Lessons from theCyberspace ClassroomThe Realities of Online Teaching

Rena M. Palloff • Keith Pratt

Cover design by Bruce LundquistIllustration © Gerald Bustamente/SIS

Lessons from the Cyberspace ClassroomAuthors Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt have written a comprehensive reference for faculty to use tohone their skills as online instructors and for students to use to become more effective online learners.Filled with numerous examples from actual online courses and insights from teachers and students,Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom covers the entire online teaching process. This essentialguide offers helpful suggestions for dealing with such critical issues as evaluating effective course-ware, working with online classroom dynamics, addressing the needs of the online student, makingthe transition to online teaching, and promoting the development of the learning community.

“A comprehensive and concise description of key issues faced by every online educator, administra-tor, and developer. Following the tips provided by Palloff and Pratt will move online instructionbeyond being merely electronic correspondence education.”

—Rita-Marie Conrad, online instructor, Florida State University

“Gives comfort and aid to online teachers not by giving easy answers to hard questions, but by rais-ing all the questions and issues that online faculty are concerned with and by showing where theresearch and national discussion is on these important issues.”

—Donald B. Hart, assistant director for faculty development, Thomas Edison State College

“Will resonate with professional development staff who are seeking guidance in preparing faculty tobe effective online teachers and students to be successful online learners. . . .the ‘bible’ for onlinecourse development.”

—Jessica A. Somers, director, Academic Innovation, Advanced Learning Technologies,University System of Georgia Board of Regents

“Very practical and applicable . . .an invaluable tool for any faculty preparing to teach in the virtualworld.”

—Gary A. Girard, director, off-campus programs, University of South Dakota

The Authors

Rena M. Palloff, Ph.D., and Keith Pratt, Ph.D., are the managing partners of CrossroadsConsulting Group, working with educational and training organizations in developing and imple-menting distance learning programs. They are the authors of the Frandson Award-winning bookBuilding Learning Communities in Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom(Jossey-Bass, 1999).

ISBN 978-0-7879-5519-9

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LESSONS FROM THE CYBERSPACE CLASSROOM

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LESSONS FROM THE CYBERSPACE CLASSROOM

The Realities of Online Teaching

Rena M. Palloff, Keith Pratt

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Copyright © 2001 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by Jossey-BassA Wiley Imprint989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741 www.josseybass.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in anyform or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise,except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, withouteither the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of theappropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers,MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to thepublisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons,Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online athttp://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their bestefforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to theaccuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any impliedwarranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created orextended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies containedherein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional whereappropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any othercommercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or otherdamages.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Palloff, Rena M., 1950–Lessons from the cyberspace classroom : the realities of online teaching / Rena M. Palloff,

Keith Pratt.p. cm. — (The Jossey-Bass higher and adult education series)

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.ISBN 0-7879-5519-11. Teaching—computer network resources. 2. Computer-assisted instruction. 3. Distance

education. I. Pratt, Keith, 1947– II. Title. III. Series.LB1044.87 .P34 2001371.3'58—dc21

00-011518

Printed in the United States of AmericaFIRST EDITION

PB Printing 10 9 8 7 6

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THE JOSSEY-BASS HIGHER AND ADULT

EDUCATION SERIES

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For Gary, Dianne, Kevin, Dava, Nora Jo, Brian, Dynelle, Brittnie,Alyssa, and Kaylee—for your love, support, and inspiration.

