Posted by Sharon Cece on April 3rd, 2009
My favorite professor was Constance Strucko, who taught Creative Writing at County College of Morris in New Jersey. The truth is, she’s the only professor’s name I still remember. Perhaps it was because I was exempt from the final–the first and only time–or maybe because I simply loved creative writing. I was nineteen when I took her course, and after all these years I still remember her name.
I enjoyed my online courses also, courses such as Population, Social Theory, and Supreme Courts & Civil Rights. Still, I cannot remember the names of the professors (even after a plateful of shrimp, the incredible edible brain-food).
Online lectures. Online teaching. Doesn’t have that touchy-feely ring to it, does it. Of course, college isn’t necessarily meant to be touchy-feely; however, our interactions with faculty and administration is truly special when we feel that personal connection, when those interactions sink in on a deeper level, such as my fond recollections of Professor Strucko. I still remember how eagerly I walked to her class, can recall her enthusiasm for guiding our writing and unearthing those “a-ha” moments, remembered my elation when my literary efforts were met with her encouraging and appreciative nods.
It is what you miss when matriculating online–the personal gestures and interactions with professors and lecturers. You often don’t know what your online faculty looks like, rarely meet them face-to-face. Oh, their personalities and nuances do come through while they are teaching online. Some you thoroughly enjoy and relate to, some you could well do without, some you develop a personal rapport with, some you never really get to know.
I remember, as I am writing this, an email from one of my first online professors who taught Social Psychology. It was very heartfelt and complimentary, and greatly appreciated. College can be daunting, online college at times even more so, and written interactions can be significant in their own right.
And, even though online college isn’t always touchy-feely, there can be satisfying connections between student and online faculty. For two years I worked with a stellar online advisor at FSU and just prior to graduation we exchanged a flurry of emails anticipating and planning my commencement, which served to hasten my excitment. When I arrived in Tallahassee the morning of ceremonies and walked into the Civic Center to check in, standing there at the booth was the stellar advisor I had worked with and written to all those semesters. It was a special moment to finally meet her face-to-face, made even more memorable since we had not had a chance to meet prior to my graduation day.
Posted by Jeff Davis on April 1st, 2009
I believe that the overall communication and interaction between faculty and students in an online environment is necessary in order for the online education to be successful. While at the University of Phoenix, interaction with the faculty members was actually quite easy for me outside of the classroom. Since the student-faculty ratio was so low, I had no problems in understanding the course work and in reaching the faculty if necessary…especially after class. This is typically not the case in a more traditional classroom setting where the student-faculty ratio is normally quite high.
The interaction experience with faculty members was much different in an online school than in a traditional one and partially due to the fact that you just cannot simply walk in to a faculty member’s classroom or office when you are attending school in a virtual environment. Based on my experience at the University of Phoenix, I have found that the online faculty members seem to be much easier to contact outside of the classroom. Not only does the student-faculty ratio play a factor, but it could also have something to do with the number of contact methods available as compared to those in a traditional school. In my online learning experience, I always had the faculty member’s home phone number and multiple email addresses along with the best times they could be reached. I found their response times and availability to be excellent. They really did make it quite simple to interact with them outside of the classroom.
This was not the case when I attended a traditional school. Most of the faculty there were difficult to get in touch with outside of the classroom. For example, an email to a faculty member might go unnoticed for days, the faculty member might not be in the classroom or office, and often the only phone number that students had was their school office line. Not to mention that if you tried to interact with them on a weekend, you might as well forget about it because they just did not make themselves available for you and that is really the biggest difference. The online faculty members make themselves readily available for the students. The interaction between students and faculty members in the online environment was far superior in my opinion.
There was only one online instructor who I met face to face. The other online instructors only had an email presence. Interestingly enough I felt closer to my online instructors than most of my other instructors.
My freshmen year at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire was not the best for me educationally. At the same time I arrived at college, the drinking age turned to 18 and businesses in Eau Claire capitalized on this new set of customers. I stayed up late, drank more than I should, and slept in the chair of my eight a.m. classes. I was appalled when I met my 8:00 a.m. instructor in the hall one day, and he said, “Hello Pam.” I was embarrassed that he knew my name since I habitually slept though his class. The next semester I did not schedule any eight o’clock classes and learned from this embarrassment. After this lesson I realized that sleeping was not the impression I wanted to make on my college teachers and sought them out to give a more favorable impression.
I made it a habit to have a personal meeting with all of my instructors over the years, especially those in large classes. I thought it was helpful for them to equate a face with a name. In hindsight I guess it was a subtle way for me to let them know that I really cared about my education. E-mail in online classes make contacts with college teachers a lot easier. There was no calling to set an appointment and no appointment to remember. You send the email and wait until the answer arrives. Most of my instructors were prompt to respond. Some of the responses turned into longer personal discussions and some did not. Online instructors can tell how much you care about education by looking at your written responses or lack of responses.
The online teacher also is not affected by the way a student looks and eliminates a lot of bias in grading assignments and the written discussions.
There is no chance of an online instructor seeing you sleeping in their class. Depending on your other commitments, you may be completing your online assignments when most everybody is sleeping,including the instructor.
Posted by Jen Zeman on March 30th, 2009
I rarely had interactions with administrators or instructors at UMUC outside of the classroom. Within the classroom, questions for instructors in each of my classes were responded to quickly, whether the question was posted in the Class Announcements section or via email. One time during my two and a half years at UMUC required interaction with the administration.
I was receiving financial aid while attending UMUC and during one semester, my aid was not applied to my tuition balance in a timely manner. This created a series of phone calls and emails to the director of financial aid and then to the vice president. The error was not mine – someone had dropped the ball in the financial aid office. It took about two weeks to resolve the issue, but ultimately my account was corrected and I went on my merry way. The only difference with this interaction and any I may have had at the community college I attended was the inability to visit the financial aid office in person. However, I didn’t find this to be a problem. The phone calls and emails I sent to the UMUC financial aid office were answered promptly and I never felt like I was being ignored. I credit this to UMUC’s administration and faculty being accustomed to communicating with students at a distance. UMUC does have a traditional campus as well, but the largest portion of its student body is students attending online. Because of this, I believe faculty and administrators go out of their way to maintain lines of virtual communication.
If you do encounter a problem as an online student, here are a few tips to help resolve the issue quickly:
- Send an email as soon as a problem arises. Sometimes online classes move at a faster pace than traditional classes, so time is of the essence.
- Be clear and specific in your email or phone call. Instructors and administrators deal with a large amount of students and issues on a daily basis. Being clear and specific from the start means the issue will be resolved quicker.
- Keep accurate records of the issue/dispute. Hopefully an issue will not go on for an eternity, but helps to maintain a record of what has happened in case an issue escalates.
- Be persistent, but professional. Again, because faculty and administrators deal with hundreds of students, you don’t want your issue to get lost in the mix. Be persistent (if you don’t receive a response within 48 hours, email or call again), but don’t be a jerk! Trust me, after years of working in the customer service field, nobody likes to deal with or help a jerk.
