CS 201 Final Project
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Megan Bela, Ruth Costa, Michael Lyubomirskiy, Andre Pech |
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The Future of Education Onlineó Online Distance Education |
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Online Classes Often Lack a Structure Appropriate for the Medium ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ One of the major problems with online distance education currently is the prevalence of e-learning classes that have arisen from traditional classes as an easy way of providing access to a larger student population.Ý These classes are generally administered by the same professor who teaches the face-to-face class, and basically consist in throwing traditional course content onto the online medium.Ý Without the careful development of a pedagogy specifically tailored to the online medium, this becomes the equivalent of dumping a pile of textbooks on a studentís desk and calling that a class.Ý While extremely motivated and self-disciplined students can flourish in this environment, particularly for students who are accustomed to physical courses, the lack of structure encourages laziness.Ý Even in classes that offer an online discussion component or e-office hours from the instructor, compared to in-person conversation this seems a time-consuming and cumbersome method of interaction. All Participants Underestimate the Resources Required ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ In addition to the necessity for planning specifically for the online medium, to be successful, online courses also require a more significant instructor commitment than people originally realize.Ý For example, when Professor Kay Vandergrift decided to teach an online class on Gender and Culture in Childrenís Picture Books she found that ìThe most striking change when this course moved from a physical to a virtual space was the increased amount of time required of both students and faculty.îÝ Even after working to develop a structure for the online version of the course, the instructor spent an hour every day tracking student progress to identify by the midpoint ìstudents who ignored the illustrations in their discussions of picture books or those who seldom backed up personal opinions with any sort of evidenceî (Vandergrift)Ý She eventually found it necessary to develop a complicated system to analyze every student comment, numbering them and cataloguing responses to find patterns in student postings.Ý Vandergrift also observed that, while distance students seemed to accept the amount of work required to follow the online discussion, local students who were attending other classes at the physical university had to be prodded to participate.Ý This implies that, for students with access to both face-to-face and online education opportunities, the traditional courses were serving them more effectively. Technological Barriers Inhibit Both Instructors and Students ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ While there is a widespread impression that todayís students are born of the ìdigital ageî and are much more computer savvy than the generation before them, the majority of enrollment in distance education courses is through community colleges, who traditionally serve a widely varied population that includes people without access to other educational opportunities (Bower).Ý Because of this, learning the technologies necessary for full participation in the online course can be a significant obstacle to some students.Ý To give a sense of the scale of these issues, students with computer proficiency barely sufficient to access the course website might be required to access and learn to use videoconferencing equipment in order to participate in live discussion.Ý In addition to problems learning to use the technology, insufficient technical support can stall classes when technology fails.Ý For example, if the course relies on one site for discussion, network interruptions and connection problems make trying to access the class frustrating and result in a poor learning experience.Ý Online courses need a maintenance structure just as surely as do physical buildings. |
