Faculty “Qualms” with Online, Not Technology

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Bruce Rosenbloom

Resistance is futile (Borg motto)

I was going to title this post “Faculty Resistance to Online,” but I feel that is too strong. While it is certainly true that many faculty have resisted, downplayed, disparaged, and attacked online learning in principle and in practice, there are many legitimate concerns with online learning from a faculty perspective.  These concerns, discussed in a major study entitled, “Digital Faculty: Professors, Teaching and Technology, 2012,”  will be the subject of this post.

The Babson Survey Group and Inside Higher Education combined forces to conduct a major study on how professors are dealing with a deluge of technology at their institutions and in their teaching. Two separate surveys were conducted–one for faculty and one for technology administrators.  Thousands of responses were collected from a representative sample of institutions in all Carnegie categories, and from a wide spectrum of full- and part-time, tenured and non-tenured faculty. In all, this was a significant effort to accurately assess faculty and administrator’s views on technology in the academy.

Summary of Findings

I would suggest that you read the 50- page study available at this link.  It would be difficult to summarize the findings from such an extensive study in this blog post, so I will offer what I consider its  highlights.

  • Faculty are incorporating increasing amounts of digital content into their classes and even creating such content themselves. The fact that 43% of faculty in this survey reported creating their own digital content was an eye-opener to me. Using screen capture, and to a much lesser degree, lecture-capture, faculty in earnest are beginning to explore various technologies to improve learning outcomes in their courses.
  • Faculty feel that such efforts are fairly time-consuming, work not properly recognized or rewarded by their institution.
  • Online-only digital scholarship is recognized as legitimate by 60% of faculty, yet only 12 % feel their institutions respect and reward such scholarship equal to traditional published material.
  • A majority of faculty feel that digital communications have increased both their productivity and creativity in their work, and have helped foster research collaborations.  The downside to these positives have been increased workload and often more stress experienced by instructors.
  • Although many faculty use a Learning Management System (LMS) to post a syllabus or utilize an online grade book, many of the other tools are markedly under-utilized by most faculty. Administrators believe LMS usage is much higher than faculty report.
  • The majority of faculty report feeling more excitement than fear regarding e-textbooks, online educational content, and the changing role of faculty (from lecturing to coaching). However, for online learning, the fear meter swung decidedly north, particularly in their view of for-profits, which 88% fear. Administrators are much more positive about online learning than faculty.

Take-aways

Faculty have a clear idea what serves them and what doesn’t. Although this survey clearly shows that many faculty are using technology in their classes, this embrace is tempered by lack of institutional support in terms of tenure and promotion policies, and the lack of clear guidelines for valuing digital scholarship. So although many faculty seem resistant to change in terms of technology, the reality is more nuanced.  The slow evolution of institutional policies and procedures for the digital revolution is a significant factor hampering faculty adoption of these tools for teaching.

The issue of instructor time is pivotal for understanding this study. Most faculty had no issue with e-books for their courses or video (and other digital content) in their classes. They also recognize the utility of digital communication for enhancing contact with their students. However, if faculty members take extra time to develop their own digital materials, or even more time to teach a hybrid/online course, then there is pushback from the professoriate for lack of compensation and recognition for their increased workload. Clearly, in both these areas, work is needed to align the administrations desire for online learning and promoting a greater use of technology with the realities of their faculty’s needs and perceptions in the trenches.

CUNY Implications

I would love to see the same survey given to CUNY faculty and administrators. My hypothesis is that CUNY faculty would be significantly more conservative in their use of technology and views toward hybrid/online teaching. Although there may be exceptions, generally the more unionized and tenured the teaching faculty are, the greater the likelihood of resisting change of any type, including digital tools and materials. I would also hypothesize an even greater gap between the views of CUNY administrators and faculty than those found in this study. As is evident by initiatives like Pathways, there seems to be a significant management/faculty divide that is not going away any time soon. In my estimation, this is unfortunate given the positive potential of the digital revolution for teaching, learning and scholarship.

