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May 31, 2006
On-Line Course: Some initial concerns
Categories: Classes
(Although this and subsequent entries about my on-line course are in the "classes" category, I'd like to hear comments from anyone -- students, general readers, whomever -- about my process. Any dialog will only make the course better).
This summer, I've been asked by the Department to work on developing a wholly on-line version of EDUC 670 -- Schooling in American Society. I am also teaching a face-to-face section of the course this summer as well, so that dovetails nicely.
In the past, I have been leery of on-line instruction. I've never taken a course on-line, nor taught one, but my worries stemmed from anecdotal reports and some conceptual concerns. These concetns included:
1. The impersonal nature of the course. With a lack of face-to-face interaction, the instructor would never really get to know her students, nor would the students know each other. This lack of contact would stifle dialog and discussion, as well as develop passivity in students.
2. Instructor-Centered course. Again, because of the lack of face to face contact, students would become passive consumers of information presented by the instructor in various forms. Students would accept new information, then be assessed on that information, without really engaging with the ideas and/or issues. The instructor would have all the power in the class situation. It would be the typical "knowledge transmission" format of instruction, exacerbated by the distance and impersonal nature of the on-line environment.
My concerns were exacerbated by the subject matter of the course. I'm teaching philosophy, sociology, and history of education. The primary activites of those foundational subjects are reading, thinking, talking, and writing. On-line instruction makes "talking" difficult, so that leaves reading, thinking, and writing. "Thinking" is usually seen as an indivdiual activity -- something that goes on inside the head of the student. Thus, "thinking" gets assessed or demonstrated by either talking or writing. I've already taken talking off the list, so that leaves reading and writing. It would be easy to develop a course that has the basic structure of "Student reads X. Student writes a response/critique/reflection on X. Instructor grades writing. Repeat." I don't think that course structure would be very successful.
Thankfully, there are resources (conceptual, technological, and instructional) I can draw upon to create a course that does not have that passive structure. Investigating those resoruces is the next phase of the course development.
Posted by Nakia at May 31, 2006 10:45 AM