Designing
Phaedus asks: Many teachers complain that on-line courses are more work than classroom based courses. Do you think that’s really true?
Speaking from the teacher’s point of view, I would have to say that any course can be more work depending on how much feed back you give students, how many grades you assign, and how much communication you have with your students. I would have to say that that would depend on the teacher’s preference. A good course does all of the above!!!My classes keep me very busy planning and preparing activities, not to mention grading assessments and posting to STI for 150 students.
Speaking from a student point of view, I would have to say that in comparison to the only other on-line class (British Literature 2004) that I have taken, this class has been more work than any classroom based course or on-line course that I have taken. The majority of my classes have been lecture/discussion one night per week with a homework assignment to turn in for a grade, repeated each week without fail. Therefore, this class has really been totally time consuming in comparison. Since I don’t get to do very much of my writing through the week, due to the workload of my “day job”, my weekends are spent almost totally on the computer or reading. So yes, I do think that’s true.
I see where you are coming from. Most all of my online classes (which I’ve taken many) have followed the same pattern… discussion board, quizzes, papers, exam. For graduate English classes it wasn’t so bad, except I really missed sitting in a circle to hash out a literary work. It has taken me awhile to get used to the flow of this class. But now that I’m in the groove a little better, I think it’s more conducive to the what we are doing in our classroms, and what we plan to do.
Kim Dearing
October 2, 2007
I too agree that this class is set up for learning. The work we do has a specific purpose and it is working. From day one we have been engaged and learning continues.
gnewsome
October 2, 2007