Reference:

Allen, I.E., Seaman, J., Lederman, D., & Jaschik, S., (August, 2012), “Digital Faculty: Professors, Teaching and Technology, 2012,” Inside Higher Ed and The Babson Group. Retrieved from: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/survey/digital-faculty-professors-and-technology-2012

photo by: frankula
Posted in Envisioning Online, Online Learning Policies, Procedures, Systems, Online Trends, Paradigm Shift | 1 Comment

Adjuncts and Online: Intersecting Trends

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Bruce Rosenbloom

Reading this week’s Chronicle article entitled, “Adjuncts Build Strength in Numbers: A New Majority Generates a Shift in Academic Culture,” I had an epiphany. The rise of online learning, in all likelihood the major trend in higher education in the past two decades, has occurred during the same period when adjunct instructors in colleges have grown very rapidly.  Is there any connection?

The Chronicle article states the alarming statistic that “about 70% of instructional faculty at all colleges are off the tenure track,” with even more dramatic numbers in community colleges and “mid-tier private and regional colleges.” Not all of these adjuncts are part-timers teaching a course or two, but instead, have full-time jobs for a contractual period of 3-5 years.  When that period is up, there is no guarantee of continuing employment. It is obvious why administrators would favor such arrangements–they allow for reduced costs and greater flexibility in hiring and firing of faculty. So, for example, if a college needs a professor to teach computer graphics instead of philosophy (not to pick on that discipline), they may hire the expert on demand rather than be stuck with a tenured professor with a small (not cost-effective) class.

The Chronicle article goes on to argue that hiring all these adjuncts is not sustainable given that committee work and service needs cannot be easily assumed by adjuncts, and so something has to give. In reality, the cost structure of most institutions makes a diminished tenured professoriate only sustainable by increasing numbers of part-time and contingent faculty.  In essence, adjuncts, who often teach half of the courses in many departments, are subsidizing the perks of the tenured class of instructors.  It is my belief, that it is the tenured professoriate that is not sustainable, which is exactly what is driving the trend toward adjunct instructors. Calls for accountability and productivity by state legislatures funding public institutions, have increasingly been more skeptical of lifetime employment and other perks that come along with tenure. To the extent that institutions have the leeway to move away from those old structures, they are often exercising those options.

The impetus for online comes from different roots. Online has only reached a critical mass in the past decade with the advent of ubiquitous online technologies. I remember in the early 1980s co-publishing several papers on what was then called “Computer-Assisted Instruction,” (CAI). I was very impressed with how these early machines might be used to advance teaching and learning, particularly for rote learning exercises. Nonetheless, although the marriage of education and technology has a long history, it is only recently due to these advancements that online has hit its stride. The array of tools that can now be used in an online class would be inconceivable to those pioneers working on the early incarnations of computers for educational purposes.

There are many forces driving online learning today, particularly scheduling flexibility, instructional quality, convenience, cost-savings, and less need to build more “brick and mortar” facilities. Even so, I feel there is an overlap between these two trends of rising adjunct employment and online learning (see diagram below).


As online gains greater acceptance and enters the instructional mainstream, institutions see online as critical to their strategic planning in terms of flexible program offerings, new student recruitment, cost-savings,  space utilization and other factors. The key point here is that more and more, these online courses are taught by part-time faculty. So what was two independent trends are now reinforcing each other and merging into the major trend in higher education: online courses taught by a contingent workforce. I see no counter-trend to this happening and, in fact, MOOCs and other technologies will continue to result in what I term the “dis-aggregated professor” in a previous blog post.

References:

June, A. W. (November 9, 2012). “Adjuncts Build Strength in Numbers,” The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from: http://chronicle.com/article/Adjuncts-Build-Strength-in/135520/

June, A. W. (September 7, 2012). “How Colleges Treat Adjuncts Limit Their Effectiveness in Class,” The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from: http://chronicle.com/article/Adjuncts-Working-Conditions/133918/

Rosenbloom, Bruce (February 16, 2012), “The Dis-Agregated Professor,” CUNY Academic Commons. Retrieved from:  https://onlinelearning.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2011/08/13/the-disaggregated-professor/

Graphic Designed by Fulya Olgac

 

 

 

Posted in Envisioning Online, Instructional Technology, Online Best Practices, Online Learning Policies, Procedures, Systems, Online Trends, Paradigm Shift | Comments Off on Adjuncts and Online: Intersecting Trends

Online Teaching: Instructor Concerns

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Bruce Rosenbloom

A three-year review of concerns about online teaching was conducted at Oklahoma State University.  The resulting article, “Exploring Online Teaching: A Three-Year Composite Journal of Concerns and Strategies from Online Instructors,” speaks eloquently to what faculty worry about when teaching online courses and how they address these concerns.

