Supporting Graduate Students' Academic and Professional Success
The mental image elicited by the word “college” is moving away from ivy-covered red brick buildings and moving towards students on laptops at home in their pajamas. You may have noticed that online education is increasing based on the number of ads for online degrees popping-up while browsing social media or even from taking an online class yourself. In fact, according to a 2017 report from the Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics, online education is increasing at a steady rate each year, while overall higher education enrollment is declining. Currently, about a third of all college students take at least one online class. Clearly, there's a demand for online education. However, while many instructors would be open to developing online versions of the courses they teach, there are those resistant to the idea, citing quality concerns.
Regardless of whether we like it or not, online learning is here to stay. The only question now is if the glass is half empty, with a fully-online course being only second rate to the traditional course format. Or is the glass half full, with learning getting better (or at least not worse) in an online format? Here, I discuss how online learning is taking shape at UCR, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of online classes.
[Image Description: Glenn, from The Walking Dead, tells Rick, "I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy."]
Pictured: You, with your positive attitude regarding online learning formats
UC Systemwide Online Classes
As a brief history, the University of California has jumped on board with online learning since the establishment of the 2013 Innovative Learning Technology Initiative (ILTI). This $10M program incentivized faculty at UC campuses to write grant proposals for online or hybrid classes in order to use technology to increase access to system-wide undergraduate courses. According to the ILTI website, the program is made up of the following components:
- Funds will be available to UC faculty to create new online courses and enhance existing online courses.
- Department and campus support for the courses will also be provided, to ensure that courses developed will be offered for multiple years on multiple campuses.
- A cross-campus enrollment system with a searchable database of online courses will help students find and enroll in needed classes.
- Evaluation of how well the initiative is performing will provide key accountability data.
Currently in its 7th Request For Proposals (RFP), the program has led to the development of 80+ fully online courses across a broad range of disciplines. Be sure to check out the preview videos for these courses. They look like very interesting classes to take!
UCR’s ILTI Team
At UCR, the ILTI led to the establishment of the Academic Engagement Instructional Design team that helps faculty use technology to develop their courses. Check out their site for lots of useful technology tools that TAs can implement in their sections, as well as opportunities to learn more.
[Image Description: Jamie Fraser, from Outlander, tells Clair, "What you don't ken, you'll learn. We'll learn."]
Pictured: You, encouraging your cohort to dive into online teaching
Advantages of Online Learning
- Students can attend college at home in their pajamas. Students can study at the time of day and place that best fits their diverse biological and economic needs. This, in theory, will allow students the time and flexibility to pursue other hobbies and/or hold down a job.
- Students save on gas and avoid commuting. In California, we forget that winter is a season in other parts of the country but every Californian fears traffic on the 405.
- Students can finish their degrees faster by taking courses during the summer at other campuses outside of their home institution and also having more options for fulfilling impacted course requirements.
- Everyone can participate in the class at their own pace, which has the potential to encourage shy and otherwise neurodiverse students who might not typically speak up in class to do so in an online setting.
- Using a learning platform such as PlayPosit that forces students to answer questions from videos before advancing makes students engage with the material in the moment rather than archive information with the idea to cram before an exam. This transfers information from short term to long term memory.
- Do you remember when you had professors that talked too fast and you couldn’t keep up so you would zone out and have to relisten to recorded lectures? This is essentially showing up to class to archive information. A waste of time. Now students can watch videos at the speed that works best for them, with captions and rewind in case they missed something.
- Studies have shown that a human’s biological attention span is 10-15 min; online course videos are generally shorter and therefore more biologically accessible.
- Instructors can potentially save on course prep time after multiple runs of their online class.
[Image Description: Sam, from iCarly, holding a textbook while sitting on a beanbag in her pajamas. She looks up from the book and says, "These things are great. It's like TV in your head!"]
Pictured: Students, discovering their love of learning in the comfort of their own home
Disadvantages of Online Learning
- Students stay at home in their pajamas, promoting a sedentary and anti-social lifestyle.
- Students may lack the self-discipline and time management skills necessary to maintain a schedule for a class without an actual classroom they must travel to. Some students are more successful with the added structure of regular class meeting times.
- There is little face-to-face interaction between students, their peers, and faculty. This makes it more difficult for teachers to get to know their students and provide a letter of recommendation or even mentoring.
- For many lecturers, the act of giving a lecture in front of an audience is essentially a performance. Recording videos without an audience may make the instructors seem drier and more monotone.
- There is the potential for added busy work and low-stakes assignments, which may not be favorable for some students.
- Proctoring online exams can be expansive and limits the kinds of questions that can be asked.
- Students may not have equal computer skills and technology issues can be a disadvantage.
[Image Description: Penny, from The Big Bang Theory, sitting on her couch with dirty hair, make-up smeared on her face, and a zip-up hoodie hanging off her shoulder. She stares blankly over the top of her computer and says, "Oh my god I need help."]
Pictured: A potential disadvantage of online learning in action
Take-Home Message
Online education and technology are here to stay and is continuously evolving. We must develop ways to produce high-quality online courses and ways to assess their effectiveness. I recommend other graduate students at UCR get involved with online education by getting GSR under an ILTI proposal.