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Asynchronous (online) learning is all the rage by almost all universities. Most have developed online courses for economic reasons - in order to extend the reach of the university, and to teach more courses and students without expanding the physical footprint of the university.
What concerns me is whether we are losing something by teaching so many courses in an online fashion. I have talked to many students who have said to me: "online courses are a joke", or "I prefer to meet with the faculty member face-to-face". Do you know of any studies about the efficacy of online vs. in-class teaching? Is one clearly better than the other? Is the trade-off too expansive, given what is lost from the class experience? Also, what about the integrity of 'closed-book', but physically unsupervised testing?
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There is a rich literature in many disciplines (business, education, psychology, information technology, etc.) developing on this subject matter. If you are a premium member of MNR, you can use the Tools - Literature Review and Citation Analyzer to get additional sources.
Here is a sampling of recent citations to begin:
Anwar Y Salimi. (2007). The Promise and Challenges for Distance Education in Accounting. Strategic Finance, 88(7), 19-20,53. Retrieved June 8, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1214846451).
Berlin Fang. (2007). A PERFORMANCE-BASED DEVELOPMENT MODEL FOR ONLINE FACULTY. Performance Improvement, 46(5), 17-24. Retrieved June 8, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1613096461).
Damien Hutchinson. (2007). Teaching Practices for Effective Cooperative Learning in an Online Learning Environment (OLE). Journal of Information Systems Education, 18(3), 357-367. Retrieved June 8, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1383369211).
Sonja A Irlbeck. (2008). IMPLEMENTATION OF BEST PRACTICES FOR ONLINE TEACHING AND LEARNING IN AN ONLINE INSTITUTION. Performance Improvement, 47(10), 25-29. Retrieved June 8, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1717831561).
Beth L Hewett, Christa Ehmann Powers. (2007). Guest Editors' Introduction: Online Teaching and Learning: Preparation, Development, and Organizational Communication. Technical Communication Quarterly, 16(1), 1-11. Retrieved June 8, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1298321631).
Charlene A Dykman, Charles K Davis. (2008). Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience. Journal of Information Systems Education, 19(3), 281-289. Retrieved June 8, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1563618901).
Charlene A Dykman, Charles K Davis. (2008). Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus Teaching Conventionally. Journal of Information Systems Education, 19(2), 157-164. Retrieved June 8, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1550276871).
Charlene A Dykman, Charles K Davis. (2008). Part One - The Shift Toward Online Education. Journal of Information Systems Education, 19(1), 11-16. Retrieved June 8, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1465593551).
Chiara Gratton-Lavoie, Denise Stanley. (2009). Teaching and Learning Principles of Microeconomics Online: An Empirical Assessment. Journal of Economic Education, 40(1), 3-25. Retrieved June 8, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1645335191).
Michael Henderson, Scott Bradey. (2008). Shaping online teaching practices :The influence of professional and academic identities. Campus - Wide Information Systems, 25(2), 85-92. Retrieved June 8, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1462862891).
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I have taught online courses extensively and have found that there are three interactions you have to pay attention for successful online class:
1) learner-content interaction,
2) learner-instructor interaction, and
3) learner-learner interaction.
I typically try to ensure that all three forms of interaction are maximized in their course structure.
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I agree with these three relationships. The problem is some of the tools used online sites are pretty horrible. For example we use Bbvista at my university. The threaded discussion feature is pretty bad. Has anybody got any experiences to share?
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Good point about threaded discussions Wiki. I had problems with this for years. In my experience one of the primary ways to encourage participation in an online setting is via threaded discussions. However the way its setup, makes it totally ineffective. Let me explain.
1. Its acts as a silo per week, rather than encourage discussion across weeks.
2. Its looks rather static, and the sub threads is so difficult to navigate
3. Its really boring to look at.
I am trying something different this summer. I am using a blog to encorgae participation in my online graduate classes. I'll tell you how it goes!
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I have to agree with your statement about BBVista. The threads are very user-unfriendly and are a pain to use. How can you complete a post when you cannot see the whole thread, such as is provided here?
I should also modify my earlier comments about asynchronous learning and state that they are limited to courses where you test. For corporate training, which I do a lot of, it can be much more effective. First, there is no testing, so that's taken out of the equation. Second, the material is much more hands on and structured. As long as it is synchronous, you have voice and can share screens and whiteboards, corporate training can be very well done using online training tools.
