5,000 Students Taking Fully Online Courses this Semester, a Jump of 20 percent Over Last Year
Professor Tisha Bender’s "Ethics of Food" class could exist without the internet, but students in China and New Brunswick wouldn’t be discussing the “omnivore’s dilemma’’ together despite a 13-hour time difference, sharing perspectives from both cultures.
And Rudolph Bell’s spring class on History and the News wouldn’t feature lectures by Rutgers experts on up-to-the minute events like the tsunami in Japan.
“At any fixed time of the day or week, you couldn’t always get experts on short notice. They might be teaching another class, they might be out of town. But I was able to get more than two dozen this way,’’ said Bell, a history professor in the School of Arts and Sciences, who videotaped some faculty members and spoke with others during class via Skype.
For the first time, Bender and Bell are teaching courses that are entirely--or almost entirely--online, allowing them to present material without the limitations of face-to-face learning.
Fifteen years after the Rutgers School of Communication and Information started offering courses over the internet, there are 5,000 students taking a fully online course this semester, according to Richard Novak, associate vice president of continuing studies and distance learning. “It’s about a 20 percent increase year to year. There’s certainly interest from students and growing interest from faculty.’’
This fall, Rutgers established the Center for Online & Hybrid Learning and Instructional Technology to keep pace with the increase and assist faculty who want to incorporate more online elements into their curriculum, Novak said.
“Some want to try something new. Others want to see how technology can be used to enhance learning,’’ he said.
The Office of Instructional Research and Technology (OIRT,) which supports Sakai, the most heavily used course management system at Rutgers, has also increased faculty support for technology-enhanced learning.
Students are seeing the benefits.
“We get a chance that few other students have,’’ said Gregory Weissman, one of about 20 students enrolled in Bender's “Ethics of Food,’’ a research writing class. “We get to interact with students from the other side of the world.
Fully online course are now offered at College of Nursing, the School of Communication and Information and the Mason Gross School of the Arts, where there’s been an “explosion’’ of online course enrollment, said Novak.
According to Antonius Bittman, associate dean of Mason Gross School and director of the school’s online arts division, 2,400 Mason Gross students are now enrolled in online courses in dance, theater, and the visual arts. Most involve history or an academic aspect of the art form, not actually learning a skill, which is better accomplished in the studio, he said.
Bittman said it's second-nature for today’s students to learn through technology, and schools need to adapt. This is how they communicate with each other,’’ he said. “Higher education is in the midst of a whirlwind of change.’’
Gayle Stein, associate director of instructional technology (OIRT) has this advice for faculty designing a fully online course: “The first thing to think about is their learning goals, and the best way of achieving that. What types of activities do they want to do? How do they want to teach their course material?,’’ she said. "We help them match the technology based on what they want to do . . . When they’re planning the course, we tell them the last thing they should be thinking about is technology.’’
Bittman said students in online courses often give better ratings to professors, largely because teachers are so accessible and there’s more interaction with them in online discussions then there would be in a classroom.
“With the amount of time my fellow students and I are online, that’s the ultimate way professors can reach us,’’ says Shelby Saunders, who is enrolled in Bender’s course.
Bender is co-teaching her class with a Chunyan Xu, a professor from Jilin University, whom she met when Xu was a visiting scholar at the Rutgers Confucious Institute. For her class, she established a “virtual lounge,’’ where students introduced themselves when class began. Discussions are held in a forum '' and and “mini lectures’’ are held in the online course’s module area.
Bender who has taught “hybrid courses,’’ a blend of online and face-to-face, says online learning is especially suited for classes that encourage a lot of dialogue. “It’s best for classes that are discussion-based and the teacher can employ a “Socratic” method to make it more interactive,’’ she said. “You tell students, ‘if you don’t participate and post a comment, it’s as if you’re not really there, because we can’t see you.’’
Both students and faculty agree that participation usually increases in online classes.
“It's much easier and more fulfilling to have conversations online,’’ says Bender’s student, Rachel Strasser. “Students have more time to compose what they want to say. No one's logical point gets bogged down in the heat of the moment and no one can interrupt or throw them off.’’
Another perk?
“I've gained the ability to not have to take the bus to Livingston,’’ Strasser said.