Temple University - Templar Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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While the idea of freeing up 3-4 hours a week of class time might leave a student with the impression that an online course is less work - it is actually equal to or in most cases, more work than a traditional course that meets in a classroom. Students are expected to actively contribute by posting email responses to issues raised in class. Most pro- fessors require a certain number of postings each week from the students and consider these when calculating grades. Those who decide to sit back and only read their classmate ' s comments will find themselves left behind. Students are also expected to use the resources available online - the Internet, Listservs and Bulletin Boards - as support materials for the issues that are being covered in class. The ideal online candidate is self-motivated and can budget their time effectively while working inde- pendently, reports Conchetta Stewart, Ph.D., Faculty Fellow for the Online Learning Program and Assistant Professor of BTMM. Dr. Stewart, teacher of two online learning courses, says that it is not only the student that has a heavy workload in cyberspace learning. It ' s more work for the professor as well, she says. Not only do you have the normal workload of grading assignments and papers but you also have to read every email posting and direct the online discussions. Probably the best thing about taking an online course is its flexibility. Those students who are good time managers will be most successful in online courses. It is necessary to be able to allot the proper amount of time to the course much like what is needed for a traditional classroom situation. The big difference is the students will not see their classmates or their professor face-to-face each week. While this may seem to many like a cold, imper- sonal way to run a class, it is not that way at all. I try to keep in close contact with my online students, says Dr. Stewart. I will often put photographs of my students on the class website to help connect a face with an e-mail address. Some professors are even more accessible to students than in traditional classes because of the constant email discussions and nearly daily feedback the professors dispense. So now after the tremendous growth in the Online Learning Program in just four semesters, what ' s on the agenda for the future? One of the most significant and exciting developments at Temple is the formation of Teaching, Learning, Technology Roundtable (TLTR). This think tank-style group is the first one in the United States. It was formed when the Association for Higher Education came to Temple seeking an organization to be the innovator for the development of technology-based teaching methods. The TLTR has taken on the agenda of sculpting the Online Learning Program into more than a randomly-chosen package of unrelated courses but into a comprehensive sys- tem with a degree completion focus. We know that there is a lot that ' s not understood yet about how to do this well, admits Dr. Stewart. But, we are constantly reviewing feedback from professors and students on what works and what doesn ' t in online classes. One of the concerns of the online professors is the availability of research materials to students who do not come to campus regularly. While Paley Library has site license for such commercial information services as

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the Wanted: Students to take courses in their pajamas, to complete their degrees from home and trade campus-based meetings for ones in cyberspace. Think of it. You ' re taking a required 3-credit architecture course but you don ' t ever venture on campus. You are within reaching distance of your own personal food truck (the refrigerator) and you can turn in that tough writ- ing assignment at 3:00 a.m. Sound like Utopia? It was just that for over 400 Temple students who have signed up for courses through the Online Learning Program since its inception in 1996. Distance Learning courses are nothing new but the technology that fuels them has changed rapidly in the last decade. What was once a highly complicated and specialized area of teaching has become a substantial part of many university ' s ' curricula. Never one to be behind the curve on technology, Temple ' s Online Learning Program has enjoyed exponential growth. Just over a year ago, the department began offering two online courses to about 20 students. From this mod- est beginning, computer and videoconferencing-based courses now offered at Temple number over 65 classes from a variety of disciplines. But exactly what is involved in register- ing and attending an online course? Students sometimes have misconcep- tions about taking a course completely via a computer, says Catherine Schifter, Ph.D., Director Faculty Fellow of the Online Learning Program and an Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy. Sometim es students believe that a course without actual class meetings will be less work than a traditional one but nothing could be further from the truth. Photo by Bri.in Krislel

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CYBER CLASSROOM cont.. Lexis Nexus, students who are taking online courses do not have access to this prohibitively expen- sive service unless they make the trip to Main Campus. This will soon change as Paley upgrades to offer more of these services to students who accesses the library ' s informational databases online. What about those students who sign up for the traditional classroom-based courses? What opportunities do they have to learn these highly-marketable technology skills? Fortunately, every- one has the chance to gain some cyber experience in their Temple college career. Dr. Stewart, for example, is one of the many professors who integrates computers into her classrooms. She teaches a Communications Theory class in a Smart Classroom equipped with a personal computer, projection monitors and overhead viewers to keep the attention of the more than 100 students in her audience. I use videos, overheads and Powerpoint to help students visually connect with the topic of the day, explains Dr. Stewart. I would lave one day to have some type of interactivity from each student in these classes via an electronic device at each desk. It sounds like the university of the Jetsons is coming closer to Temple ' s campus each day. MB Kurilko 4 II] UWil :l S Wil i