Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Venting...
I found that this vent is appropriate considering a recent class discussion exercise. Essientially, the question is, is web 2.0 necessary? While I believe web 2.0 has much potential there are too many cases of poor examples of instructors and poor course design. Case in point, student contacts me on nearly the last day of class for support (including emotional support), she has no idea where to turn, her internet lost connection during the final examination, she has tried to reach the instructor by email and phone to ask for assistance in resetting the exam, the real problem is that during the course of the term this particular instructor has made no effort to have commuications with the students. Essentially, he drops content in the LMS and lets the students fend for themselves. Short end of that story is that the test was reset after contacting several other individuals. Why this is so unset though is that I brought it to the attention of the de chair for that specific department and the response was that they are aware of the issues with this particular instructor but because they are tenured there is little that can be done. This sent steam out my ears. This is exactly the reason web 2.0 has the potential to do little for teaching, because our current instructors and the systems that employ them are failing in providing the basics.
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I completely agree. I have been an online student since 2002 and I have had some awesome professors and some who basically do nothing to engage us. I think what might happen, is adjunct professors take on too many online courses believing that they can take on more because of the "flexibility" of online courses. They want to make more money. This is understandable, but you still need to have contact with your students and keep up with your load. They expect it out of us, so why not expect it out of them? We pay for our education. We don't pay to visit the LMS and get no insight but written material. My co-worker is a phenomenal online instructor. He actually records himself and posts it on the class page. He talks to his students like he cares. His classroom is his child. That is the approach I will take if I ever get my hands on my very own WT class! :)
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