Skype-ing to new classes

By Emily Entress

Kelly Nightengale decided during her sophomore year that there was no way she could fit her third writing requirement into her busy schedule during the regular school year. But she was traveling to Australia during the summer, which left her only one real option — an online course.

"I thought I had no other option at that time," Nightengale, now a senior engineering major, said. "I thought that going abroad was going to put me behind and I wouldn't be able to graduate on time if I didn't sign up for summer session."

An increasing number of students in Nightengale's situation are opting for online courses, despite the perception that online education is not as effective as the traditional face-to-face classroom setting. Recent studies have shown, however, that online learning can provide students with a deeper learning, given the right circumstances.

"The actual evidence says that there is no downside to online education, statistically speaking," said David Armstrong, a professor in the Business School with a doctorate in education. "Done right, there are actually benefits to student learning and to the cost of the university."

Studies also show a trend towards increased utilization of online courses and programs. A 2009 study by Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman called "Learning on Demand," found that the number of students taking at least one fully online class from an accredited university increased approximately 300% from 1.6 million in 2002 to 4.6 million in fall 2008.

As a result of this increase, it is important that online classes are ‘done well.' For Armstrong, the biggest way to ensure classes are taught effectively online is to ensure that they are well organized and that there is adequate communication between the professor and his or her students.

"Without communication, there is no learning," said Armstrong. He suggested that professors tailor their online syllabus to set expectations for what assignments are due and when, as well as explaining which means of communication are best for reaching them.

Some of the most successful communicating technologies he has found are online office hours, email, texting through google Voice or Skyping.

One of the largest challenges for professors is that tailoring their class means that they need to create a separate syllabus and structure for their online class.

"It's hard for professors because they can't just take their face-to-face class and slap it online," said Gloria Hofer, an instructional technology resource specialist from Media Services who teaches technology courses to professors. "They need to completely restructure the format and technologies involved to reach their students."

In order to help professors learn how to transform their traditional classes to an online format, Santa Clara's Media Services offer technology training courses.When online classes are taught correctly, there are many benefits for the students. First of all, students have the potential to learn and retain the material better because they are forced to be actively involved in the learning process.

"What's happening is that the participant is constructing the learning, they have to read, reflect and think about it before they write back," said Hofer. "In a way it's a richer environment, the students are more active, they aren't passively learning. In a lecture, the student is passively learning."

Nikki Velasco, a Ph D. candidate at Stanford, taught her first online course this summer at Santa Clara, and felt that having her political science class online was beneficial to students who had busy schedules or who would normally be too intimidated to participate in a traditional classroom setting.

One of the largest challenges she found, however, was in creating a sense of community among her students.

"My philosophy is that students learn as much from their peers as they do from materials," said Velasco. In her experience, creating mandatory assignments to add information to a post didn't seem to foster the classroom environment she was used to in a face-to-face setting.

Professor Kathy Long, a professor of communications and technology at Santa Clara, taught her first online class this past summer. She agrees that humans need to learn with others, but for her it comes down to the difference between interacting versus merely exchanging information.

"We still fight that battle in the classroom, whether all the students are there or not, or if I ask a question and no one answers. We're not interacting. If you don't come to share the conversation, we're not really interacting. So that's not really new."

"Online learning is definitely not going away," said Armstrong. "At best it might become a blended learning experience with large portion of traditional classes being conducted online."

Contact Emily Entress at eentress@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4596.