I absolutely agree Vidette.

Two particular things are the fact that every student may feel ignored if the
teacher responds to similar posts by many students by way of a single post to
the first or most interesting student post - so 'helping' students feel that
they are being indivdually responded to is difficult because of the burden of
individualizing posts to let each student know that we have actually read what
they said - exacerbated by the fact that just like faculty, the students often
have trouble keeping up with the volume of posts.

Secondly, I have always had a few students in every class who preferred 1 - 1
contact off the DL environment - just as many students in class prefer to stop
by the office for individual sessions. but since email contact is not a
gemeinschafft - one must spend a lot more time crafting responses than would be
necessary when you can sense that a person is following what you are saying.

Third, perhaps, is what happens to us when we, as I am now, we are almost bereft
of our internet access... :-)

I think that most schools are lightyears behind the curve on the issue of
faculty time for DL course - just as they tend to be lightyears behind the curve
on tuition costs for DL. Most schools will likely fall by the wayside because
they fail to "adapt"... or perhaps, to transcend the past and present biases
about the 'educational' process... it is truly sad to see so many people with so
little technological literacy standing in the way of the appallingly small
number of people who are somewhat visionary...

bear

"Vidette Todaro-Franceschi, RN, PhD" <vtodaro@...> wrote:
Hi Dottie,

Not familiar with the D....thing, but have taught several classes online. The
labor involved is far greater than going to class on campus. Problem is, the
administrative folks (at least where I m) think it is easier to teach online,
simply becuase you needn't be on campus. But, what I have found is that Ihave to
be "on" all the time, or I fall behind.

I do think there is great potential in teaching online. For one thing, it
seems that bonding among students is far greater than it is when classes are
held on campus. Even though everyone may not be able to put a face to the
names, everyone seems to get to know one another better.

If you can get the credit hrs to teach without it impinging on your scholarship
or personal time, I think it is worth it. In particular, classes like ethics
are well suited to online discussion.

Good luck!
Peace, Love, & Light,

Vidette Todaro-Franceschi RN, PhD.
Associate Professor & Specialization Coordinator
Adult Health Advanced Practice Graduate Program
Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing
Hunter College, City University of New York
vtodaro@...

*********************************
www.energy-enigma.com

"To see that everybody not merely depends on everybody, but actually everybody
is everybody in a deeper sense."
Bohm, On Creativity, 1998.






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]