Today's faculty can reach far beyond a lecture podium and a
chalkboard. Online, college and university educators host discussion
forums, assign collaborative projects and peer review, and allow courses
to become communities of students around the world. They get better
results, too: Studies show that students who take all or part of a
course online perform better than those who take the same course in a
classroom, according to a 2008 report commissioned by the U.S.
Department of Education.
"One thing that's driving this is access," said Tim Rahschulte, assistant professor of business at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. Today's technology allows professors and students to connect around the globe. "We can gain some level of perspective and awareness about the world in which we live, and participate in it. I think it's a great time for students and everyone in the field to be in education."
Of course, it's not all lively chatrooms and stunning statistics. Professors report that some courses don't translate easily to the Web and some students don't work well online. Many professors don't like giving up in-person class discussions; many don't have enough tech support.
But they know technology and education must merge. As more and more schools offer online or hybrid courses -- 61 percent of two-year and four-year institutions did in 2006-2007, according to the National Center for Education Statistics -- faculty members make the on-the-ground decisions that guide online education for their students and their institutions.
Who Likes Teaching Online?
Professors who embrace online learning don't fit stereotypes of age or academic interest.
"I have come across folks in IT who don't want to use learning technologies, and I have come across English professors who dive in," said Andy Petroski, Director of Learning Technologies at Harrisburg University in Pennsylvania, where he leads the Learning Technologies Master of Science program. "It's wrong to say, ‘You're required to use online,' because it may not fit the professor's personality or the content of the class."
Sometimes, professors surprise themselves. "When I first started teaching online several years ago, I was very hesitant. How do you get that same experience of face-to-face?" said Sarah Esveldt, adjunct instructor of health care management at Ottawa University in Kansas.
She found that you don't get the same experience, but in some ways, you get a better one. "I've had specific students face-to-face and online, and the same student may have said very little in a classroom, but then in an online class, they switched over," Esveldt said. "They shared insights, and there was a depth to the learning that they didn't have face-to-face."
Deborah Silverman, assistant professor of communication at Buffalo State College in New York, leads an online-learning task force for the Communication Department.
"We're not about to say that all our courses are suited for online, because I don't think they are," she said. "That's why we have this distance learning task force. For example, are there certain students who do best in the classroom and not online? Should we restrict online courses to upper level, 300 or 400 level courses?"
Silverman taught her first online course, Public Relations Writing, in summer 2009.
"A writing course, to me, is well-suited to distance learning because a lot of what I do in my classes is provide feedback," Silverman said. In an effort to keep the course green, she graded papers on the computer instead of printing them out—and ended up in a doctor's office with neck strain and a backache. "I don't know if I would do that again," she said with a laugh.
Many schools let faculty decide issues like that on their own. But some issues require tech support, and savvy institutions offer that.
"Faculty who take advantage of those resources and spend time with them and get the help they need, tend to do well," said Michael Brubaker, assistant professor and academic coordinator of the University of Cincinnati Addictions Studies Program, which was recently launched online. "Those instructors who try to wing it on their own, they struggle. There's so much you need to learn in this process."
When Buffalo State College announced it was adding a distance-learning graduate program to its International Center for Studies in Creativity, enrollment doubled from about 40 or 50 to nearly 100 students. Students from around the world signed up.
"We decided to start off their graduate experience with a mini-residency, which they call—we don't call it this—creativity boot camp," said Gerard J. Puccio, PhD, chair of the ICSC. "They come in for two weeks, they get some basic fundamentals, and they build a rapport with their cohorts. So, when they go into their online classes, they already have strong bonds with each other."
Thus far, research backs up approaches like this one. Students perform better in hybrid courses—those that mix online learning with face-to-face—than they do in purely online or traditional courses.
Customizing a Course
At Arizona State University, finance Professor L. Wendell Licon posts audio and video of his weekly lectures, and students can download them to their iPods. George Fox's Rahschulte adds to his courses free online lectures from Yale, Stanford, public radio, and public television. Customization doesn't stop there.
"One of our faculty members hosts meetings, lectures, and meets with students in Second Life," said Buffalo State's Puccio.
"Going virtual allows, in a way, for face-to-face interactions," Puccio added. "Buffalo State has a Second Life island. Last year, we had a virtual conference in Second Life. People are at their computers around the world listening to a keynote speaker, and then are able to ask questions and do activities together."
