Background

            My transformation to a virtual professor and involvement in distance education began as
a matter of necessity. Immediately after completing my doctorate at the University of Alberta (in
1978), I went to the U.S. and took a job as an instructional psychologist. I also started to teach
evening courses at local universities in their graduate education programs. (Experts in computer
based instruction and instructional design were rare in those days).

            Like most people with real jobs, I had to travel a lot which meant that I was frequently out
of town on the nights I was supposed to be teaching. So I had to develop some strategies for
coping with this problem. One was to participate in the class via an audioconference. I would
have someone set up a speakerphone in my classroom and call in from wherever I happened to
be. I could give lectures and engage students in discussions. It worked quite well.

            Another strategy was to ask colleagues to "cover" for me by going to the class and giving
a guest lecture. I would pick out people with expertise on the topic to be taught so their
contribution to the class was usually very worthwhile and enjoyed by the students. I found that
having 5 or 6 guest lectures in a course made it much more interesting to the students than
being taught by a single person.

            The third strategy involved the use of computer bulletin board systems to provide a way
for students to contact me and each other via email and online conferences. Not only was this
useful for me, but it was helpful to the students as well since many of them also traveled a lot
and this gave them a way to keep up to date with course work.

            As time went on, these three "coping" strategies became the core of my approach to
teaching...to the point where I could successfully run a course at distance without the need for
any on-site classes. Audioconferences could be supplemented by instructi onal tv with
telephone call-in, or two-way videoconferencing. Online guests could participate this way as well
or online. Finally bulletin board systems were replaced by the internet and web with more
sophisticated capabilities for information distributi on and interaction.
 
 

            Many people ask me whether I find the lack of "personal" (i.e., face-to-face) contact a
significant drawback to distance teaching. The truth is that I find it a big advantage. First of all, I
now find traditional classroom teaching to be very ineffici ent and ineffective (as well as boring). I
can cover a lot more material, with a very high level of class interaction (including a great deal of
"personal" contact) using online methods than is possible in a traditional classroom setting.
Secondly, I find that online teaching is free of many distractions and prejuidices that exist in
face-to-face settings (such as physical characteristics, speech/language idiosyncracies, or
environmental annoyances). Thirdly, I relish the capability to have online guests (and students)
from all over the world participate in my classes as well as having easy access to an enormous
amount of multimedia materials to use in teaching via the web. While there are some benefits to
the face-to-face contact of traditional classrooms, they are minor in comparison to the many
advantages of the virtual teaching/learning environment.

A Day in the Life

            In 1989 I joined the School of Education & Human Development at the George
Washington University and began to teach in their Educational Technology Leadership (ETL)
program. This is a Master's degree program in which all courses are delivered at distance.
Teaching in this program allowed me to develop and polish my distance teaching skills and
ideas.

            The typical kind of model I used for my courses involved asking students to complete
weekly assignments (usually questions or problems) and to post their responses to a
conferencing area specifically for that course. Since everyone could see everyone else's
responses, students could learn from each other. Indeed I would actively encourage this by
assigning some portion of the grade for explicit comments relating to other students' responses.
I would also have students work on assignments in small groups or teams to increase the
amount of student interaction.

            Major assignments involved projects, case studies, and reviews that were turned in
initially as files and later on in the form of web documents. So all coursework was done
electronically. Feedback and grades were sent to students via email. In addition, status of
assignments, identified by student numbers, was posted regularly so students could be sure
that their work had been received and was being graded.

            Like many curriculum areas, some of our courses involved hands-on work with
specialized equipment (e.g., multimedia authoring hardware/software). Since we can't provide
this in an on-campus setting, we adopted another approach; students are responsible for finding
whatever equipment/facilities they need in their own locality. This means that students have to
seek out individuals or organizations in their area with the necessary hardware/software and
make arrangements to use this on some basis (usually as a partnership or internship). Since
locating technology resources and creating partnerships are both relevant skills to our program,
we felt this was a highly appropriate approach. Futhermore, we often encourage students to
locate individuals/organizations through their afflications with professional associations (e.g.,
AECT, ISPI, ASTD, etc.) which is a further goal of the program. So lack of on-campus labs for
hands-on activities has never been a problem in the ETL program; indeed, our approach to this
requirement has added benefits in terms of satisfying program goals.

