Ad hoc Committee on Online Education

Status Report: March 13 2015

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Update

Based on what we know about pedagogical effectiveness and a review of the literature, we have outlined a vision for the nature and size of online classes, which we have tentatively termed as

High touch-high tech

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Characteristics of a High touch-high tech Class:

Overall, it is part of a course that is responsive to student learning and current events, And at a minimum, the class:– Functions as a single unit– Has a high level of faculty-student interaction– Has assignments that include and integrate

student-to-student collaboration

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The High touch-high tech class:

– Is grading intensive: assignments require personal feedback about progress

– Has weekly faculty initiated communication to class

– Offers a timely individual response to student questions and concerns (within 24 hrs.)

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Class Size

Best practices indicate that the faculty member’s ability to create and maintain a high touch-high tech environment is inversely proportional to class size.

An optimal size for a High touch-high tech class is 15-25 students in a class. (Fifteen students is the break-even point for cost-revenue).

Members

Belinda Blevins Knabe PsychologyVickie Edwards IOGJennifer Holtz CAREJames Golden Criminal JusticeCynthia Johnson AccountingDenise LeGrand MathematicsKaren Leonard ManagementCarolyn Macheak LibraryLisa Sherwin Psychology

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High tech-high touch is a term first coined by Naisbitt in the 1980s and Thornburg in 2002 elaborates to define it as:

embracing technology that preserves our humanness and rejecting

technology that intrudes upon it.