Setting Standards for Quality Instruction
"We have heard some concerns [from faculty] as far as academic quality issues," said Dr. Fred Romero, Academic Dean of Online Education at Ottawa University. OU addresses that in part by requiring a three-phase certification process for faculty who want to teach online. From first-year adjuncts to veteran professors, they all go through a three-week training course, a mentoring phase, and a peer review phase. The school also provides clear goals for professors.
"We like to see that faculty respond to students within 24 hours, if possible," said Dr. Karen Bryson, assistant professor of psychology and human services at OU. "We like faculty to grade assignments within one week. We have discussion boards where students are interacting with each other, discussing topics each week; we make sure faculty are active there and have a presence."
It works both ways, too. Rahschulte sets specific goals for his students.
"The value in online learning, especially at the graduate and doctorate level, is the interaction among students," Rahschulte said. "I encourage my students to post as much as they want, but I require them to post at least two original threads and respond to at least two other posts" during each unit of the course.
Online, Nobody Knows You're Shy
Professors wary of online teaching can be won over when they see their class become a community.
"The individual who is quiet and reserved has just as much ability to sit at a computer and type in a response or post, and they're not being talked over by anyone else," Rahschulte said.
One of Brubaker's colleagues in Cincinatti developed a health issue mid-semester and had to move her traditional class to an online setting.
"She, like a lot of folks, thought, ‘Well, it's better than nothing,'" Brubaker said. "But she actually found that her students were more reflective and gave more input when they went online."
When that instructor asked her students why that was happening, they gave an array of reasons: They had more time to think about their responses, they didn't feel shy about speaking up, or they could respond when they were most rested and prepared.
"Everyone has a chance to participate, voice their experiences, and as an instructor, it's very rewarding," said Ottawa's Bryson.
Spotting a Gifted Student or a Struggling One
Even without face-to-face interaction, students' strengths and weaknesses can shine through. "Of course you lose the non-verbal forms of communication that can be so useful in picking up this kind of information," said Buffalo State's Puccio. "However, one clear advantage is that online courses usually involve a great deal of written participation. You can determine through the quantity, quality, and consistency, the degree to which a student is doing well in the course. In some ways, this kind of participation provides more rich information than does a seated course."
Teachers can also spot excellence in online students through the quality of their contributions of additional resources and the alternative thoughts they bring to the class, Petroski said. "Writing off subject or topic and lack of activity in the online world can be an indicator of someone who is struggling," he added.
At Ottawa Online, teachers gauge students' progress by requiring weekly online discussions and other weekly assignments. "In ground courses, there usually is no regular weekly evidence of students' abilities in grasping course content, especially with instructors who primarily lecture," said Romero, the school's dean. Plus, each online course has its own virtual cafe, open for student discussion. "It is surprising how some students will self-disclose their fears and other difficult issues they are facing."
Teaching Around the Clock
Even professors who enjoy teaching online say those courses require more time to prepare, to manage, and to respond to students' work.
Silverman says she spent 40 to 50 hours a week on her first summer course at Buffalo State. Licon taught a five-week MBA course this fall at Arizona State without a single day off.
"I go [online] at 11 o'clock at night and see if there's anything that can't wait until morning," Licon said. "At week four, you fall asleep on the couch in front of the TV, wake up at 1 a.m. and realize you have to check Blackboard. To be honest, that's tough."
"I think it's one of the benefits of online learning; it does require more preparation from the faculty involved," Rahschulte said. Online, professors can't rely on visual cues and body language to gauge understanding, so each lesson has to have a clear intention and structure, something Rahschulte appreciates.
Fewer Students, More Work, and (a little) More Money
The extra time instructors spend on their classes means a tighter enrollment cap at some schools. Ottawa Online has a maximum enrollment policy of 20 students, for example.
"The reason we limit the enrollment is our strict policy that instructors must respond to each individual student within 24 to 48 hours," said Ottawa's Romero. "This has our instructors working in a course several times a week, including weekends. Because of the tougher schedule, online instructors are typically paid a little more—not much more—than ground instructors."
Buffalo State's online graduate program in creativity accepts students from all over the world, but a limited number. "Some are of the opinion that you can teach more students in an online environment; that has not been our experience," Puccio said. "Just consider: In a seated class environment, your interactions are boxed in by the schedule of the class, and whatever brief communication you might have with students outside the class sessions. The danger with an online course is that it does not have such time constraints, and as a consequence, I know, my faculty have spend many additional hours, and often at odd times, interacting with their students."
