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Has the time commitment required to create a course been a barrier that’s prevented you from agreeing to teach online?

I have been tasked with developing and teaching in a blended classroom for about 3 years now. The initial setup  as well as the ongoing maintenance for my classes has been extremely time consuming, but it has , at the same time, been very rewarding. I was not intimidated by the daunting task of putting all my classes online as many of my colleagues have been in the past. Many are still overwhelmed. I view it as a challenge – yes, but also as an opportunity to develop and improve my skills as a teacher. I have found that once  a course is initially established, it does become easier each time you teach it.  However, my only experience is in a blended learning environment, I have not had an opportunity to teach 100% online class. I know, with the help of this and the other classes in this online series, that there are frustrations and obstacles in an online environment that I have not yet experienced.

I agree with the data presented in “Teaching Online- A Time Comparison” in regard to Course Preparation Time. Because delivery of instructions and content relies primarily on the written word, these instructions must be far more detailed. In the classroom environment you can  explain and answer questions as they arise. For online content and instruction , you must anticipant potential questions and provide solutions up front. Providing this level of detail is very time consuming, significantly more when compared to in-class preparation. Cavanaugh’s study also identified an increase in Time Spent Teaching in an online environment. “This <electronic> communication has been found to be one of the most time consuming parts of teaching an online course.” Although “this time can be reduced by limiting student’s interaction”, by doing so you may jeopardize the quality of the course through misunderstanding of course content and/or expectations. Obviously limiting feedback, hinders our ability to clarify instruction and also prohibits students from learning from their mistakes. Cavanaugh’s study concludes that even for small online classes, time demands are significantly greater than for in-class courses. The question we must ask ourselves is, of course, does the additional time demand necessary to deliver a quality online class outweigh the benefits gained by teaching in this environment? Is it really worth it? I guess time will tell…..

-KLC