[Air-l] Technology Transforming Education--EE-Learning

[Baym, Nancy]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned in this interesting discussion is that e/distance learning is really poorly suited for unmotivated students. For them, coming to a class where their physical presence is observed (even if they are checking email or doing crossword puzzles) may be the only thing that keeps them engaged in academics at all. 

My experiences attempting to incorporate online components like blogging into courses have been extremely disappointing, even when the course was about online communication (how I wish it had made them more thoughtful in class discussion!). In general, students seem to have viewed online elements as a chance to do an absolute minimum, and sometimes not even that. My sense was that very few ever read what anyone else wrote, and when I tried mandating that they respond to one another, they wrote 2 word responses like "good point." And that was with explicit discussion of what constituted a good response (moves discussion forward, contributes a new idea...)  I hoped that the chance to write online would allow quiet ones to open up, give people time to reflect and to engage one another, etc. But all that presumes that they want an educational experience.

In my advising at this large residential university with a 'traditional' student population, students seem to prefer online courses only when they perceive that they will be less work than f2f courses. There are of course exceptions -- students who are motivated but have time and transportation or work constraints. 

I hope it goes without saying that there are also many good students here, and indeed, the motivated students really did take advantage of the blogging and other online elements, but as a whole, I've been so disappointed with my efforts to incorporate elearning components.  

Perhaps this is a question of how I have designed the online components. I thought I was doing well. I gave them specific topics to write on which were connected to the day's topic, the blog writings formed the basis of their term paper and allowed them to explore possible topics and get going on it throughout the semester, the topics allowed them to focus on their own interests, etc. But if the proof is in the pudding, either I did it poorly or the students just didn't care enough about having a rich educational experience to bother.

If anyone has suggestions about how to make e-pieces alluring to students who are not very engaged to begin with, please share as I'm going to try yet again this fall. 

Nancy