Those additional hours, Puccio said, now earn teachers a little extra pay.
"Beginning next summer, faculty who prepare and deliver a new online course will receive an additional stipend above and beyond the standard pay provided to teach summer courses," Puccio said.
Online professors aren't just seeing more pay and greater professional satisfaction. They're also getting a little more respect—from their brick-and-mortar colleagues and from each other.
"Initially, online learning in general really was not well-received by learners and some teachers because it was all text-based," Petroski said. "As we move to mixed medium and mixed delivery, teachers will use the strengths of each medium and delivery method to create an experience that is better/different than what currently exists online or in the classroom."
He believes that in the near future, online education will be viewed as an advanced form of teaching. Romero, who says professors used to think online courses weren't good enough because they lacked enough interaction, sees a major shift in perception coming, too.
"The traditional modes of teaching are becoming passé," Romero said. "The old lecture, homework assignments, exams, PowerPoint presentations, role playing, etc., are all useful techniques, but technology is opening up new ways of learning that I believe will change classroom instruction.
"The use of online simulators; virtual environments that allow you to experience what you are learning; the ability to communicate and learn with diverse students and professors from around the world; the ability to download a presentation you missed on your iPod; the ability to take a course within your own schedule while working full-time and raising a family; and many more options will change the notion of ‘real' teaching."
So, What Can't You Do Online?
"There are definitely challenges to teaching certain types of courses online," Brubaker said. For example, he said, students learning to be addiction counselors need face-to-face practice and evaluation of those skills. Brubaker's program allows students to upload video or audio of themselves working with a volunteer, or turn in a written transcript of a practice session.
Other challenges are purely technical. "Some of our students don't even have computers," Brubaker said. "Some of our distance learners are in remote sites, and broadband isn't in their area yet. We're brand new and trying to overcome some of those challenges."
Ready or Not, Here They Come
More than 3.9 million students took at least one online course in fall of 2007, according to the Sloan Consortium, a nonprofit group that promotes online education; that's 21.9 percent of all students in higher education. About 80 percent of them were undergraduates. "We know this is the wave of the future," Silverman said.
Still, Silverman hopes that wave leaves some dry land.
"I would hate to see the day come when I am only an online professor," she said. "There is a lot of joy in the day-to-day interactions with students."
"One thing that's driving this is access," said Tim Rahschulte, assistant professor of business at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. Today's technology allows professors and students to connect around the globe. "We can gain some level of perspective and awareness about the world in which we live, and participate in it. I think it's a great time for students and everyone in the field to be in education."
Of course, it's not all lively chatrooms and stunning statistics. Professors report that some courses don't translate easily to the Web and some students don't work well online. Many professors don't like giving up in-person class discussions; many don't have enough tech support.
But they know technology and education must merge. As more and more schools offer online or hybrid courses -- 61 percent of two-year and four-year institutions did in 2006-2007, according to the National Center for Education Statistics -- faculty members make the on-the-ground decisions that guide online education for their students and their institutions.
Who Likes Teaching Online?
Professors who embrace online learning don't fit stereotypes of age or academic interest.
"I have come across folks in IT who don't want to use learning technologies, and I have come across English professors who dive in," said Andy Petroski, Director of Learning Technologies at Harrisburg University in Pennsylvania, where he leads the Learning Technologies Master of Science program. "It's wrong to say, ‘You're required to use online,' because it may not fit the professor's personality or the content of the class."
Sometimes, professors surprise themselves. "When I first started teaching online several years ago, I was very hesitant. How do you get that same experience of face-to-face?" said Sarah Esveldt, adjunct instructor of health care management at Ottawa University in Kansas.
She found that you don't get the same experience, but in some ways, you get a better one. "I've had specific students face-to-face and online, and the same student may have said very little in a classroom, but then in an online class, they switched over," Esveldt said. "They shared insights, and there was a depth to the learning that they didn't have face-to-face."
Online Classes: 5 Tips for Students
Task Forces and Tech Support- Find out what equipment you need ahead of time. Ask your school whether your current Internet connection and computer processor will be fast enough; you want to be able to participate fully in discussions and download all the good stuff, like course videos and podcasts.