The authors (Lin, Dyer, and Guo) explore the challenges facing online instructors in the trenches and suggest approaches for addressing those challenges in online teaching. They categorize these challenges as:

  1. Concerns about Self–concerns about teaching adequacy and survival
  2. Concerns about Task-concerns about instructional duties and management
  3. Concerns over Impact-concerns about student learning.
    (Source: Article citation below. Above quote from page 4)

Concerns about Self

Rightly so, instructors new to online teaching have legitimate concerns about the adequacy of their teaching ability, whether they can cope with handling an online class, and whether teaching online will necessitate substantially more time on task.

Journals from online instructors in this study reveal an almost universal belief that preparation for online teaching was more time-consuming than traditional teaching. Among the many recommendations in this section include: careful planning and structuring for the online course; becoming familiar with all the features of the course management system; using a range of media and technologies; diversifying assessment techniques; and introducing a new tool per semester to avoid technology overload.

Concerns about Task

Online teaching requires mastering tasks common to traditional teaching including: classroom management, teaching strategies, creating course content, and structuring the course. These duties are mediated via a learning management system (LMS) and other tools, all requiring learning — and preferably — mastery. For example, does an instructor have the ability to do a screen capture, create an interactive syllabus, or moderate an online discussion? These skills, among many, enhance an online course.

Recommendations for this section include: Carefully moderating online discussions and providing feedback to students; requiring students to post twice for each online forum; creating a FAQ for the course; using tracking tools in the LMS to ensure students are keeping up with the work; and creating rubrics for grading. Given the pace of change within the educational technology marketplace, instructors will need to upgrade their skill set in a systematic and ongoing manner.

Concerns about Impact

All conscientious instructors want their students to learn. Ensuring that learning is taking place in an online environment poses additional challenges for instructors. Getting to know your students’ abilities online, assessing their work, and measuring their progress are concerns that seem more daunting online.

Recommendations for these impact issues include: creating a syllabus quiz; developing collaborative, engaging projects; conveying passion for what you teach; sending out weekly emails to keep students on task; and keeping a reflective journal on your teaching practices for future course revisions.

Final Thoughts

This study presents a wealth of common-sense advice and problem-solving strategies by online instructors. I believe that the findings from this study can be useful for faculty developers and instructional technologists throughout higher education. Given the enormous challenges of teaching today– and the additional challenges of teaching online– faculty need real direction and support in this undertaking. As increasingly online teaching and learning enter the higher educational mainstream, articles like this point the way to articulating and addressing the real concerns of online faculty.

 Reference

Lin, H., Dyer, K., and Guo, Y. (2012), “Exploring Online Teaching: A Three-Year Composite Journal of Concerns and Strategies from Online Instructors,” Online Journal of Distance Learning Administrators, Vol. 15, Issue 3 (Fall 2012).
Retrieved from: http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall153/lin_dyer_guo153.html

 

photo by: o5com
Posted in Envisioning Online, Instructional Technology, Online Best Practices, Online Learning Policies, Procedures, Systems, Online Trends, Strategic Planning for Online | 1 Comment

CUNY Closed vs. Academic Continuity: An Institutional Choice

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Bruce Rosenbloom

The current weather-related closing of all CUNY campuses for several days this week offers a case study in emergency preparedness or lack thereof. In bold red letters, many campus websites proclaim:

All (CUNY College of choice) Classes and Activities Cancelled Monday, Oct. 29, Tuesday, Oct. 30, Wednesday, Oct. 31, and Thursday, Nov. 1

Such emergency notifications on college websites represent a significant improvement over the previous policy of recorded telephone messages.  However, the message is clear; the storm has hit, so the college is closed.  Everyone can rejoice in a job well done; clear communication and a few days off from school or work. However, I’m not everyone.  I believe this crisis could have been better addressed if the university had a clear vision, policy, and procedures for ongoing teaching/learning during this storm and other emergencies.

