Reading an article today in the Distance Education Report (Volume 12, Number 18) on “Encouraging Faculty To Go Online” prompts me to report their research plus add to the comments.
Elizabeth Osika, assistant professor at Chicago State University conducted a research study with her colleagues, Rosemary Buteau and Rochelle Johnson, to learn more about factors that prevent faculty from wanting to teach online. The factors that encouraged faculty to teach online were: success with technology, the flexibility of schedule it provided, and the need for distance learning in terms of student demographics. Barriers included unfamiliarity with technology, and lack of infrastructure support from their institution. Persevering with online teaching and/or improving one’s success in online teaching is another hurdle that faculty must face.
Having been an online faculty member for several years, I’m familiar with the issues that teachers face in the area of online education. Probably the most pervasive of the complaints that arise is student engagement. It becomes a question of how to get our students to participate and keep them participating. In other words, how to facilitate student success. Over the next few weeks, I would like to present some specific techniques for engaging students in online classes. When students are engaged, a teacher feels rewarded. The result is an upward spiral that builds greater success in the online venue!
I’m looking forward to reading about your techniques!