This is College?

I am teaching an on line class this summer, as well as an on-site class. I have taught the on-site class before - expository writing - and the on line class, as well, but this time I have to use new software. I got ready to load my assignments onto the "classroom," but I couldn't get on the "classroom" site for some reason. I think I must be doing something wrong.

The first thing I am doing right, however, is being open to teaching on line. While I am a true believer in the traditional classroom and its interactions, I realize that the education world is changing at a high rate of speed. Many people, especially those who are going back to school, or re-training themselves for a different job or career, find on-line classes the better option. A student can do homework in pajamas, and can post those assignments as his or her schedule allows. "School" can take place after a student gets home from work.

The cost of on-line learning, however, is pretty steep - not in dollars, but in personal instructional interaction that used to take place face-to-face in a classroom. Although I use lecture in a classroom, a lecture that I can transcribe to Word and place on Blackboard, or Angel, or MyCMU, my lectures can become hijacked because of a student's questions or a classroom discussion that ensues after or during the lecture. The on-line student cannot benefit from those impromptu "learning moments." Additionally, on-line students have to be incredibly motivated. Unlike being in a classroom where an assignment may be explained or an example demonstrated, on-line students must read a text and understand the material; an instructor may post an example on a power point presentation or something similar, but the students must be able to learn visually, with no additional explanation.

These instructional/learning method deficits raise important questions: does on-line learning reduce what a student is able to get from a class? Is on-line learning, while convenient, actually "dumbing down" material that should be learned by a student during a semester's time? Can a teacher be as effective in a faceless disembodied cyber-classroom as he/she is in a traditional classroom? By making a college education more accessible, do we make it less meaningful or less comprehensive?

I don't know. I know only that this change has already occurred, and I guess it's up to us to make sure the students get the most out of it.