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ix

CONTENTS

List of Figures, Tables, and Exhibits xi

Preface xiii

About the Authors xix

PART ONE: RETHINKING EDUCATION FOR AN ONLINE WORLD

1 Online Learning in the New Millennium 3

2 The Art of Online Teaching 20

3 Administrative Issues and Concerns 37

4 The Tools of Online Teaching 49

PART TWO: TEACHING AND LEARNING IN CYBERSPACE

5 Transforming Courses for the Online Classroom 67

6 Teaching Courses Developed by Others 93

7 Working with the Virtual Student 107

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8 Online Classroom Dynamics 125

9 Lessons Learned in the Cyberspace Classroom 152

Resource A: A Comparison of Syllabi for Online and Face-to-Face Delivery 165

Resource B: Systems Theories Course in CourseInfo and eCollege 177

Resource C: Additional Online Resources 193

References 197

Index 201

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FIGURES, TABLES, AND EXHIBITS

Figures

Figure 4.1: The Technological Infrastructure 59Figure 7.1: Different Learning Styles and Online Learning 111Figure 8.1: The Elements of Effective Online Groups 139Figure 8.2: The Learning Web 140

Tables

Table 1.1: A Comparison of Faculty and Administrative Responses to Common Concerns 11

Exhibits

Exhibit 1.1: Examples of Electronic Whiteboards 8Exhibit 4.1: A Comparison of Course Sites with Buried and Visible

Discussion Threads 55Exhibit 5.1: Learning Objectives 72Exhibit 5.2: Course Guidelines 73

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Exhibit 5.3: Course Assignments 75Exhibit 5.4: Schedule of Assignments and Discussions 77Exhibit 5.5: Course Homepage 78Exhibit 5.6: Discussion Board 79Exhibit 5.7: Sample Final Exam 82Exhibit 5.8: Course Syllabus 85Exhibit 6.1: Course Builder 98Exhibit 6.2: Quiz Builder 99Exhibit 6.3: Sample Student Lesson 100Exhibit 6.4: Sample Student Exercise 101Exhibit B.1: Course Homepage: Blackboard 177Exhibit B.2: Discussion Forums: Blackboard 178Exhibit B.3: Course Assignments: Blackboard 179Exhibit B.4: Student Communication Tools: Blackboard 180Exhibit B.5: Course Syllabus: Blackboard 181Exhibit B.6: Course Homepage: eCollege 182Exhibit B.7: Course Assignments: eCollege 183Exhibit B.8: Discussions: eCollege 184Exhibit B.9: Student Communication Tools: eCollege 185Exhibit B.10: Course Syllabus: eCollege 186Exhibit B.11: Course Homepage: Convene 187Exhibit B.12: Course Assignments: Convene 188Exhibit B.13: Discussions: Convene 189Exhibit B.14: Student Communication Tools: Convene 190Exhibit B.15: Course Syllabus: Convene 191

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xiii

In the two years since we wrote our first book, Building Learning Communities in

Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom, we expected to see dramaticchanges in the technology used for online courses. Although there has been slow,steady progress in this domain, this has not been where the most significant changesin online distance learning have taken place. Where we have seen the most changehas been in the realm of course delivery. Corporate entities specializing in “totalsolutions” are offering complete course and distance learning program manage-ment tools to institutions. Textbook companies are putting books and lecture ma-terials on websites that also include chat capability and gradebooks. In addition,organizations have emerged focused solely on the development of courses thatare then licensed or sold to academic institutions and delivered by faculty mem-bers who were not a part of their development.

Online Distance Learning in the Year 2000

These developments are forming the complexion of online distance learning aswe progress through the year 2000. They raise concerns that were not consideredeven two years ago, such as these:

PREFACE

THE NATURE OF CHANGE IN ONLINELEARNING

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Have and Have-Not Institutions

Increasingly, smaller colleges and universities are wanting to enter the distancelearning market to increase their reach and resultant student base. However, thecost of acquiring both the hardware and software required to enter this arena canbe prohibitive to a smaller institution with limited dollars. Consequently, we arebeginning to see a rift developing between the institutions that have the money toenter the market and those that are struggling to do so.

Faculty Control Over the Academic Process

Faculty are also raising concerns about the process by which institutions are en-tering the online market. Decisions about course authoring software and coursehosting arrangements are often being made without faculty involvement. Ques-tions are being raised about the degree to which faculty should be involved in de-cisions that have serious implications for course delivery.

