Going the Distance with Distance Education

I teach online courses.  All of my college courses this year have been online, so I have rarely felt a need to visit my dusty office, much less come to campus. I refuse to meet students who are in my online classes anywhere but online (because isn't that part of the point of these classes?)  Yes, I have become a cyberghost professor.

This does not mean, however, that I have become a negligent professor--I am very much present online--and what's more, I see a lot going on out here in cyberspace.  I also see a large educational void developing.

There is this myth about online courses that seems to have developed rapidly: online courses are supposed to be easier than in-class courses; online courses are not as time-consuming as in-class courses; online courses do not require as many hours' work as in-class courses.  I don't wish to acknowledge from where these myths might be developing, but I do wish to speak to the fact that this is indeed a myth in my own classes.

In place of classroom lectures and discussion, my students are required to read written lessons and supplemental materials, view video lessons and supplemental materials, and discuss everything (lessons and assignments) in an online forum.  Some students have complained that they are putting "way too many hours" into my class.  One student, recently, informed me that a 3 credit class should require only 6 hours of work each week.  That sounds to me like advice given for an in-class course, advice that has been twisted: 6 hours of HOMEwork in addition to the 2.5 hours spent (at my school) in the classroom: a total of 8.5 hours each week.  Regardless, this is not a written rule.  Some students are naturally going to work more quickly or more slowly than this guideline.  Time is not the issue.  Content is the issue.

So I have to wonder: if I put all the requirements and information for an in-class course into an online course and students are complaining that it is more work, what are they thinking?I have to wonder even more when a student complains about the technological challenge: there's no excuse for not having access to a computer for an online class, for example.  Furthermore, why would a student who has no clue how to use a computer take an online class in the first place?

I am happy when the first two weeks of the semester are over, when the students who are scandalized by the work required and/or the technological ability needed have all either dropped or conformed.  That's when I can really get down to the business at hand--to the business of teaching.