During the current COVID-19 crisis, many universities are substituting in person courses with online instruction completely in fall 2020. Students are not pleased. University administrators have fear and consternation about being sued if a student gets sick and dies from COVID-19.
Nevertheless, there is the marketing concept of Value Proposition: [Product + experience + brand when they overlap is the "value proposition" for the consumer.] Students at a few major universities in the United States have filed lawsuits for return of fees and tuition when their universities switched mid-semester to fully online instruction.
The question is should students be allowed to risk their own health for in person instruction they desire in fall 2020. Should they take a "Gap Year" if they don't want online instruction? Why are universities putting low-risk populations in quarantine rather than asking high-risk older populations to quarantine by teaching online? Can smaller private colleges and universities survive if 1/3 of students fail to enroll in fall 2020?
Is online learning an adequate substitute for in person instruction?
Unfortunately no, in particular for those numerical courses that need pictorial illustrations and those discursive courses including business communications, law and ethics that involve debates and interpersonal interactions with peers and instructors.
Safety comes first, with this belief the unanimous decision world over to close schools and colleges means no face to face interaction between the students and teachers. Not a very ideal situation but currently the most appropriate during the pandemic times. A teacher is a Guru, and a guru can never be substituted. Online modules and lectures can continue for completing the syllabus as we dont want the education and knowledge acquisition to suffer or lag behind. But this is hopefully till the situation is more favourable to resume the old school ways.
What matters is students and teachers saftey more than education. We should priotize health, then education comes latter.
Teaching is a process of interpersonal relationships. No online platform can replace that reality. I consider teaching to be an activity carried out jointly through the interaction of elements: one or more teachers, teachers or facilitators, one or more students or students, the object of knowledge, and the educational environment or educational world where they contact teachers and students. Teaching is the process of transmitting a series of knowledge, techniques, standards, and / or skills. It is based on various methods, carried out through a series of institutions, and with the support of a series of materials.
The efficient and quality teaching process is based, among other things, on the transmission of emotions and skills that online platforms cannot offer. Looking at it in another way, we are three-dimensional and not two-dimensional beings. Physical presence is a vital requirement in the teaching process.
Unfortunately no, in particular for those numerical courses that need pictorial illustrations and those discursive courses including business communications, law and ethics that involve debates and interpersonal interactions with peers and instructors.
In this time ( COVID-19 crisis ) I think YES....................
I believe we need to answer this question in light of whether such crisis will continue for a period of more than 6 month up to a year or more than a year. I believe that we will be able to create a medicine for such virus in the near future therefore continuing on line teaching during such period will not do harm to everyone. More efforts are expected from professors, students and universities' administrations. Universities need to calculate the cost of education under the online teaching and determine whether they will incur the same costs as Face to Face teaching or they will be savings. Any percentage of savings needs to be passed to students right away starting from the summer semester onwards until we resume Face to Face teaching. What I like most from the online teaching experience that our role as professors through Face to face teaching will never be considered unnecessary and can easily be substituted by on-line teaching. The face to face teaching with every moment interaction between professors and students is the light of educational learning.
Dr. Bell:
Because online teaching is important for me and for students that I teach, I have done extensive research on online instruction and its effectiveness. That research was, in part, associated with being certified as an online instructor at the University of Illinois -- Springfield campus.
According to the empirical research, online instruction can actually be even more effective than face-to-face instruction -- if, and only if, the instructor has established a clear set of instructional objectives and rubrics and is deeply committed to helping students to achieve those objectives.
The issue is "To what degree is the instructor committed to establishing a personal relationship with the student?" Establishing that relationship requires carefully pre-assessing where the student is at the beginning of any class. Although online teaching can seem "distant" and impersonal, using resources like Zoom, Skype, or Face Time -- and texting and phone calls -- can demonstrate that the instructor is committed to the student's personal learning and can demonstrate the instructor's personal commitment. For example, I have co-authored several papers with students I have taught online but never met personally -- because we established a connection that inspired those students to choose to excel.
Online instruction changes the dynamic of the student-instructor relationship. When an instructor makes that relationship "personal," (s)he can demonstrate to the student that the instructor and student are on the same side. That is, both the instructor and the student are seeking to accomplish the same goals. Great teaching involves understanding the students' goals and delivering to help those students to achieve those goals.
Attached is a paper that I co-authored with Dr. David Abrahams of Bowie State University which identifies the roles that a faculty member plays in relationship to students. Allowing students to own their learning and to become partners in the learning process is critical to learning success. Students, like everyone else in the world, prefer to be treated like valued "Yous" rather than as "Its." Whether in a face-to-face context or in an online or hybrid context, the effectiveness of the learning process is exponentially more effective when students are treated with understanding, commitment, and respect.
The issue is not about "treating students as if they matter." Students do matter. Just as with every relationship, online faculty must demonstrate that they are caring, competent, clear, contextually effective, and possessing of character if they wish to be worthy of being trusted. (See Article Trust and being ‘worthy’ – the key to creating wealth
)Students, whether online or face-to-face, expect their faculty member/instructor to be "worthy" and to demonstrate that they have the ability, integrity, and genuine caring that are essential elements of trustworthiness.