Course Ownership

Do faculty members own the courses they develop, or are these courses institu-tional property? This question is becoming an increasingly important one as in-stitutions continue to move into online learning. Related questions are: Shouldfaculty be paid to develop courses for academic institutions as “work for hire?”Should faculty who teach a course developed by someone else be permitted toalter that course to suit their teaching styles and both eliminate and include ma-terial that they deem either unnecessary or more important? In addition, the trendtoward delivering course material to a company that posts courses and course ma-terial on a website that may or may not be owned by the institution is raising someconcerns about course ownership. The result is that faculty are wanting to knowwho “owns” courses and course material. In the face-to-face classroom, as facultydevelop and deliver their own courses, this has not been an issue. In the onlineclassroom, however, it is.

Intellectual Property and Copyright

Related to the course ownership issue are the issues of intellectual property andcopyright. Bates (2000) helps to distinguish between the two. Intellectual propertycan be defined as “the original ideas and thoughts of an academic or teacher”(p. 109), whereas copyright holds in cases where those ideas are given some phys-ical or tangible form of embodiment. Thus, when faculty are hired to develop acourse for an institution, ownership of the embodiment of their ideas regarding

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course material—or the online course—can become an issue of contention if thereis not an express agreement between faculty and the institution. However, othercopyright issues worthy of discussion arise in this area, such as the use of the dig-ital material widely available on the Internet and the use of student material postedto a course site as we have done in this book, for example. An increasing aware-ness and sensitivity to potential issues of copyright and intellectual property arepushing institutions to reexamine their agreements and policies so that as manyinstances as possible are covered.

These are the questions that we are asked with increasing frequency as wemeet with faculty and administrators across the country, and these are the ques-tions that we will tackle in this book. Although we may not have definitive answers,we hope to provide enough information on these issues so that faculty and ad-ministrators can begin to answer the questions for themselves.

Continuing Training Needs

It is assumed by academic institutions that if online courses and programs are of-fered, teachers will know how to teach in that environment, and more importantly,students will know how to learn or engage with the material. Our experience bothin teaching online courses and in consulting with faculty, faculty developers, andadministrators across the United States is that the opposite is true. Faculty needtraining and assistance in making the transition to the online environment, butstudents also need to be taught how to learn online. Learning through the use oftechnology takes more than mastery of a software program or comfort with thehardware being used. It takes an awareness of the impact that this form of learn-ing has on the learning process itself. As more institutions and their instructorsenter the cyberspace classroom and encounter both successes and difficulties inthe process, they are coming face-to-face with the realities of online teaching andasking more, not fewer, questions about how to make this transition successfully.Consequently, we will offer concrete suggestions for course development and de-livery. We will also offer suggestions to faculty who are being asked to teach a classthey did not create.

This book is a logical follow-up to our first book. In Building Learning Commu-

nities in Cyberspace (Palloff and Pratt, 1999), we discussed the importance of build-ing a learning community as a part of the delivery of online instruction. We alsoprovided a guidebook to the construction of an effective course for those enteringthe online arena for the first time. As we have lectured and consulted using theconcepts from the first book and also continued to teach online, we have beenlearning more about the realities of online teaching today. This new book will helptake instructors, faculty developers, and administrators further into the process as

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we explore the issues that they face on a regular basis. It is for these professionalsthat the book is primarily designed. It will also be helpful to those in the corpo-rate sector who are being asked with increasing frequency to develop employeetraining programs that are delivered entirely online. Readers will gain greater un-derstanding of the forces that are reshaping education in new and exciting ways.The book will also provide readers with new tips, tools, and insights to equip themto enter and participate with greater confidence in this new environment.

