Teaching an online class actually takes more time and effort. My graduate students expect me to respond any time they have questions. I did create chat room, skype and offer office hours in case they want to have one on one conversation. The expectations from the university is no less than face-to-face classes.

These are interesting questions. Some articles you may find of interest to help inform this discussion are:

Brown, B., Eaton, S. E., & Schroeder, M. (2017). Signature pedagogies in online classes. In A. P. Preciado Babb, L. Yeworiew, & S. Sabbaghan (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the IDEAS Conference 2017: Leading Educational Change Conference (pp. 66-74). Calgary, Canada: Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary.

Murray, L., McCallum, C., & Petrosino, C. (2014). Flipping the classroom experience: A comparison of online learning to traditional lecture. Journal of Physical Therapy Education, 28(3), 35-41.

Franklin, T. (2014). Why quality matters: Strategies for designing quality e-learning environments. The Online Journal of Quality in Higher Education, 1(1), 35-44. Retrieved from http://tojqih.net/pdf/v01i01/v01-i01-05.pdf

The key question is access. I teach criminal justice. Professionals in that field are scattered across the United States. On-line give them access to higher education and advancement within their profession. Here at our university, regular faculty teach both on-line and face to face classes. Thus, there is no difference in pay or teaching qualifications. There should be no difference in content if the on-line class is done right. People who take on-line classes and graduate from the university receive a degree from the university. There is no distinction between on-line and face to face. However, we are a state university and fully accredited. 

Online Learning Advantages and Disadvantages

Nowadays, online learning turns out to be more and more practiced. Many traditional universities started to share their courses online for free. It represents an easy and comfortable method to achieve knowledge in almost every field, from law and accounting, to human sciences, such as psychology and sociology or history. Online learning is a great alternative to traditional universities, especially for people who can’t afford the time and money to take real courses.

Advantages of Online Learning

Although many people still consider traditional universities as the best way to achieve knowledge and get a diploma, online learning proves to be a great alternative. Students have the chance to study in their own time and especially for free. It represents a great way to study many fields and to boost the level of self-motivation. Online learning is so effective because students can finish their homework quickly, and there is more time left for hobbies or for finding a job.

An access to all resources of a traditional course helps participants learn wherever they are, leaving them the freedom to choose the time for study. With basically an Internet connection, a person can attend different courses. Among the advantages of online learning there are the responsibility and self-discipline of students.

Disadvantages of Online Learning

Only in a small group a person can develop properly. At school, students learn how to make friends, be patient, get rid of disappointment, and especially to compete. Competition between colleagues can be very stimulating and students will only benefit from it. Online learning cannot offer human interaction.

Another disadvantage refers to the fact that online courses cannot cope with thousands of students that try to join discussions. Also, online learning can be difficult, if it is meant for disciplines that involve practice.

In conclusion, online learning should be seen as a complement and extension of classical forms of learning. Not even the best online course can fully replace the personal contact with a teacher, or the human relationships that develop in a group. So, traditional classes shouldn’t be replaced with online learning.

An important question living and going on in the imagination of many these days

Especially since many learners live in a state of busy tasks

But the disadvantage of distance or online  learning  is the lack of real competition and the absence of true scientific level among recipients. But it is successful if it concerns important international conferences and lectures.

With online learning:

- Teachers become teaching assistants

- Not easy to have a meaningful discussion with a large audience.

- Proper Evaluations is a difficult task. It is difficult to keep track of students’ assignments and involvement

- Dropout rate is very high.

-  Learners with disabilities and a poor Internet connection can’t use MOOCs

Some useful URLs that gives you detail answers.

http://www.skilledup.com/articles/online-education-vs-traditional-education-the-pros-and-cons

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/is-online-learning-the-future-of-education_us_58d1ac1fe4b062043ad4add5

http://www.hrdive.com/news/contextual-learning-could-soon-replace-traditional-learning/444302/

http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/05/03/the-future-of-jobs-and-jobs-training/

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-03-20-missionu-says-it-can-replace-traditional-college-with-a-one-year-program

http://openpraxis.org/index.php/OpenPraxis/article/viewFile/463/248

As a student in a program for my MA in Higher Education Administration I can tell you that I am very fond of my online program. The structure of the online courses do allow for meaningful conversation among the professor and the students. The assignments that are given are both meaningful and educational. I do not think that online learning can work for all types of programs, but a program that is mostly reading, discussion, and papers is one that can be done easily online. Stony Brook makes the structuring of courses look easy and the material is only as hard as your ability to make sense of it. If you have questions the ideal is that the professor is able to respond to your questions and communicate if you have issues, but overall it has been a fantastic experience for me and I am in my 5th course online with them. I have 5 more to go and although it lacks the in person communication and dialogue between students and faculty the ability to formulate your responses and take time to read and reply to your classmates makes for better discussion in my opinion.