- Don't expect online classes to be easier. Yes, online courses offer flexibility — you can do classwork at 2 a.m. if you want — but they also demand more of your time and effort. "Students don't have the advantage of just sitting in a classroom and hearing someone speak. All of that has to be read," said Dr. Karen Bryson, assistant professor of psychology and human services at Ottawa University.
- Do expect to get a lot out of your online classes, both from your teachers and your classmates. Many teachers interact with students online every day, and they notice that students participate more often and more substantively in online classes. "They're watching community happen online in ways they never thought would happen," said Michael Brubaker, assistant professor and academic coordinator of the University of Cincinnati Addictions Studies Program.
- Speak up. Online education is evolving, and if you want to do more of your online coursework via video, audio, Second Life, or other technology, say so. Many schools welcome suggestions from both teachers and students.
- If you can, meet your teacher and at least a few classmates in person. A graduate program at Buffalo State requires students to come to campus for two weeks at the start of the semester. "When they go into their online classes, they already have strong bonds with each other," said Gerard J. Puccio, PhD, chairman of Buffalo's International Center for Studies in Creativity.
Deborah Silverman, assistant professor of communication at Buffalo State College in New York, leads an online-learning task force for the Communication Department.
"We're not about to say that all our courses are suited for online, because I don't think they are," she said. "That's why we have this distance learning task force. For example, are there certain students who do best in the classroom and not online? Should we restrict online courses to upper level, 300 or 400 level courses?"
Silverman taught her first online course, Public Relations Writing, in summer 2009.
"A writing course, to me, is well-suited to distance learning because a lot of what I do in my classes is provide feedback," Silverman said. In an effort to keep the course green, she graded papers on the computer instead of printing them out—and ended up in a doctor's office with neck strain and a backache. "I don't know if I would do that again," she said with a laugh.
Many schools let faculty decide issues like that on their own. But some issues require tech support, and savvy institutions offer that.
"Faculty who take advantage of those resources and spend time with them and get the help they need, tend to do well," said Michael Brubaker, assistant professor and academic coordinator of the University of Cincinnati Addictions Studies Program, which was recently launched online. "Those instructors who try to wing it on their own, they struggle. There's so much you need to learn in this process."
Online Classes: 5 Tips for Teachers
Finding the Right Blend of Online and Off- Get comfortable with communication tools, and play around until you find the right mix for you and your students. "A lot of hardware these days makes it quite easy to provide a 5- or 7-minute video or audio explanation of a complex topic," said Tim Rahschulte, assistant professor of business at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. "I find value in both pointing them to Internet-based resources and in providing my own video."
- Fighting the technology? Ask for help from the pros. Michael Brubaker, assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati, makes use of his school's Faculty Technology Resource Center. "They don't expect us to be the technology experts; they take care of that, and that makes a big difference," he said. "Faculty who take advantage of those resources and spend time with them and get the help they need, tend to do well."
- Expect to spend more time on an online course than you do on a classroom course. "In a classroom, you can lecture for 20 minutes and have a discussion," Rahschulte said. "Online, you might need to couple that with other activities, and build a two-week period in which the same learning outcome is reached. Then the students have to have time to read and provide comments and feedback."
- Go with your instinct, and don't worry about perfection. "One day, we demoed an animation tool, and the next day one of the professors had already put together an animation for her students at open house," said Andy Petroski, Director of Learning Technologies at Harrisburg University in Pennsylvania. "If you see some shimmer of potential or interest or excitement, you need to play with it. You don't need to have a perfect plan."
- Remember that much of online learning is self-directed. "If you give students just a little bit more time, and let them pace themselves, sure, some of them will do badly, but some will ration the learning at their own pace," said Arizona State University finance Professor L. Wendell Licon. "You can almost see the light go on in their head based on the questions they're asking."
When Buffalo State College announced it was adding a distance-learning graduate program to its International Center for Studies in Creativity, enrollment doubled from about 40 or 50 to nearly 100 students. Students from around the world signed up.
"We decided to start off their graduate experience with a mini-residency, which they call—we don't call it this—creativity boot camp," said Gerard J. Puccio, PhD, chair of the ICSC. "They come in for two weeks, they get some basic fundamentals, and they build a rapport with their cohorts. So, when they go into their online classes, they already have strong bonds with each other."
Thus far, research backs up approaches like this one. Students perform better in hybrid courses—those that mix online learning with face-to-face—than they do in purely online or traditional courses.
