Teaching Online Classes requires the instructor to spend more time in the online class environment than that same instructor would have spent in a classroom teaching environment, not to mention that the instructor had more freedom to design how the material was to be taught than that same instructor would have had in an online environment.
Plus, classroom sizes might be 15-20 students whereas online, class sizes are 30-40 and sometimes 50 making it even more cost effective for the school, the higher the student teacher ratio.
About all you can manage in an online environment is:
- reading assignments
- writing assignments
- research assignments
- answering questions
- participating in discussion forums
- team assignments are possible but hard to implement and monitor
- quizzes and tests
The student has access to more material because the instructor will post all sorts of articles, links, and self-study modules even though the students may not use these extra materials at all.
Another issue is that the students can take all tests with an open book even though some of these quizzes and tests are "timed."
A critical issue that has yet to be resolved is the fact that the student could have another person take the quiz/tests and actually write the papers for the student, leaving the efficacy of online learning in question.
Teamwork has been a constant source of irritation because some students simply do not participate and the whole team receives the grade including those who have not contributed; therefore, it is highly recommended that an extra component be added when having team assignment and that is to have each person grade the other person's performance and contribution which may or may not solve the problem is there are students who do not want to negatively evaluate any student.
AS A FORMER EMPLOYER, I would not be willing to hire anyone who received a degree where 80% of their education came from online courses unless I was forced to hire them by those to whom I reported.
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