I do feel that there is an unknown element for ethical presentation of your own work in the course because you do not know who is sitting behind the computer actually doing the work. It is based off of faith that the student who is submitting the information is the person who is signed up for the course. This is the only issue that I can see with the implementation of online courses. Although it is stated everywhere that the consequences for such actions will be harsh and upheld, there is no way to really know unless someone copies something verbatim of another work not citing the information.

These are just some of my thoughts from the student side of online education. I know of a few administrators that have completed the program and it is recognized in the higher education community their degrees toward promotions and higher positions. The statistical information will be more and more available as time goes on I believe. Online education will not be able to replace all in person course work, but will be able to be implemented in many disciplines of study as programs develop ways to structure them for their institutions.

I don't see a difference in "learning" per se, but rather a difference in delivery modality. I have been witness to both fantastic and tragically bad learning environments in both online and classroom settings. I think it is important to focus on what makes a rigorous,  engaging, thoughtful dialogue and exchange of ideas, regardless of modality. Can online/blended be this way? Yes, I believe so, but it takes significant instructional design and a different presentation skill set for both faculty and students. 

Short answer, I agree with Matthew Nowakowski.

Long answer...

Teachers must have proper training.  There are many issues and current best practices for online teachers to understand to develop content.  It is not enough to "convert" a face-to-face (F2F) course to an online course and I would argue that it is not ethical for F2F teacher to teach online without some level of training.  This training mitigates many of the challenges proposed by the other submissions.  

Issues that are more difficult to overcome with online learning are related to lab work, clinical observations, field work and the like that are easier F2F--but content is changing rapidly with VR and 3-D models so, in time, this will change as well.

In addition, there is the learning style of the student to consider.  Online environments (done right) create opportunities for introverts, and groups that historically do not participate to be engaged in their learning and thus have improved learning outcomes.

We must also consider access in and accessibility to online learning for low-income students and those with developmental differences.  Online learning can bring education within reach of many students traditionally left out of learning but we must also make sure that it is accessible; both in content design and through Internet accessibility. 

To answer your original questions:

Do you believe that online learning will ever replace conventional learning?

In some cases.  Blended asynchronous and synchronous learning have many benefits that meet the needs of students, instructors and institutions.

How should the teaching faculty be remunerated for online courses?

Depends if teachers are being paid to fully develop a course, convert a course, own the rights to the content, etc. this is a matter of on-going debate. Teachers certainly should be compensated for having a certificate for Online Teaching (OTL).

What are the benefit to the teaching institution?

Reach and enrollment #s

How would employers look at your degree?

No difference if institution is accredited 

Is there an ethical edge to online learning?

There should be an edge to online teaching if we hold high expectations and certification requirements for teachers

Thanks for starting posing these thought-provoking questions.

~Bridget

Cowan, J. E. (2011). Strategies for Developing a Community of Practice: Nine Years of     Lessons Learned in a Hybrid Technology Education Master’s             Program.TechTrends, 56(1), 12-18. doi:10.1007/s11528-011-0549-x. 

Engle, J., Ph.D., & Tinto, V., Ph.D. (n.d.). Moving Beyond Access: College Success For   Low-Income

Jaggars, S. S. (2011, January). Online Learning: Does It Help Low-Income and     Underprepared Students? 

Museus, S. D., Zhang, D., & Kim, M. J. (2016). Developing and Evaluating the     Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE) Scale: An Examination of            Content and Construct Validity. Research in Higher Education, 57(6), 768-793.    doi:10.1007/s11162-015-9405-8. 

Ragan, L., Dr. (n.d.). Distance Education Report: 10 Principles of  Effective Online           Teaching: Best Practices in Distance Education (pp. 4-23, Special Report). 