            The workload for such a highly interactive course is very high for both students and
teachers. Students often complain about this in the beginning until they began to appreciate the
value of all this effort in terms of how much they were learning. For the instructor, it means
many hours reading through student responses and grading them. There are various strategies
that can be employed to reduce this workload, such as having students evaluate each other's
work, grading/responding to team/group efforts, using standardized responses, or having
teaching assistants (TAs). We used the latter strategy with our large enrollment introductory
classes which would often have 100-150 students. These large classes would be d ivided into
sections of 25-30 students, each with a teaching assistant. We normally hired graduates of our
own program to be teaching assistants which meant that they were familar with the content of
the courses and had a lot of online experience. In this setting, the instructor would supervise the
Tas and only grade final projects or disputed assignments.

            While my main preoccupation is with my own classes, it has become increasingly
common for me to be a guest participant in courses and programs at other institutions.
Typically, I will join a class for a week or two and respond to email questions or re ply to
comments posted in na online conference during this period. Alternatively I may join the class
via audio or videoconference for a brief 1-2 hour discussion. I will often create a web page to
support these activities that provides links to references or resources for the topic at hand.

Impact on Teaching and Learning

            Teaching (and learning) in an online environment is quite different than a traditional
classroom setting. First of all, the teaching process is spread out over time instead of being
restricted to a specific time slot on a certain day. So there is no need to try to cover a lot of
material in a short amount of time. Furthermore, online teaching does not involve a presentation
or performance like classroom instruction. Instead, it involves the organiza tion of the class,
definition of assignments, responding to student questions and grading their work, and
troubleshooting technical problems. There is a lot of one-on-one discussion with students about
their work and the course content via email.

            I believe that the online learning experience is much richer for the student than traditional
classroom settings. Since students are required to write responses to questions/problems on a
regular basis, as well as read the responses of their classmates, they spend a lot of time
thinking about the subject matter. In a classroom setting, if I ask a question, I might get 3-4
students to respond with their spontaneous ideas. In the online environment, students get a
chance to think about the question and compose their response over a long time period
(hours/days) -- and every student makes a response. Not only does this encourage reflective
thought, but it also accomodates students who have difficulty expressing themselves in a
spontaneous classroom setting (especially if they are foreign students with limited English
proficiency).

            Furthermore, it is my belief that online learning increases the critical thinking and
problem-solving abilities of students. Having to read and respond to the views of their
classmates requires students to evaluate different many views on a topic or issue. Figuring out
how to deal with the inevitable hardware and software problems that arise, as well as the
complexities of networks and telecommunications, requires a lot of troubleshooting activity.
While the latter may be an undesirable characteristic of online activities, it is nonetheless a
reality of computer use at this stage of development. However, neither my course evaluation
data, nor research in general, shows this as an outcome of online learning environments --
probably because these type of skills (i.e., critical thinking, problem-solving) are not directly
measured by the typical ways we grade assignments and exams. I think this is an aspect of
online learning that deserves much more research.

The Pros & Cons of Online Education

            The obvious benefit of online education is lot it allows both teacher and students a lot of
flexibility in terms of schedule and location. While there are deadlines for completing
assignments in my classes, they allow plenty of time (i.e., days or weeks) to do the work. Being
able to participate in classes from any location where there is a phone line, accommodates
travel (although it requires ownership of a laptop). While online activities do increase the
workload of teachers and students, they also make it possible to be much more efficient in
terms of getting work done. In the space of 2 or 3 hours online, I can usually accomplish all my
daily teaching and professional responsibilities, leaving me free to pursue other interests for the
rest of the day.

            The fact that online education allows intensive interaction among students, as well as
with the instructor, is probably the single biggest benefit from an instructional perspective. Its
difficult to imagine how this could be accomplished in a traditional setting, except perhaps with
very small class sizes. Furthermore, it is easy to include others (such as guest experts or
students from other institutions) in an online class -- as well as allow students to access
resources and information anywhere in the world. Online education really does remove the
boundaries of the traditional classroom

            Finally, one of the benefits of being a virtual professor is that you are sheltered to some
degree from the political and organizational turmoil of educational institutions. Many of the
issues that result in heated disputes (e.g., facilities, staffing, supplies) are often not relevant to
someone who teaches online and has no physical presence at the institution. Indeed, the virtual
professor has a fairly weak allegience to particular institutions, although a very strong
connection to students and the profession. In fact, your level of online involvement with
colleaques at other institutions is quite likely to be greater and more intensive that with those in
the institution you "belong" to.

