Teaching on-Line versus Face-to-Face
- 1 June 2002
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Journal of Educational Technology Systems
- Vol. 30 (4), 337-364
- https://doi.org/10.2190/FFWX-TJJE-5AFQ-GMFT
Abstract
This study investigates and describes the current instructor experience of teaching college courses over the Web (versus in face-to-face formats) in terms of the teaching strategies, social issues, and emergent issues such as media effects. We interviewed 22 college instructors who had taught in both formats. Four of the interviews were made by telephone and eighteen by e-mail. Interview fragments were categorized and counted for frequency to highlight emerging trends. Results indicate that Web-based classes have a profoundly different communication style than face-to-face classes. This has far-reaching consequences for on-line classes in terms of greater equality between students and instructors, greater explicitness of written instructions required, greater workloads for instructors and deeper thinking manifested in discussions, initial feelings of anonymity giving way later to emerging on-line identities. Authors propose a model with two competing systems, isolation effects versus community effects.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- Online Teaching and LearningPublished by IGI Global ,2000
- Collaborating in Cyberspace: Using Computer Conferences as a Group Learning EnvironmentInteractive Learning Environments, 1993
- Massive IQ gains in 14 nations: What IQ tests really measure.Psychological Bulletin, 1987
- The mean IQ of Americans: Massive gains 1932 to 1978.Psychological Bulletin, 1984