Sociology Department Retreat

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Sociology Department Retreat

• Friday, January 16, 2009
• University Club

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Universities are at a Crossroad
And The Question is
Will Classes Fail Their Students More Than
Students Will Fail Their Classes?
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(No Transcript)
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• Kaplan University has grown from 24 students in
  2001 to 48,000 today, a 2000 increase in just
  eight years.

• Kaplan is fully accredited and now ranks among
  the countrys top ten single campus university
  enrollments.

• A full 82 of Kaplans classes are taught
  online.

Why should we care?
Because Kaplan University, and others like it,
illustrate the crossroad decision being made at
the universities throughout the country.
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Some say these crossroads exist because of
demand, as in the changing student demographic.
To be sure online students, today, are more
likely to be

• Older more than 80 are over 24 yrs old

• Working nearly twice as likely to be full-time

• Women 16 more likely

• Part Time 60 more likely

• Commuters 20 more likely to commute 30 miles

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Others say these crossroads exist as a function
of supply, as in the economic troubles of
todays universities

• Tuition costs are up (adjusted for inflation, a
  50 increase during the past 10 years).

• Public Support is down (as a proportion of
  total funding, it is down 40 during the same
  period).

• Aggregate Faculty Salaries are up Faculty age
  distribution portends a disproportionately high
  aggregate salary (20 real increase in 90-05 vs.
  75 to 90).

• Capital Outlay is Down (relies on Revenue
  Bonds which are becoming increasingly difficult
  to sell).

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Yet, as social scientists, our concerns should
focus more on the functions and dysfunctions of
online teaching. At the Micro level, we should
at least be asking these questions

• Student Learning Style Do students who engage
  in on-line learning have to be more proactive
  then their classroom based counterparts? More
  collaborative? More technologically adept? And
  how do these styles that vary across student
  characteristics?

• Student Instructor Relationships Do certain
  teacher-student discourse require face-to-face
  interaction (e.g. critical reasoning vs. drill
  and practice)?

• Student Inclusivity Should online classes have
  to address all students, to the exclusion of the
  classroom counterpart, or can they co-exist? If
  so, how?

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At the Macro level, we need to understand the
organizational context of online learning and
should be asking at least these questions

• Structural Differences What makes the
  structured environment of the classroom different
  from an online learning community? Are they
  mutually exclusive or can they be integrated?
  Should they be synchronous or can they be
  asynchronous? Is it strictly the technology
  that distinguishes the two or can either utilize
  the same technology?

• Organizational Support Structurally, should
  the university support and facilitate increasing
  adaptation of faculty to online teaching . If so,
  how?

• Unintended Consequences Given the paradigm
  shift that online learning portends, what are the
  prerequisites necessary to make it happen and the
  unintended consequences of fostering online
  learning (e.g. 24-7 email replies)?

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Dr. Herman Debose
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Why Online Instruction?
Millenials (Oblinger, 2003)
Generation X
Net Geners (Barnes et al, 2007)
Students have changed
Digital Natives (Prensky, 2001)
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How Do 21st Century StudentsPrefer to Learn?

Source ECAR Research Study, Students and
Information Technology, 2008
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So, How Did EED Address Students Learning
Preferences in Teaching?
Reusable Learning Objects

• available 24/7
• instant feedback
• location independent
• as many times as desired

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Pre-requisite Knowledgeon Video
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SLA Theorieson LecShare
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Synch Lectures Group Discussions on Elluminate
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Benefits to Teaching Online?Are there any?to
Students? to Faculty?

• Listen to What Your Own Colleagues Have to Say
  About Their Own Experiences in Teaching Online?
• Ellis Godard
• Jerry Schutte

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Accessibility Online

• Aspects
• International students
• Enabling the disabled
• Benefits
• SLOs assessment necessarily explicit
• Attention (theirs yours) directed to
  interaction critical thinking
• Higher fees for non-US savings w/o interpreters

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What Do We Know?
Cons
Online Technology is costly and ever changing.
Online Instruction is time consuming.
Online Instruction is not well defined or
researched.
Pros
Online Instruction induces flexibility.
Online Instruction fosters collaboration.
Online Instruction increases student performance.
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Faculty Technology Center

• Training Faculty Support
• Universal Design and Accessible Technology
• Instructional Design and Course Redesign
• Video Production
• FTC Office Oviatt 5
• FTC Video Production Studio Oviatt 37
• FTC Lab Oviatt 30
• Extension 3443
• ftc_at_csun.edu
• www.csun.edu/at

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Instructional Technologies

• WebCT Learning management system
• Elluminate Real time online classroom
• LecShare Accessible online lectures
• TurnItIn Plagiarism detection
• Respondus Online quizzes
• DocSoft Captioning
• Softchalk - LessonBuilder

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Faculty Associates Assisting Faculty

• RuthAnn Anderson
• Sandra B. Chong
• Barry Cleveland
• Jacek M. Polewczak
• Michael Schofield
• Ashley Skylar
• 2009-2010 Faculty Associate applications
  available Spring 2009

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Group Activity

• Group Assignments Table Groups
• Group Tasks
• Discuss your experiences in teaching online
  (supplemental, hybrid and/or fully online models)
• CHART
• pros cons experienced in teaching online
• Brainstorm apprehensions in teaching online, if
  any?
• Brainstorm questions or issues
• Time allocated 20 minutes Followed by
• Whole Group Share and Concluding with a
• Sharing of Charts

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5 min. Group Report Q A
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Resources

• Allen, E. Seaman, J. (2008). Staying the
  course. Online education in the United States,
  2008. Sloan-C.
• ECAR (2008). The ECAR study of undergraduate
  students and information technology, 2008.
  EDUCAUSE
• Oblinger, D. (2003). Boomers Gen-Xers,
  Millenials. Understanding the new students.
  EDUCAUSE
• Schutte, J. (2000). Web based education
  Problem or panacea? Paper presented at Pacific
  Sociological Association, San Diego, CA.
  www/csun.edu/vcsoc00i/ITPSA.pdf
• Schutte, J. (2004). Ten Ways Online Technology
  has Transformed my Teaching. Paper presented at
  American Sociological Association, San Francisco,
  CA. www.csun.edu/vcsoc00i/ITASA.pdf