Imagine, if you would, this message on campus websites . . .

Teaching and Learning Continue at all CUNY Campuses.

Despite College Facilities being Closed from Monday, Oct. 29, through Thursday, Nov. 1, Classes will Continue to be Held Online.
See link for more details . . .

The link would provide information on how students can continue their studies via Blackboard and/or other tools used to deliver course content, submit assignments and interact with the class. An instructor may even schedule an ad-hoc webinar during hours normally reserved for that class or in the evening. In other words, the primary purpose of the college — teaching and learning — will continue despite the crisis at hand. This concept is called “academic continuity” and has been included as part of emergency planning in those higher education institutions with vision and leadership in this area.

In my blog post earlier this year entitled, ” Online and Emergency Planing,” I discuss an important article (see reference below) that explores the need to include academic continuity in an emergency plan. It is ironic that the emergency preparedness policies that colleges typically promulgate consider every contingency except the one that is most important, namely, how teaching and learning will continue to be conducted despite the emergency at hand. In my estimation, this shows a significant lack of imagination and understanding of how to manage such events by CUNY.  Does teaching and learning stop dead in its tracks because a storm blows through, or can we plan for these eventualities and make faculty responsible for the maintenance of teaching in such circumstances? I believe we can establish reasonable academic continuity policies, especially considering that all CUNY matriculated courses automatically have a Blackboard course shell assigned. Professors can be apprised of this fact, and be given succinct instructions on how to access the class, post materials, send emails and conduct the class using several fairly basic technologies.

In my previous blog post I offered several recommendations for creating a worthwhile emergency plan within CUNY – or any university – that addresses the issue of academic continuity by:

  1. An accessible website about emergency planning and preparedness.
  2. A clear statement that after concerns of safety have been addressed, the University affirms that academic continuity is a second priority in times of crisis.
  3. A clear explanation to the CUNY community how faculty, staff and students can restore academic continuity.
  4. A new training program to be initiated for all CUNY faculty which shows how online learning might be utilized to restore academics in case of an emergency.
  5. A recommended “in case of emergency” section in syllabi for all CUNY courses.
  6. A plan and procedure for staff/administrators/faculty to meet and collaborate during the period that campuses are closed (e.g., administrative continuity plan).

These procedures will require planning, program design and implementation, publicity and a modicum of resources to implement. If CUNY administrators, faculty and other stakeholders are serious about the mission of this institution, I beleive it is imperative to include a well-designed section on academic continuity in our emergency plans. In light of the cost and disruption of this emergency — essentially suspending classes for the duration of a week — there is an opportunity for some reflection and possibly action —  taken to ensure such plans in the future. With such planning in place, it is possible that the next emergency may again close our campuses,  yet keep open the educational process for our students.

References:

Benton, T. H. (2009, November 30). “Teaching in the Plague Year,” The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Teaching-in-the-Plague-Year/49275.  (An excellent article about  the H1N1 epidemic and higher education’s disaster preparedness.)

Meyer, Katrina & Wilson, Jeffery (2011). “The Role of Online Learning In the Emergency Plans of Flagship Institutions,” Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Volume IV, Number I, Spring 2011, University of West Georgia, Distance Education Center. Retrieved from: http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring141/meyer_wilson141.html
(A paper exploring the need for an academic continuity policy in emergency planning)

Rosenbloom, Bruce (February 16, 2012), “Online and Emergency Planning,” CUNY Academic Commons. Retrieved from:  https://onlinelearning.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2012/02/28/online-and-emergency-planning

Posted in CUNY Practices, Online Best Practices, Online Learning Policies, Procedures, Systems, Strategic Planning for Online | 9 Comments

MOOCs Transform Pedagogy

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Bruce Rosenbloom

When Sebastion Thune speaks, we all should take heed. Thune is the founder of Udacity, a company in the forefront of developing MOOCs (massive open online courses).  Mr. Thune was the keynote speaker at the recent Sloan International Conference on Online Learning, held October 10-12. The link to his presentation is below.

http://events.mediasite.com/Mediasite/Play/82b693c44d94441ba4b9c08c75df31351d

The Stanford professor, who recently taught an online class with over 160,000 students enrolled, gave an inspiring and forward-looking view of the potential for online in higher education. He started his talk with some background of his company and the history of MOOCs.  His company’s focus is to solve the issue of scale in higher education, and with scale, to have a great impact in developing new methods and pedagogy in addressing teaching and learning.  His speech is well worth listening to.  Below I have summarized some highlights of his vision.

