#ALISE2018 : Will “online” go the distance? The quality of teaching and evaluation in online LIS education

32 of the yet 65 ALA accredited programs are fully online.

John Burgess, Univ. Of Alabama

Learning by play: an online approach to teaching the reference encounter 

Their MLIS program is offered in two modes: face to face and synchronous online 

Want a parity in lesrning experience 

Humanistic method

• Parity can be challenging in subjects which require developing empathy, perception, and non-verbal communication as learning outcomes
• Expectation of autonomous practice

Shari Lee, St. John’s University 

Student centered learning 

Rapid increase of online programs, including LIS

Ubiquity of the Internet and the development/evolution of technology

To be successful, we need a change in focus in how we teach

Demonopolisation

Students become active participants.  Student centered learning moves students from being passive to being active.

James Vorbach, St. John’s University

Managing and evaluating an online group project

The group project is in a web design course which uses WordPress for the web design. It is a six week project.

Project development stages

• Group selection and client selection
• Initial group meeting
• Research
• Design and implementation 

Assessments : Status reports (1 page each), progress report (longer, half of the final report), presentation,  final report (progress report plus other information), web site, and peer review survey (SurveyMonkey).

Evaluation : points are given for the presentation, final report, web site, and peer review. 40% of the final grade.

Summary from our groups discussions:

• Establish the rapport that communication is always open, using the tools available.
• One group discussed assessment and evaluation of group work and then deviated into talking about student feedback on their group mates.  Talked about communicating with students. Keep in mind that in the work world, not everyone works at the same level and assessing your peers in normal. 
• Failure is okay.  Getting comfortable with teaching online, etc., takes time.
• How do we support the technology for online education?  Where are the resources for supporting the instructors?
• Faculty are hired for research, yet are told that they need to keep up to date on teaching technology.  Faculty may be required to troubleshoot the technology problems for their classes, because there is no IT support.
• Does the university value online the same as face to face? 
• When you teach online, be explicit with the instructions you give students.

Edited for types and reformatted: Feb. 11, 2018