Online classes have become the bane of my existence. They are the "instruction of the future" as most colleges and universities now see it and push a need for increased interest in online courses. There are benefits to offering online courses for students. They provide a method of instruction that otherwise might be unavailable due to work, location or life. There are those students that are prepared and able to take online courses and succeed at doing so. However, there is another side - one that limits the quality of instruction and ability or readiness of students who take the courses. Simply put - many of the students taking online courses shouldn't.
They are not motivated enough or prepared to take a class that requires managing oneself and one's learning. Besides the detriment I see in online classes to many students, it is often my least favorite class to teach. I teach normal classes as well as the online and while I don't mind teaching a online class each semester, when I get stuck teaching more online than regular courses I always groan. Online classes are more work and both the students and I get less out of them. As much as I try, and as much as I change concepts and implementation each semester, the same points that hit home in regular courses are lost to students in my online classes.
What is most tiring however, and the reason for this post, is the incessant complaints and bitching that occurs in online courses that is always absent in my other classes. They bitch and moan about everything. There is this preconceived notion that online classes are easier and they are shocked when it requires actual work. They have done nothing but complain about the paper, "there is no direction, you did not provide examples, you did not answer my question, the comments on the paper were useless, etc."
And it pisses me off. I provide so many different options in attempt to help them succeed, all of which take time and effort and while the regular classes seem to appreciate and use it, the online classes just want to bitch about it. I provide a thesis statement broken down so they can see how to create one, an example paper, tips for writing, words to avoid and an audio paper discussion. They submitted their thesis statement for me to look at ahead of time and I require a rewrite of the paper so they can improve on their original grade. And what do they do? They bitch.
I'm done. I am so ready to tell them where to shove it and take the rewrite away for the second paper. They can just submit it once and fail for all I care at this point. I am tired of the online classes and the students it attracts.
Yup.
ReplyDeleteI like teaching online and I think it's important -- it can be beneficial to many non-traditional students and I'm glad online learning is an option.
But there is a real perception that it's easy or easier. The dirty secret is that it's harder for both prof and student. One has to be motivated and on the ball. Many online students are not. Of course, many students in general are not either.
I just scan the messages I get for question marks. If there's a question, I answer it ("That's on page 2" "That's on the syllabus" "See the file named XYZ" "Yes, you need to cite that). If there's no question, I ignore it or I say, "Thanks for letting me know."
Besides the complaints, I get more lies, too. That or my students are super unlucky -- so many hospital visits, sick parents, sick kids, sick pets, broken computers, broken cars, 60 hour work weeks....Happens a lot more to my online students than to my face-to-face ones.
I think a contributing factor to the poor performance and nonstop griping of online students is the way colleges recruit them. My college attracts working parents by emphasizing the "flexibility" of online classes. And yes, for some students, this is a great benefit. Those are the students who have a fairly reliable chunk of time each week to devote to the class, are disciplined in their work habits, and are willing to take a reasonable number of credit hours per term.
ReplyDeleteOf course, 95% of the students misinterpret the flexibility argument to mean that ANY time they have a work-related of child-care issue, they MUST be excused from their schoolwork. And if I deduct points from an essay for a weak or missing thesis statement, I get screamed at for not "accommodating" a student who has three toddlers at home, works full time, is taking three college classes at once, and can't possibly be expected to turn her attention to something as petty as a clearly-stated argument.
If I suggest that they drop the class until they can better manage their time, I'm a monster devoted to crushing their dreams.
They all begin the term talking the same inspiring talk about being "willing to do what it takes to succeed," and other brochure-worthy, working-class-hero blather. But when the slightest bit of effort is required to overcome even the tiniest of obstacles, then I the professor must lower or alter my expectations, because "failure is not an option" and clearly, their failure is my fault.
Somebody here once likened this sort of rhetoric to what you see on performance-competition shows (I forget which shows--American Idol, Project Runway or the like), and that really struck a chord with me. This habit students have of demanding rewards because they "worked really hard" or "care a lot" is insidious, and I think it may be even worse for online instructors for all the reasons Arete mentions.
I did an on-line class. ONCE.
ReplyDeleteThe topic was kind of interesting, but... at some points, simple(!) math was involved and quite a few of the folks were clueless about basic numerical relationships. The purpose wasn't to teach them math, but to teach them about a certain aspect of budget/finance. It would have been tough for some of the folks in a classroom with me at a whiteboard, but much, much tougher trying to respond to questions asynchronously.
This particular university is a traditional institution, but wants to expand enrollment for non-traditionals. That's nice, but keep your standards up.
Unless, of course, we're talking about increasing enrollment to increase revenue. Which we are.