Student Empowerment

To have a high-quality course, offered online for a nominal cost, and be focused, laser-like, on student learning, is nothing short of revolutionary. Regardless of protestations to the contrary, traditional higher education is faculty oriented in terms of perks, schedules, teaching load, tenure, and many other factors. The idea that a massive online course, delivered to thousands of students worldwide, can be student focused, might strike some as a contradiction.  Yet, for those willing to throw out all the old assumptions, structures, and excuses, it is the starting point for a major paradigm shift in the education of adult learners.

Here are a few ways that a MOOC can be more learner-centered that a traditional course:

  • Accessibility—ability to reach students where they live and learn from home
  • Time flexibility—course delivered when students have time to learn, not when professor wishes to teach (typically Monday-Thursday from 10am-2pm)
  • Quality instruction—the “best” professors from elite institutions teach the course
  • Self-paced—untethered to a traditional 15-week semester, this course duration can be as long or short as needed for a student to master the material
  • Intimate learning environment—Thune reports that students often feel a greater intimacy with their professors than in F2F classes
  • Constant improvement—Ongoing improvement of course materials and assessments based on a large group of students
  • Data-mining –potential for discovering the most effective techniques, tools, and  approaches from the learning outcomes of thousands of students
  • PBL approach—many courses are structured with a problem-based learning dynamic, proven to be effective in teaching and learning
  • Simulations—use of highly evolved simulations to accelerate learning and substitute for many lab requirements
  • Student groups—students are placed into (or select their own) groups to work on problems, learn from each other and network
  • Low cost—Thune has lowered the cost-point in his classes to $1 per student/per class, making quality education affordable to the masses (given the difficult issue of student borrowing to finance their education, cost-saving solutions need to be developed)
  • Job placement—the potential for employers to work with course designers to create specialized training leading directly to employment
  • Learning is fun—the “gamification” of learning means that textbook learning is supplanted by more engaging, dynamic, real-life, structured learning experiences
  • Customized learning tracks—programmed branching allows each user to select the best path for their own learning based on algorithms from thousands of previous students (also know as adaptive learning)
  • Measurement of collaboration and social skills—a more advanced feature that can assess the extent of a student’s skills measured with the tools used for collaboration and presentations
  • Peer mentoring—the facility to have peers assist students with the material.

There are more advantages with MOOCs of the future, but the list above gives a clear picture that we are not talking about an incremental change in pedagogy, but truly transformative change. As Thune mentions, “we are re-inventing teaching in this online medium.” Although all these advantages have yet to coalesce in one learning platform, given the money and momentum in this educational sector, I believe change will happen rapidly. The impact of such “disruptive technologies” to the academy will be the subject of a future post.

Posted in Envisioning Online, Online Trends, Paradigm Shift | 4 Comments

Online Shorts: Fall 2012

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Bruce Rosenbloom

Note: This is a continuation of a new format for my blog, namely, short summaries and commentary on a series of recently published reports and articles.  The sheer volume of newsworthy academic and press reporting about online learning makes this new format a necessity for covering a wider array of interesting developments in this field. The theme for these short articles is open online education and future online trends.

Riding the MOOC Wave

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/08/17/world-education-university-looks-ride-mooc-wave-despite-skeptics

In addition to prestigious institutions, the new push to open education leaves many opportunities for those entrepreneurs that see profit potential in this field.  The article contains a note of caution in regards to “bad apples” entering the MOOC fray—which may undermine legitimate efforts of the major players.

Manifesto for Online Teaching

http://onlineteachingmanifesto.wordpress.com/

This is an interesting manifesto for outlining some principles for online learning. It contains some fresh perspectives on viewing the potential for online learning.

