Monday, February 2, 2009
It's Lonely in CyberSpace
As I said in my last post, I can be reluctant to change. I think that one of the main reasons for this is the fact that I still find technology to be slightly impersonal. I still crave face to face interaction with my peers. Although I was pleasantly surprised by the MOO experience last Monday night (plus the fact that I didn't have to brave the cold), I still miss actually talking to people. I know that most people may not feel this way, but I still enjoy the interaction that takes place in real life. Although I am part of an on-line community, it feels lonely at times. I also began to wonder if I could conduct my own class on-line. I'm not sure I would feel connected with my students if I never actually met them. I'm sure that I would give it a try if presented with the opportunity, but I would miss the interaction that takes place in the classroom. I also have to wonder if this is the way of the future-given the state of the economy.
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The Chancellor's office (MNSCU) has said that they want 25% of classes online by 2010. They think it's cheaper. I does save classroom space and all of the costs of maintaining that space, and I think the powers that be think they can get rid of faculty offices too. Duh.
ReplyDeleteAdministrative units like this don't understand how time intensive it is to do online education and that their tech support needs to extend beyond D2L maintenance. (They don't understand how D2L works -- or fails to work either, but that's another story.) They also think that if you make "learning objects" -- yes, that's the term -- the teaching is pretty much done. Again, duh.
Having said all this, I do think that you can personalize and teach online. I'm teaching a fully online D2L course on film and literature, and I've gotten to know quite a few of my students really well in spite of the fact that we never communicate in real time. We're actually having conversations via email.