Thank you for sharing references. I have taught both face-to-face and online for years. Online learning is a trend for many institutions nationwide (world wide as well). My observation with my graduate students rests not only on their motivation to take courses online but also their commitment to get the best of their learning. Faculty who are teaching online can identify slackers or serious learners. Since most schools have unified content/curriculum, it can be challenges for instructors to teach content they are not interested or mastered. Ethical issue is another concern, it is hard to know who wrote the paper. I also notice online learning can be difficult to social learners. For some cultures, such as Hispanics, African American and Asian, they tend to communicate a lot by using their body language. Online learning can not allow them to pick up messages from non-verbal communication. 

Blended learning is an effective way to bridge conventional teaching and online and remove some of  the disadvantages of online teaching and learning. I don't think online learning can replace conventional teaching totally.

As for how employers' attitude toward online degree, 20 years most colleges would not favor online degrees but today the perception has changed.   

The content of the course determines its availability to the medium of online learning. Some courses require blended learning others require an in depth participation of face to face with supplemented online learning. Too many times we jump on board the fashionable activity and go beyond without assessing first the advantages and disadvantages of learning. Learning is a human act and the person is subject to whatever is provided by technology not the other way around. 

Faculty Focus has many online articles that can be used to address pedagogy and other factors related to Teaching and Learning.

I have been teaching in higher education for a total of 29 years--15 of which have been teaching online. I am currently a doctoral student researching online education In response to your questions:

Due to the many learning style, preferences, and types of students served, online education will not replace conventional education. There are many adult learners, particularly in the community colleges, who are older and prefer seated versus online classes.

Professional development is a concern for those who teach online. Having a support team that will work with faculty in best practices, design, and other tools is necessary. Those faculty who teach online also need to have a course reduction load as teaching online can be more involved that seated classroom teaching.

The benefits to an institution could be a plus! If your college provides quality online programs with student support, instructor training, and programs that are much in demand, enrollment will increase, thus increasing revenue for the college.

Employers should look at the degree the same, However, attending fully accreditated colleges carry more weight.

There is an ethical edge...............colleges must develop policies on plagiarism, etc. when having programs online.

I have to agree with Shar Little, with proper design and facilitation, online can have better learning outcomes than face-to-face.  There will always be skills that have to be taught in the classroom but even those can profit from having an online component.  I think of clinical sessions for nursing students or medical students.  If much of the lecture is converted to online, there will be more time to schedule clinical sessions.  It will never completely replace the classroom but it will augment many classes if used correctly. 

With deep experience in online education, I conclude that online mediums are excellent vehicles for scholars, and scholarship. Unfortunately, many students are not, and have little desire to be, scholars. The tendency for many to do only what is required in a particular class mirrors, in my opinion, face to face learning modalities, albeit, we lose the face to face accountability. With that, it is necessary to intentionally design engagement protocol that keeps faculty and student in close communication.

I agree with Shar that teaching on-inline is somewhat different than teaching face to face and requires a great deal of effort. However, as full time faculty at a university, I do not ever foresee a reduction in course load for teaching an on-line class or classes. At my university, teaching an on-line class is treated as teaching any other class in the required course load.

Teaching an online class actually takes more time and effort. My graduate students expect me to respond any time they have questions. I did create chat room, skype and offer office hours in case they want to have one on one conversation. The expectations from the university is no less than face-to-face classes.

online teaching is a bit complicated.

although online teaching/virtual learning has improved a lot but still there are bugs.

module development,assignments,group discussions online,feedback,on demand education are important issues which needed to be updated continuously.

There are many programs which were started with excellent stuff but they lost value as there were no regular updates.

My opinion is the honorarium of teaching faculty must not be less than 33 percent of the fee charged, and the faculty must be involved on permanent basis.

Online education brings the flexibility that adult learners need to further their education, so I am strong advocate of it (see attached). The university benefits in keeping up with this trend that students want and can higher part-time staff, who most times do not enjoy the same benefits as full-time staff. The auto assessment feature in the LMS is more objective and cuts down on the turn around time for grading in some instances. The students have also found that when integrated with Social Media, the classes are more engaging. But online learning must be done effectively for students to truly benefit.

Best regards,

Debra

Data Flexible Learning Environments-Theories-Trends-Issues

Article Online Assessment: Product Development in Academic Writing (...