Organization of Contents

This book is divided into two parts. Part One creates a context by focusing onfaculty needs and concerns, administrative issues, and the technological tools beingused for course creation and delivery. Chapter One reviews in more detail the stateof distance learning today. Included is a brief discussion not only of technologi-cal developments but also of the ways in which distance learning programs are nowbeing delivered and the resultant issues for faculty. Research on the effectiveness ofonline learning is emerging, and we include the results of some of that research inorder to assist readers in evaluating online learning for themselves. We also look atthe newer trend in offering online education to high school students and other re-cent developments in the K–12 educational arena. Chapter Two is devoted to pro-viding tips and suggestions for assisting faculty in making the transition from theface-to-face to the online classroom. This is becoming an increasingly importanttopic for instructional designers, faculty developers, instructional technologists, andfaculty themselves. Chapter Three focuses on administrative concerns, such as com-pensation for course development and online teaching, program development,faculty support and training, governance issues, tenure issues, and concerns aboutintellectual property and copyright. In Chapter Four we revisit issues related to tech-nology, including a discussion of new developments and courseware. We evaluatethe elements that make for good courseware so that institutions can make informeddecisions about which to choose. Finally, we discuss ways in which online coursesand programs can be developed when financial resources are limited.

Part Two of the book focuses specifically on online teaching and learning.Chapter Five provides concrete suggestions for the development of a course andoffers a course example as a model. Chapter Six looks at another increasingly im-portant issue in online education as it is currently being delivered: how to teacha course that has been developed by someone else. Issues discussed include howto build community into the process as well as how to add or omit material thatthe instructor feels is important or unimportant. Finally, we offer suggestions forevaluating good course packages when looking to purchase or license material de-veloped by another entity or individual.

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Much of what has been written to date has focused on faculty needs in mov-ing to the online environment, and an assumption has been made that studentswill intuitively know how to learn online. Our experience has shown us that thisis not true. Consequently, we offer two chapters discussing the needs and issues ofthe online student. In Chapters Seven and Eight we discuss the characteristics ofthe successful online student and offer suggestions to faculty on how to maximizethe potential for students to be successful online. We also offer suggestions for ori-enting students to online learning in Chapter Seven and discuss group dynamicsin cyberspace in Chapter Eight. Included in Chapter Eight is a discussion of the-ories of group development and dynamics as well as how these theories apply whenthe group is virtual. The chapter also talks about working with difficult studentsin the online environment. Chapter Nine summarizes the lessons learned in theonline classroom, provides suggestions for further course and program develop-ment, and takes a look at likely future developments.

Each chapter ends with summary tips to help readers quickly access the ma-terial contained therein. The tips should also serve as a guide to creating success-ful online courses and programs because they highlight the more important pointsto consider.

As with our previous book, we have included many cases and examplesthroughout in order to illustrate the points being discussed. Once again, we haveincluded student posts to various types of course discussions, and as in Building

Learning Communities in Cyberspace, because of the importance we ascribe to allow-ing student voices to emerge in whatever way they may, we have left these posts un-touched except for length.

Changes in online distance learning are coming fast and furious. We couldnot possibly hope to capture all of the issues of concern to educators today. Oneof our esteemed mentors once likened doing research on a topic to approachinga fast-moving river. There is no way to study the entire river. Consequently, all onecan do is take out a bucketful of water and examine its contents. This book rep-resents another bucketful of water from the fast-moving river of online distancelearning, a river that continues to provide many of us with much to study. We canonly hope that we have done justice to those issues that faculty, students, and ad-ministrators deem to be most important at this point in time.

Acknowledgments

Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a collaborative effort to write a bookabout interactive processes and community building in online courses. As a result,there are a number of people to whom we are grateful for their help and gener-osity in completing this work.

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As in our previous book, we need to begin by acknowledging our students. Wethank you for the spirit with which you have entered this online adventure with usand also for your willingness to share your experiences with people you do notknow in order to ease their transition to online work. We would also like to thankAlpha Sarmian for his suggestions on Internet resources and his assistance in con-verting the graphics contained in this work.

