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A thread about online courses: Today Greyson wraps up 12 credits of @EmersonCollege Summer Session I classes. Iâm so proud of him: heâs woken up before 7am every day this summer b/c he treated his classes like a full-time job.
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It was fascinating to me to hear Greysonâs perspective on what makes a great online course.
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When his classes started, he read each syllabus to get a sense of the professorâs personality. He said he could tell a lot from the tone of the syllabus.
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After he watched each professorâs welcome video, he told me how excited he was about each course. Those videos help students in online courses feel a sense of connection to their professor.
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Greyson said each professor set clear expectations for discussion board participation. Some required a minimum word count for posts while others didnât. The professorsâ requirements all differed but their expectations were clear. Greyson said he appreciated that.
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In all of his courses, there was robust multimedia content arranged neatly in modules. Some professors unlocked the modules week by week, others unlocked them all at once. He seemed to prefer when professors unlocked everything at once because he could plan his time better.
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Every single professor was actively engaged in the discussions. Greyson said the discussions were interactive and challenging.
He also came away with a sense that his professors were spending a HUGE amount of time teaching these online courses.
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He also came away with a sense that his professors were spending a HUGE amount of time teaching these online courses.
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None of his classes had fancy, slick videos of professors giving lectures; Greyson didnât care. All of his courses were asynchronous and the discussions gave him as much if not more opportunity to interact with his professors than in a typical on-campus class.
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So here are my take-aways as a professor:
- Students appreciate clear expectations. Itâs ok to have high expectations as long as students understand how to meet them.
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- Students appreciate clear expectations. Itâs ok to have high expectations as long as students understand how to meet them.
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- Itâs ok to be strict as long as your strictness doesnât make it harder for some groups of students to succeed in your course. Ask yourself, âam a strict for a pedagogical reason or am I just a control freak?â
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- An engaging discussion in an online course branches in different directions, takes unexpected turns, and makes students expand their thinking. This takes a TON of time and effort on the part of the professor.
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As a parent of a college student, here are my take-aways:
- It is not fair to expect colleges to charge less for fall classes if those classes need to be online. Students donât pay less $ per credit for a 100-person on-campus class compared to a 10-person on-campus seminar...12/
- It is not fair to expect colleges to charge less for fall classes if those classes need to be online. Students donât pay less $ per credit for a 100-person on-campus class compared to a 10-person on-campus seminar...12/
....so clearly tuition has never been a reflection of how much face-to-face interaction a student has with a professor.
Tuition this fall should be about credits, not the physical or virtual space in which learning occurs.
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Tuition this fall should be about credits, not the physical or virtual space in which learning occurs.
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- If colleges are forced by parents and students to charge less $ for online courses this fall, itâs going to be a hot mess financially. Some colleges wonât survive.
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But if colleges open up again without the necessary resources to protect students, staff, and faculty, some *people* wonât survive.
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I donât have the answers. All I know is that Iâm going to keep doing everything I can to make sure my online courses leave students feeling as energized as @EmersonCollegeâs online courses have left Greyson. 
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