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[sylence]

Hello,

I have recently returned to the college environment after an extended sabbatical of 24 years and find myself using the on-line classes for ease of access. I have a disability that that makes it difficult to walk and type, so on-line classes have been a blessing to me. However, I have found issues with the way the community college that I am attending addresses students and their needs in the on-line class environment. As a customer who has purchased a very expensive teaching instrument, am I getting my money's worth? This caused me to wonder if the issues that I have are because of my age and the amount of time away from college. Is other students having the same issues - workload of the student, present day mindset of students, am I being treated as a valued customer in the on-line environment. I decided to see if the issues were on both sides of the college experience in dealing with on-line classes. Are teachers/professors having issues with their class workload, existing mindset and methods of teaching, as a teacher/professor are you able to give the true value of knowledge to the customer/student?

I would like to have students, teachers, and professors input on these topics, if you do not mind.

Teachers/Professors:
a)   Is your class workload causing you to be overextended?
b)   Does the on-line teaching environment inhibit you or make it difficult to instruct students? (I ask this from the perspective of how you were taught and those teaching methods)
c)   Do you find that students become an “entity” in the on-line classroom, how do you perceive the student when teaching the on-line class?

Students:
a)   Does the class workload as a whole allow you to see the value in what you are being taught?
b)   What do you think of the current college experience?
c)   As a customer/student, do you think you are getting your money's worth in the on-line environment?

[slinger]

I'm so confused.

[voxprincipalis]

Students:
a)   Does the class workload as a whole allow you to see the value in what you are being taught?
b)   What do you think of the current college experience?
c)   As a customer/student, do you think you are getting your money's worth in the on-line environment?

This is not a forum for students (at least not undergraduates), so you are not likely to get many answers from that perspective.

As a professor, I can tell you that your conflation of "student" and "customer" is worrisome in terms of what it implies about your understanding of the teaching and learning process.

VP

[ahsonek]

Agreed....

Academia customers are the students' first boss after they graduate.  If the student does not have the skills, then we have failed the customer -their boss (in whatever form, in whatever field, with whatever skills that entity needs)

Students are the work in progress - what we are trying to transform, inspire, motivate, educate.

For online- you get out of it what you put into it.  If you are using the same thought process as purchasing a cheap car versus an expensive car, then you need to ask yourself why you are going to college.  Students who think they are academic customers have this perception that they are an empty bottle that needs to be filled.  And, they worry about the perception of how much water we are pouring in.  You are not - your faculty can lead you to the road, show you the map, but you have to do the walking.  If you don't want to do that, then, you have spent alot of money for maps and directions......

[larryc]

You are a student, you are not a customer. That you have the two confused shows that you misunderstand the very nature of higher education.

[infopri]

Tell us the truth:  You're not really a student/customer at all, are you?  You're writing an article.  C'mon, admit it.

[torshi]

I think it would be better to evaluate the quality:price ratio after the course is finished rather than during the semester.   

The extent to which you are getting your money's worth depends on your goals for your education.  If your goal is career-credential-related, then each course's helping you succeed in other courses in a major, the reputation of the program, credit transfer, etc. can be measured against that goal.  If your goal is personal, for example learning more about a topic or developing a skill, then you will have different considerations.  For most students, those goals overlap over a college career but not in every course.  The extent to which you feel valued, or taking the course is a pleasant experience, probably contributes to your motivation, which contributes to your learning and academic achievement (not always the same thing), but they are not the whole of the value of the course. 

I don't know how most of your questions relate to the problem of value. 

[spectacle]

As a customer who has purchased a very expensive teaching instrument, am I getting my money's worth?

I would really like it if you would explain this question.

[infopri]

As a customer who has purchased a very expensive teaching instrument, am I getting my money's worth?

I would really like it if you would explain this question.

I believe sylence is referring to the purchase of the computer via which s/he is obtaining his or her online education:

I have a disability that that makes it difficult to walk and type, so on-line classes have been a blessing to me. However, I have found issues with the way the community college that I am attending addresses students and their needs in the on-line class environment. As a customer who has purchased a very expensive teaching instrument [...]

And I still think s/he's writing an article.

[concordancia]

As a customer who has purchased a very expensive teaching instrument, am I getting my money's worth?

I would really like it if you would explain this question.

I believe sylence is referring to the purchase of the computer via which s/he is obtaining his or her online education:

I have a disability that that makes it difficult to walk and type, so on-line classes have been a blessing to me. However, I have found issues with the way the community college that I am attending addresses students and their needs in the on-line class environment. As a customer who has purchased a very expensive teaching instrument [...]

And I still think s/he's writing an article.

From the leading nature of the questions, one in which the online professors hate online teaching and cannot possibly do a good job because they are overloaded and unable to communicate with their student/consumer entities.

[oldadjunct]

Tell us the truth:  You're not really a student/customer at all, are you?  You're writing an article.  C'mon, admit it.

My money is on an Ed.D dissertation.

[zarathustra]

Marking for hopeful future flashmobbery.

[_touchedbyanoodle_]

Tell us the truth:  You're not really a student/customer at all, are you?  You're writing an article.  C'mon, admit it.

My money is on an Ed.D dissertation.

*wince*

That was my instinct, too.

*pushes EdD coursework under a pile*

Why must others make the rest of us look so, so bad?

[professor_pat]

Bookmarking.

And another vote for an article in progress.

[bigghostdini_tha_don]

You can say that students aren't consumers, but tell that to a kid spending $20k per year to prep for a horrendous job market.  University education has been commodified and that is a shame, but it is what it is.