Online classes are not and will never be the equivalent of face-to-face classes, but I've accepted that they are going to exist, and have jumped on the bandwagon because of the regular faculty refuse to teach them, who will?
ReplyDeleteBut there is rampant plagiarism and drop-outs. The university doesn't mind, because a student that has to take the class over again pays twice. Or three times.
The real problem is that the advertisement of classes "on your own time" lures students in, but it won't eliminate the total amount of time required, which is what students are hoping. It's still 2 hours out of class for every hour in--which means in a regular semester that's about eight hours per class. I taught an online course in four weeks this summer, and made it very clear that the course would require a minimum of 27 hours a week. 27 hours. The "go to school in your pajamas" thing can't actually create more time.
The standards of these programs are low and they're infesting existing bricks and mortar universities. The chair of one department on the other side of my campus, who is piloting an all-online degree program in his discipline, tried to hire someone with a B.A. to teach online. These people don't care about qualifications.
I'm not that worried about my university because the accrediting organization will kick in the nuts of anyone that's doin' it rong. We're in the process of cutting the legs out from under this sleazy chair, but why we hired him I don't know.
Yes, I do know. Administrators were salivating over the thought of increased enrollment from all over the world, enrollment which has turned out to be completely negligible.
Idiots.
I took PreCal online at the community college I attended. It was insanely difficult. Math not being my strong point anyway, I struggled much more with this class than with a more traditional one. Luckily for me, since the class was attached to a brick-and-mortar school, I could go to the professor's office hours and get more help. Usually, having him explain the concepts verbally made things click the way reading his lectures didn't.
ReplyDeleteMy husband's currently working on his PhD by taking online classes, and he's frustrated because he feels like the professors aren't actually teaching; they assign reading and discussion board posts, but never have lectures or anything. I don't know how common this is, but he's afraid his PhD isn't going to count for much if it's common knowledge that that's how this particular school is run.
Like Snarky, I took a nightmarish course online in a particular set of technical software. It was horrible.
ReplyDeleteI've never taught an online class. This is going to sound like a totally stupid question, but when you do it, do you videotape yourself lecturing and put it online? I ask only because I can imagine the "not reading" problem increasing exponentially if students had to read lecture notes.
I also wonder if there will come a time in the evaluation review process where we, as faculty, will be allowed to present those piles of emails in which students ask for information already given as evidence of our own attempts to interface with students who can't be bothered.
BlackDog - No I don't video my lectures. I don't have time. Ideally at least an audio version of the lecture they could listen to for each week would be nice, but while I get a few out I quickly fall behind with the constant discussion board grading and questions, emails and ultimately paper and exam assignments. I also tend to change the structure of the online courses each semester, tweaking what I don't like which doesn't do myself any favors when it comes to time.
ReplyDeleteIt is not so much an issue for papers, but it does become clear at exam time who has actually been reading the lectures and who has never opened them.
Forgotten Corner State University has jumped on the online learning bandwagon. Unlike the rest of my department (who have shown some sense), I decided to teach a course. I spent more time preparing this course than I have for any other in my 18-year teaching career. I taught it twice, and will never do it again.
ReplyDeleteFCSU, in trying to convince more faculty to play along, has compiled statistics that show that students do not drop out of online courses at a higher rate than face-to-face courses. From my experience, they don't drop out, they just disappear. They sign up, do nothing, and fail. All while I'm trying to reach them to schedule exam times, stimulate discussion, and communicate the essence of the material. I would send out emails, and …. *crickets*. I would post announcements, and … *crickets*. I would don a miniskirt and play the cheerleader for the discussion boards, and … *crickets*.
Two or three of the students played along and actually learned the basics of the course, but only two or three students (out of 15) cannot maintain an asynchronous discussion; nor should they be expected to.
FCSU doesn't have the infrastructure set up to support online teaching -- the students have to pay a fee to take an exam in the testing center, even if it's for a course offered by FCSU. There is no office dedicated to distributing exams to students at off-campus sites, so I was responsible for sending exams hither and yon, and collecting them back again. I spent so much time managing the course that I didn't feel at all like I was teaching it. Too much time spent screaming into the void. Never again.
I think there's a meaningful connection between the things people write on ESPN.com but would never say in the same conversation at a local sports bar and the SHIIIIITE that comes out in online courses that students would never say to a professor's face or to fellow classmates.
ReplyDeleteThere's something empowering about a computer, where you can be a little shithead without having to see the reaction of someone. So they send shithead emails, they give shithead emails, and they correct the grammar of their classmates rather than responding to the content of a post.
Shitheads. I'm about 10 seconds from blowing up the server of my online obligations. (Equivalent to blowing up the classroom, right?)