            Of course there are disadvantages to not having a physical presence at an institution,
such as being left out of meetings and other events that involve on-site interaction. Futhermore,
interaction with individuals via online means restricts the bandwidth of communication -- which
may result in relationships which are less rich or sophisticated in nature. However, this is
another area where research is needed; the psychological and sociological implications of
electronic relationships are largely unknown.

Implications & Conclusions

            There is no doubt that being an online teacher or student emphasizes certain skills and
abilities. Online interaction requires good communications skills (especially writing ability). Good
computer skills are also needed, although this does not need to be at a highly technical level.
The ability to learn to use new computer software and troubleshoot problems is undoubtedly the
most important technology-related skills required. There are certain personality characteristics
(such as patience and independence) that seem important in an online teaching or learning
environment which some teachers or student may lack. However, we don't really know a lot
about the attibutes of successful and unsuccesful online teachers/learners.

            A very important aspect of online learning/teaching are the implications for the nature of
educational institutions. Since virtual professors (and their students) don't need classroom or
other facilities (e.g., auditoriums, cafeterias, gyms, housing, parking lots, etc), what exactly is
the role of the institution? Obviously, the provision of computing facilities is critical -- although
these could be obtained privately.

            Libraries that can get materials out to students are needed, although an increasing
amount of current technical/professional literature is becoming available via the web. At some
point in the not too distance future, traditional libraries may only be needed for reading older
literature.

            Educational institutions have two functions that are still needed in online education:
administration and accreditation. Administration includes the processing of admissions, course
registrations, fees, scholarships, and grades. While all of these administrative functions can
(ultimately) be done online, they require staff and management. Accreditation in higher
education is something done at the institutional rather than individual level (unlike teacher
credentialing in K-12). So both of these functions create the need for a virtual professor to have
an institutional affiliation. However, it is conceivable that online teachers could operate through
small professional corporations, similar to physicians or lawyers, which could address the
administrative and accreditation needs without requiring the large-scale institutional
infrastructure of a university, college or school system. Indeed many of the new "virtual"
colleges that are beginning to appear are following a model like this, except at present they are
operating without accreditation, or within the juristriction of their "parent" institution.

            It should be clear that the practice of online teaching and learning is going to bring about
significant changes to our educational system. Some will be good, some bad, and others will
just be different. My experiences over the past two decades as a virtual professor have been
overwhelmingly positive in terms of the being able to teach more effectively and efficiently.
Whether this will be true for most other teachers remains to be seen. However, I believe most
will find this a compelling way to teach, and prefer it over traditional classroom settings.

Bibliography

     Bates, A. (1997). Restructuring the University for Technological Change.
     [http://bates.cstudies.ubc.ca/carnegie/carnegie.html ]

     Daniel, J. (1996). Megauniversities and Knowledge Media. London: KoganPage.

     Gurwitz, C. & Van Sickle, J. (Oct 1997). "Virtual Instruction: Experientia Docet" ,
     THE Journal.

     Hiltz, S.R. (1994). The Virtual Classroom: Learning Without Limits via Computer
     Networks. Norword, NJ: Ablex.

     Kearsley, G. (1997) A Guide to Online Learning & Teaching.
     [http://fcae.nova.edu/~kearsley/online.html ]

     Noble, D. (1997). Digital diploma mills: The automation of higher education
     Rheingold, H. (1993). Virtual Communities: Homesteading on the Electronic
     Frontier. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

     Some Relevant Links (Virtual Teaching Institutions):

     Knowledge Media Institute at the UK Open University [http://kmi.open.ac.uk ]

     DIAL/New School (New York) [ http://www.dialnsa.edu ]

     Univ Phoenix Online [ http://www.uophx.edu ]

     National Technological University [ http://www.ntu.edu ]

     Microsoft Online Learning Institute [ http://moli.microsoft.com ]

     Motorola University [ http://www.mot.com/MU ]

     McGraw-Hill World University [ http://www.mhwu.edu ]

     U.S. Dept Agriculture Graduate School [ http://grad.usda.gov ]

     International University Consortium [ http://www.umuc.edu/iuc ]

     Open Learning Agency [ http://www.ola.bc.ca ]

     World Lecture Hall [http://wwwhost.cc.utexas.edu/world/instruction/index.html ]

     Sprectrum Virtual University [ http://www.vu.org ]

     California Virtual University [ http://www.virtualu.ca.gov ]

     Michigan State Virtual University [ http://www.vu.msu.edu ]

     Virtuelle Universitat (Germany) [ http://virtuelle-uni.fernuni.de]

     *Greg Kearsley - Professor da  Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Fort
     Lauderdale, Florida.
 

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