Teaching Online: Pros and Cons (Chronicle of Higher Education)

As many of you know, I teach "COMS 101 - Fundamentals of Speech Communication" in an online format. There are many pros and cons of teaching a college course in an online format. Recently, the Chronicle of Higher Education published two articles in their commentary section titled "Teaching Online: 2 Perspectives".

The first article, "A Reaffirmation of Why I Became an Educator", focused on the benefits of teaching online and the second article, "I'll Never Do It Again", focused on the negative aspects of teaching online. These articles can be accessed by clicking the links above.

What do YOU think about teaching a college course online?

Sincerely,

Chat Y! messenger: drjtedwards Skype: drjtedwards

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Are For-Profit Institutions Better for Our Students?

A colleague sent this article to me via e-mail yesterday - "Who Graduates At-Risk Students".

 

My Opinion - The fact that for-profit career colleges have more college graduates than public/private community colleges and universities makes sense. Many for-profit career colleges focus on the technical skills of their students (i.e. - welding, graphic design, etc.) for one to two years. Other colleges require the students to complete core requirements and advanced requirements for their degrees. In addition, public/private community colleges and universities require their students to attend school for a longer amount of time than their for-profit counterparts.

 

Also, the for-profit institutions provide courses that fit the students' busy schedules. For example, one for-profit institution offers courses from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. These institutions also use unconventional advertising methods (i.e. - commercials during soap operas and late night television, sponsoring a radio spot, etc.).

 

What do you think?

 

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Adopt THIS Technology: The Narrated Syllabus

Last night, I had an epiphany...I should create a narrated syllabus on Slide Share. I heard about Slide Share a few years ago, but a presenter from the last Southern States Communication Conference spoke about the Slide Cast function on Slide Share. I thought that this feature would be incredible, because my institution would not allow me to download Adobe Captivate on my laptop (which is my main computer).

I love the Slide Cast feature! I hope that the students like the feature too! This morning, I embedded the slide cast in a blackboard e-mail for the students.

Coms 101 Syllabus (SU 09 Online) Slide Share

View more OpenOffice presentations from drjtedwards.

Please let me know what you think! Ask me any questions!

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My Thoughts Were Lost in the May Mester!

Hello! I taught a May Mester course for the past few weeks and it was very demanding. As a result, I had to take a small break to focus on the three week course. That was last week, but the funny thing is... it doesn't seem like this week will be any easier. Here's my to do list:

a) take car to the dealership
b) finish article outline - e-mail to Lora
c) revise communication article - Due Date - June 13th
d) upload blackboard course content (working on it now)
e) disperse syllabus slideshare presentation
f) organize my desk
g) finish IRB info. for partner institution

Well, I will post more information soon. Wish me luck!

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