Thanks to the following people and their organizations for their enthusiasticsupport of our endeavors to improve the quality of online distance learning: JulieJantzi of Christian University Global Network; Gary Girard of the Universityof South Dakota; Rita-Marie Conrad of Florida State University; Don Hart ofThomas Edison State College; Jessica Somers and Brian Finnegan of the Geor-gia Board of Regents; Phil Chatterton of WebCT; Dan Burke of Convene; BobCrook of the LeCroy Center at the Dallas County Community College District;Bridget Ahrend, Chris Rapp, and Sarah Allen of eCollege; Brenda Reiswerg andParker Hudnut of University Access; Liz Osika and Denise Camin of Purdue Uni-versity; and Gale Erlandson, David Brightman, and Melissa Kirk, our editors atJossey-Bass. In addition, we would like to thank the staff at Datatel for allowingus to test out some of our ideas and helping us to develop our thinking in the areaof planning. Finally, we acknowledge our families for their love and support—without them, we would be unable to do any of this work.

December 2000 Rena M. PalloffAlameda, California

Keith PrattNorman, Oklahoma

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Rena M. Palloff has worked extensively in health care, academic settings, and ad-diction treatment for over twenty years. She is a consultant to community groupsinterested in systems change and results-based accountability and to addictiontreatment programs in the areas of program development, marketing, and thedevelopment of service delivery systems that are sensitive to the managed care en-vironment.

Palloff is a member of the faculty of the Fielding Institute, teaching in its com-pletely online Master’s Degree Program in Organizational Management. She isalso an assistant professor at John F. Kennedy University, teaching in the HolisticHealth Department in the Graduate School for Holistic Studies, Liberal Studies,and Management. She is an adjunct associate professor in the Chemical De-pendency Studies Department at California State University-Hayward, and anadjunct professor in Samuel Merritt College’s Program in Health and HumanSciences. She also teaches classes in organizational behavior and managementand leadership for the International Studies Program at Ottawa University in Ot-tawa, Kansas, at various sites throughout the Pacific Rim.

Palloff received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Wis-consin-Madison and her master’s degree in social work from the University ofWisconsin-Milwaukee. She holds a master’s degree in organizational developmentand a Ph.D. in human and organizational systems from the Fielding Institute.

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Keith Pratt began his government career as a computer systems technician with theU.S. Air Force in 1967. He served in various positions, including supervisor com-puter systems maintenance, chief of the Logistics Support Branch, chief of the Tele-communications Branch, and superintendent of the Secure TelecommunicationsBranch. After leaving the air force, Pratt held positions as registrar and faculty(Charter College), director (Chapman College), and trainer and consultant (TheGrowth Company).

Pratt was formerly an adjunct faculty member at Wayland Baptist Universityand the University of Alaska, teaching courses in communications, business, man-agement, organizational theories, and computer technology. He was most recentlyan assistant professor in the International Studies Program and the chair of theManagement Information Systems Program, main campus and overseas, at Ot-tawa University in Ottawa, Kansas. He is currently a project manager for Datatel,working with community colleges on the West Coast. Pratt is certified in the ad-ministration of the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Pratt graduated from Wayland Baptist University with a dual degree in busi-ness administration and computer systems technology. He has a master’s of sci-ence in human resource management (with honors) from Chapman University.He holds a master’s in organizational development and a Ph.D. in human and or-ganizational systems from the Fielding Institute, and an honorary doctorate of sci-ence in economics from Moscow State University.

◆ ◆ ◆

Palloff and Pratt are the managing partners of Crossroads Consulting Group andthe authors of the Frandson Award winning book Building Learning Communities in

Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom. Written for faculty, trainers, fac-ulty developers, and administrators of distance learning programs, Building Learn-

ing Communities in Cyberspace is a comprehensive guide to the development of anonline environment that helps promote successful learning outcomes while build-ing and fostering a sense of community among learners. The book was based ontheir many years of teaching experience in the online environment and containsvignettes and case examples from a variety of successful online courses. Palloffand Pratt have been presenting this work across the United States and interna-tionally since 1994 as well as consulting to academic institutions on the develop-ment of effective distance learning programs.

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PART ONE

RETHINKING EDUCATION FOR AN ONLINE WORLD

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