I had surgery a week ago and all the research and reading I thought I'd get done turned out to be a total bust because I've pretty much spent the week in a haze of pain, painkillers, and anesthesia induced nausea. During my time off of work, I struggled to do any school work, or to concentrate on anything school related. Yet, I did manage to complete a small paper, take a test, and offer a few responses to my classmates work. I didn't feel so bad when I realized that my Creative Writing teacher has not been in since July 20th. On July 20th my professor promised to respond to numerous assignments that week, and yet, nothing. I've decided that I'm going to email her and make sure she isn't having anymore"technical difficulties."
So, the other day I came across an article in The Chronicle about how community college students fail more online learning classes than in person classes, and are less likely to graduate. This doesn't surprise me, but some of the comments pissed me off. I'm particularly prone to being pissed off given that I've had such a difficult time with an online course this semester, and I've come to see how difficult it is for students to succeed when a professor decides to go AWOL throughout the entire semester. Some commentators like to point out how many students just aren't as technically savvy as they're alleged to be.
First of all let me say "DUH" and "not so fast!" My DUH comes from knowing that a lot of students taking online courses are ADULT LEARNERS of all different ages. Some of them did not grow up with the internet or texting. And as one commentator pointed out, many people who don't end up in the brick and mortar environment are not people from wealthy or privileged background, and thus they may be less likely to have grown up using the latest technology. BUT without online courses THEY WOULD NOT AND COULD NOT BE THERE.
My NOT SO FAST comes from the fact that many of my professors are the ones completely clueless to technology. My constantly MIA professor has never articulated where she'd be keeping any course materials, and her syllabus is written to be creatively absurd and obtuse, rather than being helpful or providing any understanding of where to find course materials.
Following a long period of silence and no assignments, I found a message to us explaining our professor's long absence by clicking buttons at random. Where this message was located was not even a place that she regularly updated and when I copied and pasted the instructions to our message board another student asked me where I had found them, thanked me for posting them, and said that she would not have seen them otherwise. I've had a course with this student before and I can assure any asshole detractor out there that she is not a technologically inept slacker.
This course has been a complete nightmare. The near constant absence of my professor has hindered my learning at every turn. But what really gets to me is that this is a professor that is so beloved by her face-to-face students, but if it wasn't for teaching awards and ratemyprofessor.com I'd never have guessed it.
So, the way I see it there are numerous issues. The first issue is difficulty with technology. On one hand, this may largely be the fault of the learning institution that fails to adequately train their teachers. But on the other hand, teachers should take the initiative to learn the technology on their own. After all, every online student is told they need to be "independent self starters," so it's reasonable to expect online instructors to take the same initiatives expected of students.
The second issue to me seems to be that *some* professors confuse "flexibility" with never having to attend courses. An online course allows me the flexibility to "attend" at two in the morning, but it does not mean I don't have to show up, do the work, and engage my fellow classmates in discussions. A professor telling me that they've been on vacation all week and thus haven't been available (of course mentioning this after the fact is especially priceless) is not going to cut it. I have no problem when a professor tells me ahead of time that they're going to be on the road for the day and thus can't be reached, but to say that you can't be bothered for a whole week or two is a bit ridiculous. Get a blackberry or a laptop and take it with you if you must take extended vacations when class is in session. And if you're a professor that tells students to communicate and also makes it clear that there are "NO EXCEPTIONS" to certain course requirements and due dates, then I am going to find this hypocritical behavior particularly insulting.
Are there students that confuse "flexibility" with not having to attend or participate? Of course, and the consequence is failure.
Not having a professor participate or grade assignments in a timely fashion makes it difficult to learn because without grades or comments a student can be on the wrong track and have no idea. It also puts so much of the learning process on the shoulders of students. If all of my classmates were intelligent and engaged learners then I wouldn't mind so much, because when I'm in a class with a high number of intelligent students my experience is more valuable, but sadly that is not always the case. If I'm in a course where I'm supposed to learn by discussing our course topics with a student who refuses to believe that the FCC is a government agency, then how am I supposed to learn from that or ever develop a factually accurate, let alone meaningful, dialogue?
If a professor isn't there to provide guidance, or credibility, then we're stuck in a situation like that (and yes, that has actually happened).
Although I've had many better experiences with other professors, there are still very few instances of professors that try to develop a community of learners in online courses. I guess I could say the same thing is true in person, too, but I find that it's particularly important online, especially given the fact that online students do tend to be non traditional students with full time jobs and families, and all the reasons in the world to give up on education. Plus, in person students find more opportunities to connect through campus organizations like the honor society, Men of Merit, Sisters in Strength, athletics, student government, and the Writing Fellowship program. While I'd love to participate in the latter, the required course is offered only during the weekday afternoons while I'm at work. If this course was offered at night, in the very early morning hours, on weekends, or online I could swing it, but otherwise forget it.
So, when I read an article about the failure of online students and an alleged professor wants to lay the blame on students assuming online courses are going to be "easy" I get a little pissed off at the simplification.
The good that has come out of this partially craptastic semester is that I've realized that perhaps my calling in education is in online learning. I've come to realize that a focus on technology or online learning doesn't mean I need to sacrifice my interest in special education, either. In fact, my visually impaired uncle and his girlfriend have been able to utilize new technology to surf the web and keep in touch with us and a larger community of visually impaired friends.
A lot of technophobes are afraid that the internet will isolate people, but they fail to recognize how much connection can be created through the internet, and they don't recognize its amazing potential to diversify the classroom. But it doesn't mean that we don't need professors, and it doesn't mean we don't benefit from community and discussion. Those are two myths that need to be busted because a successful online course is not a correspondence class, nor is it independent study.
While I'm stuck at JCC I'm going to try my hardest to make a case to my professors and to the administration as to why strengthening online courses is so important. And this time, when I nominate a professor for the faculty of the year award, I'm going to nominate a professor for an online course and I'm going to have hard data measuring the success of the course, the professor, and also the importance of legitimizing online courses, professors, and thus online learners.
Yes, I will spin this semester's steaming pile of shit into gold! Yes Yes!
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