Alternative Credentialing for Manufacturing

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/07/18/manufacturing-industry-taps-colleges-help-alternative-credential

This is an important article about the potential for “stackable credentials” in U.S. manufacturing. Such credentials, if they become more widespread, pose a real alternative to a traditional degree if they clearly become linked to employment at the end of this process.

Source: Inside Higher Education, July 18, 2012


Ohio State Hires a Provost for Online

http://woub.org/2012/09/11/ohio-university-brings-e-learning-provost

A sign of things to come as online learning becomes an increasing part of the higher education pedagogical landscape and an essential component of universities’ strategic planning.  At Ohio State, Gearhart says she plans to lead and improve the online learning efforts.

“When the provost hired me, one of the things she wanted me to do is just take a strategic look at where e-learning is at Ohio U, where it needs to go, how we’re going to get there, and how we’re going to support the colleges and the delivery of their programs.” (quote from article)

Gearhart also says the program will make education more “accessible and affordable” to many people.

Perdue President Sees Online Learning as a Revenue Source

http://www.purdueexponent.org/campus/article_af22e2a0-0617-5a32-a73c-a8f81c6693a5.html

With revenues declining from government support for research, Perdue University’s president, Tim Sands, is looking to the expansion of online programs as a source of revenues to bridge the gap.

Posted in Envisioning Online, Online Trends | Comments Off on Online Shorts: Fall 2012

Is There a Cal State in CUNY’s Future?

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Bruce Rosenbloom

In the August 22nd issue of Inside Higher Ed, was an article highly relevant to CUNY’s online efforts entitled, “Cal State Rolls out the Next Stage of its Online Efforts.”  The article is noteworthy since Cal State, for the first time, is entering the online arena in a centralized, coordinated, and collaborative manner. Cal State’s similarities to CUNY are striking:

  • A large, public university system with over 20 campuses;
  • An environment with significant budgetary challenges;
  • An institution very slow to adopt online courses or programs;
  • A skeptical, if not outright resistant faculty to online learning;
  • A faculty governance battle over recent moves by the administration.

The article outlines a gradual and deliberate process Cal State is taking to involve stakeholders in this transition. Pearson, a for-profit partner, is working with each campus to determine which programs would best lend themselves to an online mode of delivery. Initially, Cal State identified several graduate programs to take advantage of the maturity and motivation of adult learners in the hope they will succeed online.

The impetus to explore online was largely the result of massive budgetary measures imposed on California’s public institutions of higher education. Administrators began looking into centralizing  online development from what was largely a balkanized, sporadic approach to implementing online programs. Via an advisory board consisting of faculty, administrators and students, the beginnings of consensus, or at least a truce, began to emerge. With the acrimony behind them, Cal State can now begin a serious entry into the online marketplace.

Lessons

I feel there could be several lessons in this Cal State story for CUNY, including:

  • The need for a more centralized approach to online implementation (my blog post).
  • The usefulness of public/private collaborations to accelerate online development.
  • The need for an institution-wide advisory board with all stakeholders represented to examine online policies and strategies.
  • The reality of budgetary concerns to spur online planning.
  • The recognition that online as a mode of teaching is not going away and, in fact, that it needs to be a part of strategic planning for the university.
  • The mission of both institutions for access to quality education being enhanced by online offerings.
  • The mission to serve students in ways that may stretch the beliefs and skills of existing faculty resistant to online.
The Cal State online saga is worth following.  It may point to a future path that CUNY may wish to explore if online learning is to achieve a fraction of its potential within this university. However, first there needs to be a recognition of online learning’s  strategic importance to this university.


Source:

Lederman, Doug, “Cal State Rolls out the Next Stage of its Online Efforts,” Inside Higher Ed, August 22, 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/08/22/cal-state-rolls-out-next-stage-its-online-effort

Link to previous blog post on Cal State: https://onlinelearning.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2012/03/10/cal-state-online-implications-for-cuny/

Posted in CUNY Practices, Envisioning Online, Online Best Practices, Online Learning Policies, Procedures, Systems, Online Trends | Comments Off on Is There a Cal State in CUNY’s Future?

