and would probably be fun BUT it will be my first semester at this new school and I've no experience teaching on-line - though 2 years of classroom teaching.  It would also allow me to start making contacts in other departments which is a goal of mine.

Any advice from those of you who have taught before?  Should I teach the on-line class?  How much time will I have to put into it over the semester if I get the lectures/classes together over the summer?  If I think about taking it, what issues should I be aware of when it comes time to negotiate?  I'm already thinking about ownership of materials in addition to salary.  My home department is agnostic as to whether I do this, so not an issue. 

Will this make a dean happy? Will it win you goodwill votes when your tenure comes up before the institution-wide P&T?

A fully online course takes approximately 150 hours to develop and about the same to teach.  It is a half hour per day, seven day per week commitment.

[infopri]

A fully online course takes approximately 150 hours to develop and about the same to teach.  It is a half hour per day, seven day per week commitment.

150 hours a semester to teach?  Half an hour a day?  What world are you living in??  It takes me that long just to read the (required) discussion posts--and that's before I write any of my own.  Then there's the voluminous email, the real-time chat sessions, grading, administrative tasks... 

Half an hour a day!  <walks away, laughing softly to herself and shaking her head in disbelief>

[charlesr]

One more vote for caution. 

You implied that someone has taught this before.  Why isn't he/she teaching it again?  You are new.  Do others know something that you don't?
 

[spyzowin]

A fully online course takes approximately 150 hours to develop and about the same to teach.  It is a half hour per day, seven day per week commitment.

150 hours a semester to teach?  Half an hour a day?  What world are you living in??  It takes me that long just to read the (required) discussion posts--and that's before I write any of my own.  Then there's the voluminous email, the real-time chat sessions, grading, administrative tasks... 

Half an hour a day!  <walks away, laughing softly to herself and shaking her head in disbelief>

I think you need to be retrained in maintaining an online presence and running an online course.  Who trained you? Does your college maintain any affiliation with Sloan-C?  You're spending way too much time online.

[kedves]

A fully online course takes approximately 150 hours to develop and about the same to teach.  It is a half hour per day, seven day per week commitment.

150 hours a semester to teach?  Half an hour a day?  What world are you living in??  It takes me that long just to read the (required) discussion posts--and that's before I write any of my own.  Then there's the voluminous email, the real-time chat sessions, grading, administrative tasks... 

Half an hour a day!  <walks away, laughing softly to herself and shaking her head in disbelief>

I think you need to be retrained in maintaining an online presence and running an online course.  Who trained you? Does your college maintain any affiliation with Sloan-C?  You're spending way too much time online.

I trust Infopri on the basis of invariably sensible posts over a long period of time, so leaving aside your belligerent manner, I'm curious about your estimate.  I find reading through discussion boards to be time-consuming, too.  Do you not use them?  Are you saying you spend an average of only 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week, on the online courses you teach, including everything you need to do for that course after it is underway--such as grading?  You teach literature, don't you?  I'm trying to figure how this is possible.

[spyzowin]

A fully online course takes approximately 150 hours to develop and about the same to teach.  It is a half hour per day, seven day per week commitment.

150 hours a semester to teach?  Half an hour a day?  What world are you living in??  It takes me that long just to read the (required) discussion posts--and that's before I write any of my own.  Then there's the voluminous email, the real-time chat sessions, grading, administrative tasks... 

Half an hour a day!  <walks away, laughing softly to herself and shaking her head in disbelief>

I think you need to be retrained in maintaining an online presence and running an online course.  Who trained you? Does your college maintain any affiliation with Sloan-C?  You're spending way too much time online.

I trust Infopri on the basis of invariably sensible posts over a long period of time, so leaving aside your belligerent manner, I'm curious about your estimate.  I find reading through discussion boards to be time-consuming, too.  Do you not use them?  Are you saying you spend an average of only 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week, on the online courses you teach, including everything you need to do for that course after it is underway--such as grading?  You teach literature, don't you?  I'm trying to figure how this is possible.

Per course, yes. 1/2 hour per day, 7 days per week. I usually teach one online course per term. The kids average about 400 discussion board posts every two weeks. They write perhaps 2 blog-based peer reviewed essays of 1000 words (with minimum 3 scholarly sources), one research paper of perhaps double that, and have 5 or so multiple choice or short answer tests (for which I use Examview to construct the tests).

There are a lot of theories about how to manage discussion boards, and basically to cut down on tedium, try not to ask anything that provokes an answer, but rather prompt peer discussion. You won't have to intervene often in a thread.

[kedves]

A fully online course takes approximately 150 hours to develop and about the same to teach.  It is a half hour per day, seven day per week commitment.

150 hours a semester to teach?  Half an hour a day?  What world are you living in??  It takes me that long just to read the (required) discussion posts--and that's before I write any of my own.  Then there's the voluminous email, the real-time chat sessions, grading, administrative tasks... 

Half an hour a day!  <walks away, laughing softly to herself and shaking her head in disbelief>

I think you need to be retrained in maintaining an online presence and running an online course.  Who trained you? Does your college maintain any affiliation with Sloan-C?  You're spending way too much time online.

