Future of online learning examined
By Colleen Casey
News Editor

Despite the growing number of online courses at some public universities, administrators at TCU said there will not be a significant increase of such classes here.

Instead, there will be more supplemental online components to traditional courses, said William Koehler, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Although the university has offered online coursework for about five years, Leo Munson, assistant vice chancellor for academic support, said the experience faculty members have gained from the technology will now help them determine the concerns and issues of online learning.

Munson also said the current university experience will remain unchanged.

“Students will be living in residence halls, sitting in classrooms, but their homework will be enhanced online,” he said.

An eLearning advisory committee has recently been formed and will be meeting soon to evaluate the university’s use of online teaching and learning, said Magnus Rittby, chairman of the committee.

Rittby said many more faculty members than expected are using the supplemental online software in their courses. The interest is growing so fast that there needs to be more faculty training, an issue Rittby said the advisory committee will address.

In addition to defining TCU’s role in online learning, Munson said the advisory committee will try to establish policies. There aren’t any policies stating which courses may go online; it’s up to the faculty member’s suggestion and the department chairperson and dean’s approval, he said.

“Had this been formal in the experimental phase they would have nothing to discuss,” Munson said.

The committee will consist of nine faculty members, the director for the Center for Teaching Excellence, the coordinator of eLearning, Director of the Center for Instructional Services Larry Kitchens, Munson and two students.

Rittby, also the chairman of the physics and astronomy department, said the committee will also look into possible problems and establish a formal student evaluation for online courses.

“We have a growing interest,” Rittby said. “(The committee) will focus on how to make it work for the students.”

About three years ago TCU applied for and received a $250,000 grant from eCollege, an eLearning software and services provider based in Denver, allowing the university to experiment with and evaluate online courses.

eCollege courses are mostly graduate courses that are completely online. TCU offers two graduate degrees online, a master of liberal arts and a master of science in nursing with a specialization in clinical nursing. Munson said there are no definite plans to add another online graduate degree.

After signing the most recent contract with eCollege, TCU greatly reduced their use of WebCT and Blackboard, two other software providers for Web-based courses that are being phased out at TCU this year, he said.

“We hope that it’s worthwhile, but ask the students if it’s worth it.” Munson said. “This is the first semester we’ve been in it to this level.”

There are currently 25 courses taught completely online at both the undergraduate and graduate level, which is about a 78 percent increase from fall 2001, according to the registrar.

In the first year of eCompanion use, there are 88 courses that offer this Web supplement. Rittby said the blending of traditional classroom experiences with eLearning is probably the future for most TCU courses.

“The main part of this technology will be to blend it in with regular classes, that’s where the strength is,” Rittby said. “TCU doesn’t want to lose its identity.”

He said it’s important to ask the students if an online course is worth the time, and perhaps more work.

Art Busbey, geology professor and faculty member on the eLearning advisory committee, previously taught the course Dinosaurs and Their World online and said he found that some students didn’t know what to expect.

“Some thought because it was online it wasn’t of the same depth,” Busbey said. “They were surprised to find they had to work as hard.”James Riddlesperger, chairman of the political science department, said that one advantage to online learning is that his students can express their opinions better online than in class.

“There’s more interaction when they’re writing,” Riddlesperger said. “They can edit and think about what they’re saying.”

Riddlesperger has taught Topics in American Politics on Health Care Policy during the past two summers, but he said he thinks one disadvantage is that professors don’t get to know their students.

“I could walk down the street or stand behind someone in a grocery store never knowing they’re my student,” Riddlesperger said.

He said he has a good feel for the quality of education his online students are receiving, and thinks they’re learning as much online as in a classroom.

Keon Montgomery, a junior political science major and student in Riddlesperger’s class last summer, said one problem was that he didn’t know how to go about studying for exams.

Montgomery took another online course while at home during the summer at California State University at Bakersfield, and this fall is taking Basic Speech Communication online at TCU.

“I don’t miss interaction between professors and students,” Montgomery said. “I like the convenience of being in my own room.”

Koehler said one of the biggest advantages of online learning is that it’s asynchronous and this convenience is very appealing to students.

He said most professors like the online opportunity, although it is also usually more work for the professor to prepare the coursework.

Munson said supplemental education is where education is headed. TCU, along with other universities offer extensive use of this technology.

Rittby said the advisory committee’s purpose is to look at the university as a whole and determine what it wants to look like, and then give advice to the deans and Koehler.

“Who knows what’s in the future,” Rittby said. “We’re trying to be ready for the changes.”

Colleen Casey