JD: Can you list some of the major advantages and then also the
disadvantages of teaching online?
MES: Well, I think the advantages are the...kind of anytime/anywhere
options. That is,...I can be communicating with students at eleven
o'clock at night, whereas in a traditional setting, that's less
likely, of course. It also does allow for a lot of flexibility in
materials: adding things to the web site, clarifying things, putting
up a new link as you discover new materials that might be suitable.
That happened in the concordancing section, where I ran across an
article that I thought clarified things for students in a way the
other ones they had hadn't. So, I was able just to put up a really
quick link and say, "Here, take a look at this additional article."
So, that kind of flexibility and sort of 24/7...capabilities of the
technology are really the advantage. And, ironically, it's the same
answer for the disadvantages. The 24/7 kind of availability of the
instructor is tiring. And again, you need really good time-management
skills not to let it overwhelm you. Ditto for the flexibility of the
course materials: because you can add materials all the time, you
tend to add materials all the time. Whereas in a face-to-face class,
you may not do that quite as much, especially if you're confronted
with various kinds of budgetary issues--like not having students run
out to buy an additional book, or not having any photocopying budget
left over to make a set of photocopies of an article in the newspaper.
JD: Yeah, but you could always add it to a web site.
MES: You could always add it to a web site and that's how
face-to-face classes are getting to be even more work...because
they're turning into both face-to-face and distance classes all in
one.
JD: Right. And that combination is probably the best of both worlds.
That's a great solution. Anyway, thanks very much for your time, Dr.
Sokolik.
MES: You're welcome.
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