I trust Infopri on the basis of invariably sensible posts over a long period of time, so leaving aside your belligerent manner, I'm curious about your estimate.  I find reading through discussion boards to be time-consuming, too.  Do you not use them?  Are you saying you spend an average of only 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week, on the online courses you teach, including everything you need to do for that course after it is underway--such as grading?  You teach literature, don't you?  I'm trying to figure how this is possible.

Per course, yes. 1/2 hour per day, 7 days per week. I usually teach one online course per term. The kids average about 400 discussion board posts every two weeks. They write perhaps 2 blog-based peer reviewed essays of 1000 words (with minimum 3 scholarly sources), one research paper of perhaps double that, and have 5 or so multiple choice or short answer tests (for which I use Examview to construct the tests).

There are a lot of theories about how to manage discussion boards, and basically to cut down on tedium, try not to ask anything that provokes an answer, but rather prompt peer discussion. You won't have to intervene often in a thread.

How many students are in the class?   1000 words is only about 1 1/2 pages, I think, but don't you also have to read and grade the blog essays?  The paper is about 3-4 pages, then, with perhaps 7 pages per student for the semester.  How many minutes per paper do you spend reading and giving feedback?  How do you grade discussion-board participation, just on did it/didn't or on quality? 

I haven't taught an all-online course yet.  The reason I ask about this is that I teach 4/4 in the classroom, usually with 2 but sometimes with 3 sections of average 90 students per section who are supposed to write 20 pages per student (University requirement).  Even using a rubric and skimming through the papers, and even not meeting the page requirement, it takes a lot of time per section some weeks.  I try to work smart, not hard, but there seems to be a minimum level of time that is hard to reduce.

[infopri]

A fully online course takes approximately 150 hours to develop and about the same to teach.  It is a half hour per day, seven day per week commitment.

150 hours a semester to teach?  Half an hour a day?  What world are you living in??  It takes me that long just to read the (required) discussion posts--and that's before I write any of my own.  Then there's the voluminous email, the real-time chat sessions, grading, administrative tasks... 

Half an hour a day!  <walks away, laughing softly to herself and shaking her head in disbelief>

I think you need to be retrained in maintaining an online presence and running an online course.  Who trained you? Does your college maintain any affiliation with Sloan-C?  You're spending way too much time online.

I trust Infopri on the basis of invariably sensible posts over a long period of time, so leaving aside your belligerent manner, I'm curious about your estimate.  I find reading through discussion boards to be time-consuming, too.  Do you not use them?  Are you saying you spend an average of only 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week, on the online courses you teach, including everything you need to do for that course after it is underway--such as grading?  You teach literature, don't you?  I'm trying to figure how this is possible.

Per course, yes. 1/2 hour per day, 7 days per week. I usually teach one online course per term. The kids average about 400 discussion board posts every two weeks. They write perhaps 2 blog-based peer reviewed essays of 1000 words (with minimum 3 scholarly sources), one research paper of perhaps double that, and have 5 or so multiple choice or short answer tests (for which I use Examview to construct the tests).

There are a lot of theories about how to manage discussion boards, and basically to cut down on tedium, try not to ask anything that provokes an answer, but rather prompt peer discussion. You won't have to intervene often in a thread.

Everything I ask is intended to provoke an answer--via peer discussion.  I don't call that tedium, I call it teaching.  I have done things both ways, with little intervention in the board (just start the discussion and sit back and read, with no further posts from me) and with my participation, and by every measure the latter works better.  Maybe discussion isn't very important in your course.  In my course, the discussion is a critical part of the learning experience, and, I've learned, it needs to be guided.  I don't post a lot, but I do need to read all of the student posts and keep the students going in the right direction, which means I occasionally have to intervene.

I have no exams, but I have research-intensive homework assignments every week that must be hand-constructed (and updated every semester, as they rely on current events) and hand-graded.  My students write two papers, each of which is far more than 1,000 words.  (Most papers run roughly 4,000-7,000 words.)  They also must create oral presentations (which I must then listen to/view before posting them for the rest of the class to access--there's a couple of hours right there), and participate in small groups in a real-time exercise that I moderate (several more hours).  And again, there's email and one-on-one chat sessions, where a lot of teaching takes place.  And there are still the administrative tasks.

I have no idea who Sloan-C is, but my school was one of the first in the country to offer distance education (we started almost 20 years ago), and we have been a model for other schools.  I think we know what we're doing.  Frankly, if you admitted to anyone in my school that you spent only half an hour a day on your online class, you'd find yourself not teaching online again in the future.

[nordicexpat]

Amnirov is referring to The Sloan Consortium. Refreshing my memory a bit, I did find on that a site a study that suggests that teaching an online course with 25 students required 3-7 hours per week. This included reading and responding to emails, participating in 10 online discussions, and and grading 15 assignments. 

I think a lot of this may be discipline specific as well as how ambitious you want to be in an online course. My own classes take much more time that that, but that is because I produce a lot of interactive activities and quizzes that incorporates audio and video, my quizzes also give specific feedback and tutorials when questions are answered incorrectly, etc., etc.  If you go to industry standards, I have seen a ration of 35 hours of preparation for every hour of elearning and that number can jump as high as 750:1 for simulations from scratch (but no academic would ever spend this much time designing things).

[nordicexpat]

Sorry, those links didn't work. I thought I knew how to embed links. The link to the study concerning the time it takes to teach an online courses is here

I just figured out how to do it correctly, and should have previewed before posting. 

Nordic