Cam Caldwell
Thanks Dr. Caldwell.
Do you think 1/3 of students, if they don't return in fall 2020, will return at all? I am also interested in knowing if private colleges and universities can survive if they lose 1/3 of their enrollments, despite mostly positive perceptions of online instruction.
What advice would you give college and university administrators on strategies for coping with students who prefer in person learning, especially for programs that require direct contact instruction, i.e. nursing, robotics, engineering, construction management, dance and theater, etc?
Sincerely,
Reginald
Dr. Bell:
America's colleges and universities are in major trouble. I have written two books and several articles about the challenges facing business schools, in particular.
In addressing the needs of students who prefer face-to-face classes, I think the challenges get very real -- especially for HBCUs. The student experience at those schools is as much social as it is academic -- according to the reading that I have done. Online instruction must provide opportunities for student-to-student partnering on projects if students are to feel connected with each other. The good news is that those experiences can be "built in" to course work if an instructor is committed, skilled, and aware of the students' needs. But such experiences only occur when that faculty ownership is real, carefully anticipated and managed, and constantly improved.
I would recommend making all online courses "hybrid" courses so that students could benefit from some degree of face-to-face contact with other students and their faculty members. The number of times that those courses meet in person and the question of social distance and sanitary condition monitoring are real issue but can be handled with high commitment and wise decision-making. Prospective students must know about how those issues will be addressed so that they can believe that their needs will be both understood and met.
Colleges and universities like Prairie View A & M University have to be creative and have faculty who are willing to be "extra mile" performers. . . . or they face the inevitable problems of decreased student enrollment, potential financial loss, and even survival. Managing change and stepping up to the plate MUST be understood and a culture of commitment must be established. Full-time faculty must recognize that their job description has suddenly changed. New rules now apply.
At a small college in Utah, I involved students in addressing the issue of student recruitment and retention in an Organization Behavior course that I taught. Those students developed the following specific ideas that have actually been applied and that have led to unprecedented student growth at this school.:
1) The incoming student body president sent letters to every incoming student in which he welcomed those students, encouraged them to get involved in student activities outside the classroom, and explained the commitment of student government to new students.
2) The students created not one but two videos about a) their favorite professors, and b) things they wish they had known before coming to the school.
3) The students lobbied for a day care program for student parents who had children with the university administration and partnered with other university stakeholders who were also committed to that idea.
4) As part of the class, the students met with and assisted the Director of Recruitment and Retention about tracking factors that improve student success -- and actually developed an instrument that saved the university several thousand dollars (as compared to its previous system) in tracking eight factors used to survey incoming students.
5) The students developed recommendations for improving the transition of international students.
This school is now undertaking achieving D-1 athletic status, in addition to seeing unprecedented growth in student enrollment. Of course, the impacts of COVID-19 will need to be seen in the 2020-2021 school year.
The key questions about whether students will return at all at many schools will depend upon the ability of those schools to be creative in reaching their target audiences. Demonstrating that those schools understand student needs can go a long way to communicate to their prospective students that the faculty are committed to student learning, creative in personalizing that learning, and understanding regarding student needs.
Pre-assessing students, tracking the metrics about student needs, reaching out and personalizing the learning process, and letting students know why they are important are all factors that will influence student enrollment and retention. Those suggestions DO NOT need to cost a lot of money. They do require faculty "owning" their school's success.
It is a knowledge-, wisdom-, and information-based economy. In a recent book that I have written, I identified what colleges and universities need to do to improve their success in the "transformative world." Students, especially students of color, need to know that their academic experience can change their lives for the good and that their academic learning process will make a personal difference in their lives. Faculty members need to be effective and fully committed. The trend of hiring adjuncts who have marginal commitment to the students and to the school is unlikely to be successful -- but full-time faculty must raise the bar. They must also be willing to take on a larger teaching load and raise their own standards of performance.
State and federal dollars must be lobbied for. -- including involvement from students, faculty, and community members. That lobbying effort must demonstrate how and why it is "worth it" for more money to be given to fund colleges and universities. "Heroes" who are willing to fund student tuition and scholarships must be identified. Existing students and alumni need to be advocates and partners with the faculty and administration.
Survival is at stake. Some programs -- like those requiring direct face-to-face contact with students -- need input from the stakeholders (the students, faculty, and future employers). But great schools like Prairie View A & M University can succeed -- if, and only if, the existing faculty and administrators are willing and committed to not just retention and recruitment but EXPANSION and UPGRADING of current programs.
Or, so I believe.
Cam Caldwell
Dr. Caldwell,
I appreciate your explication of this complex problem. Thanks.
Reginald
I have taught brick and mortar and university online graduate/doctoral courses for a total of 14 years. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Universities transitioning to online during the pandemic have two challenges. First, the classes are not designed for online programs and they are scrambling to get them established. Second, the instructors must be technically able to perform complex tasks related to online program platforms. Overall, the health of the students and staff are paramount, as we are fighting a killing machine named CV-19.
Online or offline, it is only a medium of instruction not learning. Learning occurs when the student assimilates the instructions to create an internal semantic structure. How effectively that can be done depends on the student.
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