Customizing a Course
At Arizona State University, finance Professor L. Wendell Licon posts audio and video of his weekly lectures, and students can download them to their iPods. George Fox's Rahschulte adds to his courses free online lectures from Yale, Stanford, public radio, and public television. Customization doesn't stop there.
"One of our faculty members hosts meetings, lectures, and meets with students in Second Life," said Buffalo State's Puccio.
"Going virtual allows, in a way, for face-to-face interactions," Puccio added. "Buffalo State has a Second Life island. Last year, we had a virtual conference in Second Life. People are at their computers around the world listening to a keynote speaker, and then are able to ask questions and do activities together."
Setting Standards for Quality Instruction
"We have heard some concerns [from faculty] as far as academic quality issues," said Dr. Fred Romero, Academic Dean of Online Education at Ottawa University. OU addresses that in part by requiring a three-phase certification process for faculty who want to teach online. From first-year adjuncts to veteran professors, they all go through a three-week training course, a mentoring phase, and a peer review phase. The school also provides clear goals for professors.
"We like to see that faculty respond to students within 24 hours, if possible," said Dr. Karen Bryson, assistant professor of psychology and human services at OU. "We like faculty to grade assignments within one week. We have discussion boards where students are interacting with each other, discussing topics each week; we make sure faculty are active there and have a presence."
It works both ways, too. Rahschulte sets specific goals for his students.
"The value in online learning, especially at the graduate and doctorate level, is the interaction among students," Rahschulte said. "I encourage my students to post as much as they want, but I require them to post at least two original threads and respond to at least two other posts" during each unit of the course.
Online, Nobody Knows You're Shy
Professors wary of online teaching can be won over when they see their class become a community.
"The individual who is quiet and reserved has just as much ability to sit at a computer and type in a response or post, and they're not being talked over by anyone else," Rahschulte said.
One of Brubaker's colleagues in Cincinatti developed a health issue mid-semester and had to move her traditional class to an online setting.
"She, like a lot of folks, thought, ‘Well, it's better than nothing,'" Brubaker said. "But she actually found that her students were more reflective and gave more input when they went online."
When that instructor asked her students why that was happening, they gave an array of reasons: They had more time to think about their responses, they didn't feel shy about speaking up, or they could respond when they were most rested and prepared.
"Everyone has a chance to participate, voice their experiences, and as an instructor, it's very rewarding," said Ottawa's Bryson.
Spotting a Gifted Student or a Struggling One
Even without face-to-face interaction, students' strengths and weaknesses can shine through. "Of course you lose the non-verbal forms of communication that can be so useful in picking up this kind of information," said Buffalo State's Puccio. "However, one clear advantage is that online courses usually involve a great deal of written participation. You can determine through the quantity, quality, and consistency, the degree to which a student is doing well in the course. In some ways, this kind of participation provides more rich information than does a seated course."
Teachers can also spot excellence in online students through the quality of their contributions of additional resources and the alternative thoughts they bring to the class, Petroski said. "Writing off subject or topic and lack of activity in the online world can be an indicator of someone who is struggling," he added.
At Ottawa Online, teachers gauge students' progress by requiring weekly online discussions and other weekly assignments. "In ground courses, there usually is no regular weekly evidence of students' abilities in grasping course content, especially with instructors who primarily lecture," said Romero, the school's dean. Plus, each online course has its own virtual cafe, open for student discussion. "It is surprising how some students will self-disclose their fears and other difficult issues they are facing."
Teaching Around the Clock
Even professors who enjoy teaching online say those courses require more time to prepare, to manage, and to respond to students' work.
Silverman says she spent 40 to 50 hours a week on her first summer course at Buffalo State. Licon taught a five-week MBA course this fall at Arizona State without a single day off.
"I go [online] at 11 o'clock at night and see if there's anything that can't wait until morning," Licon said. "At week four, you fall asleep on the couch in front of the TV, wake up at 1 a.m. and realize you have to check Blackboard. To be honest, that's tough."
"I think it's one of the benefits of online learning; it does require more preparation from the faculty involved," Rahschulte said. Online, professors can't rely on visual cues and body language to gauge understanding, so each lesson has to have a clear intention and structure, something Rahschulte appreciates.
Fewer Students, More Work, and (a little) More Money
The extra time instructors spend on their classes means a tighter enrollment cap at some schools. Ottawa Online has a maximum enrollment policy of 20 students, for example.