Article Use of Facebook for enhancing student engagement in a higher...

The role of individual difference cannot be underrated in this questions. Many will always prefer face-2-face teaching-learning process to online form. Also, employers will always see online education as a profit oriented business venture which are likely to compromise quality for economic gain and so may not be willing to put the hope of their organization on people who graduated from online Institutions. As for me, i cant trust online graduates because it is not easy to prevent them from examination malpractices. Even, students that many lecturers are supervising are still managing to utilize online materials perpetrate the evil, let alone those left nonphysically supervised. However, efficient interview process can still take care of that incompetence.

Reply to Babalola: If employer HR departments are up on their research, they may conclude that online learning outcomes not only mirror those of the classroom, but are often times deeper than classroom based learning, as research suggests. It is individual, as you note. In terms of the aspect of cheating, which you indicate, many forms of control still exist. The most pervasive form of cheating, in my experience, continues to be plagiarism. First, well read teachers can often spot plagiarism on the face of a student's writing, however, detection software makes catching plagiarism very easy. The trick is to teach your students how to research and attribute properly so as to avoid plagiarism. Set the bar high, and demand compliance. Also, in testing, I have found that designing open book, timed testing is one way to assess through testing, although I think the whole testing game doesn't really measure knowledge. I prefer dialogic teaching and learning modalities which work even in online asynchronous environments when properly structured in conjunction with research based writing.

Online learning is gradually gaining currency. So I do not think employers would disdain the resulting degree. I do agree that online learning offers opportunities for deeper and longer lasting learning since learners have to explore the contents individually at their own pace even when the lessons are framed in time periods with deadlines.

Best regards

This is an interesting topic. Thank you for posing the questions!

Will online learning ever replace conventional learning?

I think it will eventually replace conventional learning, yet I hope it won't. I believe it does bring an easy solution to people whose work schedule is not fixed or maybe live in a different time zone. I see it important only when the course content is theoretical and conducive to lots of debates and discussions.

Faculty remuneration

I believe that teaching is teaching; it entails preparation, assessment, etc. As long as the professor is doing the same tasks as in conventional classes, remuneration should be the same. 

The benefit to the teaching institution

In universities like the ones I have worked at so far, online courses are more profitable in terms of financing and administration. No physical space is required and the number of enrolled students may be bigger that that in conventional classes.

How employers look at the degree

As an employer, I don't judge an applicant just by the degree. To be honest, I do trust some universities and would consider an application if the applicant is a graduate from one of them. However, even in that case, the degree may be the second element that I consider, and it is followed by a number of more important elements. After all, the first interview  will either confirm my anticipation or may lead to changing my opinion about the source of the degree. 

The ethical edge to online learning

- When a practical course is given online without due consideration to authentic and feasible assessment. 

- When an online course is given to a teacher without making sure that s/he knows the differences between a regular course and an online course; more specifically, preparation of activities, conducting synchronous and asynchronous sessions, using the forum, and handling assessment. 

As with zll education so much depends on the instructor/student chemistry, no matter the instructional platform.

It has its place, but should not become the only learning platform in higher education.

The most pervasive form of cheating, in my experience, continues to be plagiarism. First, well read teachers can often spot plagiarism on the face of a student's writing, however, detection software makes catching plagiarism very easy

I see it important only when the course content is theoretical and conducive to lots of debates and discussions.

What's your take on use of social media to support learning for students with multiple disabilities?

One thing you might note about on-line degrees from accredited universities, the degree doesn't say it's an on-line degree. The degree says it is from that university. Now the reputation of that university is a whole other argument. However, in the United States, most state universities offer degrees that can be totally earned on-line. Many reputable private universities do too.

Hi Ziad,

I'll address your third question dealing with benefits for the institution. First, the institution becomes able to broaden its academic footprint and brand globally well beyond its locality. In some cases, online environments may be used to supplement corporate training (or continuing education requirements) whereby higher education institutions may pursue partnerships with corporate or government entities. For some smaller institutions, the advent and proliferation of online learning represented a cash cow that contributed to increased revenue streams and the ability to tap into new markets. For some institutions, it may have been a last-ditch effort to improve revenues else the university would have closed.

Southern New Hampshire University comes to mind as a prime example...

Have a great day!

--Adrian