There's quite the debate going on about teachers posing as students in order to stir up discussion in their online classes. Most commenters believe that such deceit is unethical despite its potential for encouraging communication.
However, when professors try to initiate discussion through setting class standards, the results are often artificial and chap. Consider this description from the Washington Post:
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However, when professors try to initiate discussion through setting class standards, the results are often artificial and chap. Consider this description from the Washington Post:
"Perhaps I can convey what online teaching is like by asking you to imagine a classroom conversation in which students are required to participate twice before the end of the class, using up 20 seconds each time and referring to at least one specific comment made by another student. How coherent and enlightening a discussion is this going to encourage? How sincere are your students' contributions going to be? And given that the discussion is to take place over the course of a week rather than a single class period, will you or the students care what anyone says by Friday?"How do you think teachers can encourage discussion without setting burdensome requirements or breaking students' trust by posing as a peer? Post your thoughts in the comments section.
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Comments
I have a revolutionary idea. How about the teacher actually teaching in class, so there will be something to discuss that is based on a roundtable of different ideas intead of a teacher force-feeding indoctrinating pablum to students? How about the teacher not grading on “participation” and actually asking for opinions that are different from the teacher’s and then listening respectfully to create real debate? How aobut actually using class discussion to have a true open forum rather than the teacher having to hide behind a pseudonuym online to get it? Neither the student or a teacher should be fearful of expressing honestly argued opinion on any topic. That’s how learning happens in a successful classroom. Sometimes even the teacher gets to learn.
Online teacher standards need to be raised. From my experience about 7 out of 10, simply go through the motions and do the barest of minimums. A great deal of time they do not know how to properly teach. Having a student regurgitate information in a comment form is hardly learning. I have to take these online courses, so I approach them all as self-study and sometimes I will be surprised with a good professor. I have no issue with the participation quotas. But the participation needs to show understanding and insight, not rewriting the text or Wikipedia page. Also, while I am at it, participation needs to be mandatory some time early in the week, because some students will wait until the last moment to post anything.
Forget being a liberal, socialist, atheist or from any other misaligned group in society. Discussion is dominated by the military and stay-at-mom’s who think it is unpatriotic to say McCain’s politics are idiotic. He is a war-hero. Anyway, the demographics of online courses are much different than you would expect from a liberal arts university.
From what I can tell, a great deal of professors teach online as supplemental income and pretty much anyone with a Master’s degree (with a published paper) can teach online.
The number of college graduates are going up…but average knowledge has not. Not a good correlation at all.
This is not to discourage anyone from getting an education online. It is some insight of what might be in store, so choose your university very carefully.