"The reason we limit the enrollment is our strict policy that instructors must respond to each individual student within 24 to 48 hours," said Ottawa's Romero. "This has our instructors working in a course several times a week, including weekends. Because of the tougher schedule, online instructors are typically paid a little more—not much more—than ground instructors."
Buffalo State's online graduate program in creativity accepts students from all over the world, but a limited number. "Some are of the opinion that you can teach more students in an online environment; that has not been our experience," Puccio said. "Just consider: In a seated class environment, your interactions are boxed in by the schedule of the class, and whatever brief communication you might have with students outside the class sessions. The danger with an online course is that it does not have such time constraints, and as a consequence, I know, my faculty have spend many additional hours, and often at odd times, interacting with their students."
Those additional hours, Puccio said, now earn teachers a little extra pay.
"Beginning next summer, faculty who prepare and deliver a new online course will receive an additional stipend above and beyond the standard pay provided to teach summer courses," Puccio said.
To Catch a Cheat ... Online
The same technology that makes online classes possible can also help detect cheating.
A Little RespectThe same technology that makes online classes possible can also help detect cheating.
- "Our new Blackboard platform has a built-in plagiarism detector that will automatically inform the instructor if a student plagiarized," said Dr. Fred Romero, Academic Dean of Online Education at Ottawa University. "In fact, this software will also detect self-plagiarism—turning in the same work used in another online course."
- TurnItIn.com, a service that can be integrated with VLEs like Blackboard, also acts as a check on cheating. Students post their completed assignments to TurnItIn, where it is scanned for phrases that also appear on Web pages, in other students' papers, and in magazines, journals, and books. Each assignment gets an "originality score," which can help the instructor discover whether the student didn't correctly cite his sources, or misappropriated other work, or plagiarized the work.
- "One of my colleagues uses TurnItIn to check for this exact issue," said Gerard Puccio, PhD, chairman of the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State. "He, on occasion, has discovered that a student has drawn material directly from digital sources available online."
- And of course, online teachers also catch cheaters the old-fashioned way. She might not know her students' faces, but after a few assignments, she probably knows their work.
- "If a faculty member is aware enough of the subject matter, and of his or her students, that instructor can detect cheating," said Tim Rahschulte, assistant professor of business at George Fox University in Oregon. "This is an issue regardless of brick-n-mortar or online courses."
Online professors aren't just seeing more pay and greater professional satisfaction. They're also getting a little more respect—from their brick-and-mortar colleagues and from each other.
"Initially, online learning in general really was not well-received by learners and some teachers because it was all text-based," Petroski said. "As we move to mixed medium and mixed delivery, teachers will use the strengths of each medium and delivery method to create an experience that is better/different than what currently exists online or in the classroom."
He believes that in the near future, online education will be viewed as an advanced form of teaching. Romero, who says professors used to think online courses weren't good enough because they lacked enough interaction, sees a major shift in perception coming, too.
"The traditional modes of teaching are becoming passé," Romero said. "The old lecture, homework assignments, exams, PowerPoint presentations, role playing, etc., are all useful techniques, but technology is opening up new ways of learning that I believe will change classroom instruction.
"The use of online simulators; virtual environments that allow you to experience what you are learning; the ability to communicate and learn with diverse students and professors from around the world; the ability to download a presentation you missed on your iPod; the ability to take a course within your own schedule while working full-time and raising a family; and many more options will change the notion of ‘real' teaching."
So, What Can't You Do Online?
"There are definitely challenges to teaching certain types of courses online," Brubaker said. For example, he said, students learning to be addiction counselors need face-to-face practice and evaluation of those skills. Brubaker's program allows students to upload video or audio of themselves working with a volunteer, or turn in a written transcript of a practice session.
Other challenges are purely technical. "Some of our students don't even have computers," Brubaker said. "Some of our distance learners are in remote sites, and broadband isn't in their area yet. We're brand new and trying to overcome some of those challenges."
Ready or Not, Here They Come
More than 3.9 million students took at least one online course in fall of 2007, according to the Sloan Consortium, a nonprofit group that promotes online education; that's 21.9 percent of all students in higher education. About 80 percent of them were undergraduates. "We know this is the wave of the future," Silverman said.
Still, Silverman hopes that wave leaves some dry land.
"I would hate to see the day come when I am only an online professor," she said. "There is a lot of joy in the day-to-day interactions with students."
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