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Speaking OutNEA Must Ensure Quality OnlineRecently, NEA unveiled a report, Quality on the Line, identifying a series of 24 "benchmarks" necessary for quality online distance education. In doing so, the Association has recognized that, regardless of the results of the current debate, distance learning and online delivery are here to stay. I applaud NEA's work in identifying these guidelines for success. As an assistant professor at Brevard Community College in Florida, an institution that has been a leader in developing distance learning, I've been "on the front lines," as it were, in creating online courses and understand both the benefits and drawbacks of online education. The value of the NEA study is that it provides a framework for success. Too often, institutions of higher learning have wanted to "run before they walk" in jumping on the information super-highway. This is extremely dangerous, as students can often wind up short-changed in the quality of their learning experience. Though many of the NEA's benchmarks are common sense, having the "prerequisites" for quality articulated in black and white helps validate their importance and gives institutions a blueprint for determining if they are truly prepared for online studies. Of particular interest for me are the items the NEA categorizes as "Faculty Support Benchmarks." These specific benchmarks may be used to ensure that faculty members are not being overwhelmed and under-recognized in the process of developing distance learning curriculum and courses. Distance education is making issues of course load and release time even more complicated than they already are. Compensation for the time and effort faculty put into the distance education process must be considered by institutions developing online courses. NEA, both on a national and local level, can monitor this and work to ensure faculty are treated fairly. The benchmarks identified by the NEA are not a definitive solution to the debate on distance learning. They are a work in progress. As technologies improve, distance education will change, and the NEA's guidelines will have to evolve, as well. But these benchmarks are a great start. If faculty, staff, and administration can work with the benchmarks, we may well achieve a quality learning experience for our students. .
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I'd like to say!I read Steven Richardson's article "Civility in the Classroom" (March Thriving), eagerly anticipating help with ways to deal with the growing rudness of students. Instead, the message seemed to be: If your students are rude, it's your fault. Wow—talk about blaming the victim! My students are not bored; my student evaluations, student comments, and peer evaluation all confirm that. Moreover, I am always conscious during a lecture or discussion of the students' level of engagement, and if they start to "blank out," I adjust what I am doing to get us all back to learning. Yet, in the past few years, I have seen an increasing number of students who talk to each other, eat, study for other classes, and engage in other rude behavior. I am not going to change methods that work well for the majority of my students so that these louts will be sufficiently entertained to stop their behavior. I would love suggestions about how to deal with these students, not only those in the classroom, but those who are argumentative—even threatening—and presumptious and display other rude behaviours I have seldom seen in my 30 years of teaching. —Elizabeth Ansnes |
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