A MOOC Makeover at Stanford

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Bruce Rosenbloom

In the field of online learning, there recently has been tremendous press coverage about MOOCs (massive open online courses). Almost weekly, articles are published that tout this innovation as the next great wave in online learning. Thousands of students at a time can have access to courses taught at the best universities in the world, by world-renowned professors. But even if the content is taught by the ‘best’ professors in their fields, what always is missing from these initial attempts to scale up teaching for the masses, is interactions with other learners.  A core assumption regarding best practices in student-centered learning, is interaction with other students as per the chart below.

Bruce Rosenbloom, 2012

A new article in the September issue of “Stanford News” offers another way to do MOOCs that includes student groups and real-life projects. What is innovative about this new learning platform is that, despite the massive numbers of students, each can be teamed up with a small cohort of other students to solve real-life problems in an active learning context.  Specifically, the model is noteworthy for the following:

  1. Experiential learning—The “learn by doing” approach has many advocates in constructivist circles. It is rooted on a problem-based learning (PBL) approach, which emphasizes small teams working together to solve real-life problems.
  2. Diverse groups–In this instance, algorithms were developed by Stanford researchers to select diverse groups of 8-10 students from over 150 countries.  There is no way a traditional campus, even as diverse as those at CUNY, could ever produce this type of cultural melting pot of talents and life experiences.
  3. Flipped classroom—This is a hot topic in teaching circles, whereby course content is relegated to out-of- class videos and other materials, while in-class activities involve interactive and engaging group and other experiences. Stanford reported that students liked this format and were pleased with the overall learning in the course.
  4. Students learning from their peers—Although traditional instruction is more broadcast in nature, there is tremendous potential in students learning from their peers. Stanford’s Venture Lab was specifically designed for group learning.
    “The most important part of the platform is that students can learn from their peers    . . . The social and experiential aspects of learning must not be diminished by going online; on the contrary, the challenge is how to amplify them online.”  (Quote from Amin Saberi, Venture Lab developer, see reference below.)
  5. Improvements to platform—As with the first iteration of any technology, the Venture Lab platform will be improved and refined.  Among the tools developers are looking to incorporate in the future are gaming and simulation technologies. This can only improve the learning experience for the many students enrolled in these courses.

Take-away

There is no doubt that this type of teaching is foreign to traditional institutions of higher education–on that point, we can all agree. A more important question is whether this type of learning is foreign to students of today.  I think that “learning is learning” and that regardless of the modes or methods, what matters most is what we can gain from the experience as individuals. Learning is taking place for many of these students enrolling in Stanford’s MOOCs. If the goal of education is learning, then it behooves all institutions to take an honest and open approach when considering these innovations in teaching. To its credit, Stanford is leading the way for a new teaching and learning paradigm.

Sources:

Graphic: Learner Centered Model, created by Bruce Rosenbloom, 2012

“New Platform for Online Courses Stresses Team-based, Experiential Learning,” Stanford News, Sept. 17, 2012.  Retrieved from: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/september/venture-lab-platform-091712.html?view=print

Posted in Envisioning Online, Online Trends, Paradigm Shift | 1 Comment

Online Shorts: Summer 2012

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Bruce Rosenbloom

Note: With this post, I am starting a new format; namely, short summaries and commentary on a series of recently published reports and articles.  The sheer volume of newsworthy academic and press reporting about online learning makes this new format a necessity for covering a wide array of interesting developments in this field.

————–

The Rise of Online Universities

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/education/top-universities-test-the-online-appeal-of-free.html?ref=us

Comment: The first of many articles trumpeting how many prestigious universities are exploring how free online courses can enhance outreach and access to quality instruction.  The issue of how students can get credit for these courses is still in development. I will further address this issue of massive open online courses (MOOCs) in a future blog post.

Intellectual Property

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/03/14/former-asu-professors-threatens-litigation-over-online-course-ownership

Who owns the intellectual property of an online course?  This article reveals some of the emerging fault-lines regarding ownership of online courses within the context of higher education.  This is a cautionary tale for professors looking to put the time and effort into customizing their courses with original content.