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jallen001 wrote:What concerns me is whether we are losing something by teaching so many courses in an online fashion. I have talked to many students who have said to me: "online courses are a joke", or "I prefer to meet with the faculty member face-to-face". Do you know of any studies about the efficacy of online vs. in-class teaching? Is one clearly better than the other? Is the trade-off too expansive, given what is lost from the class experience? Also, what about the integrity of 'closed-book', but physically unsupervised testing? I have used asynchronous learning to conduct corporate training. It can be quite effective if the appropriate tools are used and these tools are getting more sophisticated by the day. Full videoconferencing with electronic whiteboards provide a rich spectrum of communication channels. Voice, video, and screen sharing for slides allow for very effective and responsive training. However, even with great reviews, I always find attendees commenting on how an in-person class might have been even better. Of course, it would also have been more expensive! 
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We need to understand that online teaching is yet in its infancy. It is likely to become one of the significant teaching methods of the future, especially as the infrastructure that supports it becomes increasingly more capable. I can see a time in the more distant future when distance learning becomes the norm, with face-to-face teaching as an elitist system, sought out for its prestige only by those who can afford it.
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Guest wrote:We need to understand that online teaching is yet in its infancy. It is likely to become one of the significant teaching methods of the future, especially as the infrastructure that supports it becomes increasingly more capable. I can see a time in the more distant future when distance learning becomes the norm, with face-to-face teaching as an elitist system, sought out for its prestige only by those who can afford it. I view online teaching as part of the arms race between schools to expand their markets and reduce costs. If everyone is doing it and reaching into your traditional market, you have to do the same or go out of business. In addition, it is a clear efficiency and cost saver to conduct online classes, as you no longer have to provide buildings (including heating and cooling), parking spaces and so on. It is much cheaper to deliver an online class than an in-class one. Therefore, online classes are likely to expand dramatically in years to come.
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I think in the future online classes will be more like web conferencing where both students and the lecturer will be LIVE at the same time - a real distant learning. Same idea was being used years ago in developing countries using radio frequencies to reach students leaving in the outskirts of traditional schools.
But as mentioned by previous posts, online classes are in their infancy. Technology already exists that can provide high interactive class what is lacking is the ability for all students to afford this technology.
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I was wondering what you thought about classes being held in the Virtual world such as Secondlife . As stated on their website: "SL is a free online virtual world imagined and created by its Residents. From the moment you enter Second Life, you'll discover a fast-growing digital world filled with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity"  It is a creative means to deliver course content. Our university has its own island and created many of the buildings. The challenge we faced was with students not having computers with the minimum install requirements. I felt we needed to spend quite a bit of time training students to be comfortable in SL before they could actually start using it to learn the course online
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The network support/capability is also a problem. If you have an entire class on SL or any other site, there is a possibility of slowing or crashing the network. So not only do students need the equipment and training, but the facility must have the capability.
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Couldn't agree more! I've been foiled in several lectures because the network went down, even something as simple as a video clip. Just be ready for technical failure and have something ready to do. Of course the students always vote for an early end to classes.
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Past the technical support issue. Do you think that a viable course work can be created around 2L? I can understand asking students to setup Avatars and making them do certain course related tasks.
But I wonder whether the students will take anything away from the course. 2L may become larger than the content of the course using it. More time will probably be spent getting used to the environment before they can actually start working.
If used, I would think it should be maybe a summer project for under-grads and once they are back for Fall courses could use 2L as a tool.. your thoughts?
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Guest wrote:If used, I would think it should be maybe a summer project for under-grads and once they are back for Fall courses could use 2L as a tool.. your thoughts?
Lidya, I couldn't agree with you more. The summer project means that they'll be past the "gee-whiz"..."what a cool simulation!" phase and ready to actually work and learn. The novelty will have worn off. Wikipedia states that over 300 universities teach courses in 2L, so the body of experience there is growing. But back to your idea - I think it is an excellent one.
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The above begs the question - where would one start?
Would that be something that you forward to the Department Chair(Head)and they bring it up with the Dean? I am new at the academic process and would be interested to know how such things actually work?
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I found an interesting study that found that community colleges were more receptive to candidates with an online PhD than universities. Here's a quote by the author, Dr. Leon Guendoo, "Those with online PhD’s stand a better chance of being hired by a community college than by other colleges or universities when seeking a faculty position. In a 2007 study, administrators of some of the largest community colleges in the United States indicated that they were receptive to hiring applicants with online doctorates for teaching positions once the candidate possessed the “total package elements,” namely teaching experience, publications, presentations, and demonstrated professional service. The investigation of the community college perspective on possible institutional bias surrounding the online doctorate was prompted by an earlier study which concluded that those applying for faculty positions in higher education institutions would have only a slim chance of obtaining employment if they had earned their doctorate solely online. Despite concerns about accreditation, face-to-face interaction, academic experience, mentoring, faculty preparation, and diploma mills, the group community college administrators in this Delphi study overwhelmingly confirmed that they did not view the online doctoral credential as a disadvantage to the candidate in a hiring situation."
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