Teaching at an Internet Distance:
the Pedagogy of Online Teaching and Learning
The Report
of a 1998-1999
University
of Illinois Faculty Seminar
December
7, 1999
Table of Contents
1) Origin
and Objectives of Seminar.......................................................................................... 5
2) The
Present Status of Online Instruction................................................................................ 9
A Survey
of Online Programs and Resources........................................................................... 10
Adverse
Faculty Reaction....................................................................................................... 16
3) An
Overview of Online Teaching and Learning....................................................................... 20
Types of
Online Education...................................................................................................... 20
Types of
Online Students....................................................................................................... 22
4)
Elements of Good Teaching................................................................................................ 24
Traditional
Classroom Teaching.............................................................................................. 24
Online
Pedagogy................................................................................................................... 27
5)
Teaching Evaluation........................................................................................................... 34
A Survey
of Online Evaluation Literature................................................................................... 34
Critical
Questions for Evaluation.............................................................................................. 37
6)
Ancillary Concerns............................................................................................................. 43
7)
Conclusions and Recommendations.................................................................................... 49
Footnote............................................................................................................................... 52
Bibliography.......................................................................................................................... 53
Appendix ˆ
TID Seminar Syllabus............................................................................................ 58
Summary
In response to faculty concern about the implementation of
technology for teaching, a year-long faculty seminar was convened during the
1998-99 academic year at the University of Illinois. The seminar consisted of
16 members from all three University of Illinois campuses (Chicago,
Springfield, and Urbana-Champaign) and was evenly split, for the sake of
scholarly integrity, between "skeptical" and "converted"
faculty.
The seminar focussed almost entirely on pedagogy. It did not
evaluate hardware or software, nor did it discuss how to provide access to
online courses or how to keep them secure. Rather, the seminar sought to
identify what made teaching to be good teaching, whether in the classroom or
online. External speakers at the leading edge of this discussion also provided
pro and con views.
The seminar concluded that online teaching and learning can
be done with high quality if new approaches are employed which compensate for
the limitations of technology, and if professors make the effort to create and maintain
the human touch of attentiveness to their students. Online courses may be
appropriate for both traditional and non-traditional students; they can be used
in undergraduate education, continuing education, and in advanced degree
programs. The seminar participants thought, however, that it would be
inappropriate to provide an entire undergraduate degree program online.
Participants concluded that the ongoing face-to-face
interaction between teacher and students, and among students themselves, was an
integral part of a university education. Because high quality online teaching
is time and labor intensive, it is not likely to be the income source
envisioned by some administrators. Teaching the same number of students online
at the same level of quality as in the classroom requires more time and money.
From our fundamental considerations of pedagogy we have
prepared a list of practice-oriented considerations for professors who might be
interested in teaching online, and another list for administrators considering
expanding online course offerings.
Practical Considerations for Faculty:
i) Whom do I teach? (Sections 2,3) The fraction of „non-traditional students is not as high as some
make it out to be, but is still significant. Stemming from the baby boomlet,
the number of young, „traditional students will be as high or higher than ever
through the next decade. Many contexts of online course delivery, for
professional training/continuing education, undergraduate education, and
graduate education for both traditional and nontraditional students, are
viable. There are several exceptions: first, certain types of advanced graduate
work cannot be performed online, and second, traditional students benefit from
the maturing, socializing component of an undergraduate college education and
this requires an on-campus presence.
ii) How do I teach? (Sections 4,5) Attempts are being made to use instructional technology such as
real-time two-way videoconferencing in efforts to simulate the traditional
classroom. With improvements in technology this mode may yet succeed, but from
what we have seen, the leaders in this area recommend shifts from „traditional
teaching paradigms. Two new online paradigms that appear to work well are
text-based computer mediated communication (CMC) for courses that are
traditionally taught in the discussion or seminar mode, and interactive,
graphically based material for courses that are traditionally taught in the
lecture mode. Methods are by no means limited to these two.
iii) How many do I teach? (Section 5) High quality teaching online requires
smaller student/faculty ratios. The shift from the classroom to online has been
described as a shift from „efficiency to quality. We also believe a motivational
human touch must come into play as well in the online environment, as it does
in the traditional classroom. Students should feel they are members of a
learning community and derive motivation to engage in the material at hand from
the attentiveness of the instructor.
iv) How do I ensure high quality of online teaching?
(Sections 2, 6, 7) Quality is best
assured when ownership of developed materials remains in the hands of faculty
members. The University of Illinois‚ Intellectual Property Subcommittee Report
on Courseware Development and Distribution recommends that written agreement
between the courseware creator and the administration be made in advance of any
work performed. Evaluation of learning effectiveness is also a means to ensure
high quality. We suggest a broad array of evaluation areas that includes, but
is not limited to, a comparison of learning competence with the
traditional classroom.
Policy Issues for Administrators:
i) How do I determine the worth of teaching technology?
(Sections 1, 2) On any issue involving
pedagogy, faculty members committed to teaching should have the first and last
say. On the other hand, faculty must be held responsible for good teaching.
Online courses should not be motivated by poor instructor performance in large
classes.
ii) How do I encourage faculty to implement technology in
their teaching? (Section 7) Teaching
innovation should be expected, respected, and rewarded as an important
scholarly activity. At the same time, not all classes are amenable to online
delivery. To ensure the quality of a course, it is essential that
knowledgeable, committed faculty members continue to have responsibility for
course content and delivery. Therefore, intellectual property policies should
allow for faculty ownership of online courseware. The commissioning of courses
from temporary instructors should be avoided, and the university should be wary
of partnerships with education providers in which faculty member have
commercial interests.
iii) Will I make money with online teaching? (Sections 3,
5) The scenario of hundreds or
thousands of students enrolling in a well developed, essentially
instructor-free online course does not appear realistic, and efforts to do so
will result in wasted time, effort, and expense. With rare exceptions, the
successful online courses we have seen feature low student to faculty ratios.
Quality usually doesn’t come cheaply: sound online instruction is likely to
cost more than traditional instruction. Some students may be willing to pay
more for the flexibility and perhaps better instruction of high quality online
courses. This appears to be the case for a number of graduate level
business-related schools. However, it is likely that a high number of
„traditional students, will continue to want to pay for a directly attentive
professor and the on-campus social experience.
iv) How do I determine if online teaching is successful?
(Sections 5, 6) We think that a
rigorous comparison of learning competence with traditional classrooms can and
should be done. High quality online teaching is not just a matter of
transferring class notes or a videotaped lecture to the Internet; new paradigms
of content delivery are needed. Particular features to look for in new courses
are the strength of professor-student and student-student interactions, the
depth at which students engage in the material, and the professor‚s and
students‚ access to technical support. Evidence of academic maturity, such as
critical thinking and synthesis of different areas of knowledge should be
present in more extensive online programs.