Science Labs and Online

http://derekbruff.org/blogs/tomprof/2012/03/12/tp-msg-1160-the-tipping-point-for-online-science-is-now/

In educational circles, particularly the STEM disciplines, you often hear the view that online can never be used since there is a hands-on lab component to the course. However, a post from Stanford’s Tomorrow’s Professor published an excerpt from a recent book that challenges this assumption. It argues that online science labs can provide greater student access, reduce lab costs, and even build superior learning outcomes than traditional labs. Traditionally, science courses with a lab component have been the most expensive courses to deliver. An online approach to such courses makes increasing sense in these budget-restricted times.

100% Mandated LMS Usage

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/03/21/traditional-colleges-aim-boost-lms-usage

This is an important article about a small liberal arts college that essentially is mandating all faculty to use their (Moodle) course management system. The college’s administration believes strongly that this online component mandated for all classes will produce better learning outcomes and bring their teaching more in line with 21st century skills that students need for employment. When I worked at Adelphi University, a forward-looking Dean of Nursing also mandated that all nursing courses have a Blackboard (Bb) component. Although there was some initial resistance by faculty, in short order it was accepted and many faculty saw the benefits of the mandate.

Within CUNY, such mandates would never work since the union would argue that it is a negotiated item for contract talks, and faculty governance bodies would claim it’s an infringement on their academic freedom by the administration. However, at institutions where there is more cooperative ethos at work, a strategy can be worked out to ensure such a mandate serves a real instructional purpose and is not too onerous on faculty.

Posted in Envisioning Online, Online Trends | Comments Off on Online Shorts: Summer 2012

Where the Jobs Are—Online

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Bruce Rosenbloom

One bright spot in a dismal job market is work related to online learning.  For many years I have taught a course for the CUNY Online BA Program, entitled “Principles, Practices and Policies of Online Learning.” I have reminded my students that given a 20% average per annum growth rate in this field (based on Sloan C reports), it seems likely that there will be many opportunities in this field.  A recent article in an educational technology magazine (**reference not available) confirmed my conclusion.

There are — and will continue to be — plenty of opportunities for online instructors, given the growth of online learning.  Virtually every academic discipline is needed, with additional opportunities for business and education faculty since these programs are often the first to be developed for Masters programs.

In addition to online faculty, there are an array of other titles that have recently been posted on sites like HigherEdJobs.com.  These include titles like:

  • Online Course Builder
  • Executive Director for Online Learning
  • Instructional Designer for Online Program
  • Senior Learning Officer, and
  • Online Learning Support Specialist

As this field matures, many of these titles will become more standardized across a range of institutions.  In addition, middle schools and high schools are expanding their online courses offerings, which should be followed by new jobs in that sector.

The August 3rd Chronicle of Higher Education had a short article (link here) on the appointment of Columbia University’s first “Chief Digital Officer.”  This position is primarily devoted to envisioning and planning that institution’s online offerings. What this news story points to is the continuing evolution and importance of online to strategic planning within higher education, and the development of new job titles to address online planning, and implementation.

Breaking into the Field

Students sometimes ask me how to get into this field of online education.  My first response is that they first take courses online to determine what students experience and how different instructors approach delivering their courses.  Next, I ask them to do research on what type of work they wish to do in the field.  For teaching, certainly a Masters in a discipline is usually required.

If the goal is to assist faculty in creating online courses, I would have them explore the many online Masters programs in Instructional Technology that are now being offered.  Management of online programs would require both experience in the field and usually a Masters degree in some technology, education or related field.

The opportunities to play a part in this online revolution are still just beginning.  I feel we are only in the early innings of this game, with the field of online learning and teaching being open to new ideas and approaches. For those with a committed interest in the field, it is worth exploring and pursuing these diverse opportunities.

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** Note: After reading this article in one of the many educational technology publications I follow, I lost the reference.  Searching for the article, published between July and August, proved futile.  If anyone comes across the reference, I’d appreciate if they could send the link or reference. The short piece described the growth of employment in the online learning sphere.

Posted in Online Learning Policies, Procedures, Systems, Online Trends, Strategic Planning for Online | 1 Comment