Credit: Nick Romanenko

Student Shelby Saunders is studying along with students in China as part of her "Ethics of Food Class.'' The number of online classes is increasing at Rutgers.

Professor Tisha Bender’s "Ethics of Food" class
could exist without the internet, but students in China and New
Brunswick wouldn’t be discussing the “omnivore’s dilemma’’ together
despite a 13-hour time difference, sharing perspectives from both
cultures.

And Rudolph Bell’s spring class on History and the  News wouldn’t feature lectures by Rutgers experts on up-to-the minute
events like the tsunami in Japan.

“At any fixed time of the day or week, you couldn’t
always get experts on short notice. They might be teaching another
class, they might be out of town. But I was able to get more than two
dozen this way,’’ said Bell, a history professor in the School of Arts
and Sciences, who videotaped some faculty members and spoke with others
during class via Skype.

For the first time, Bender and Bell are teaching
courses that are entirely--or almost entirely--online, allowing them to present material without
the limitations of face-to-face learning.

Fifteen years after the  Rutgers School of Communication and Information started offering courses
over the internet, there are 5,000 students taking a fully online course
this semester, according to Richard Novak, associate vice president of
continuing studies and distance learning. “It’s about a 20 percent
increase year to year. There’s certainly interest from students and
growing interest from faculty.’’

This fall, Rutgers established the Center for Online
& Hybrid Learning and Instructional Technology to keep pace with
the increase and assist faculty who want to incorporate more online
elements into their curriculum, Novak said.

“Some want to try something new. Others want to see
how technology can be used to enhance learning,’’ he said. 

The Office of Instructional Research and Technology (OIRT,) which supports Sakai, the most heavily used course management system at Rutgers, has also increased faculty support for technology-enhanced learning.

Students are seeing the benefits.

“We get a chance that few other students have,’’
said Gregory Weissman, one of about 20 students enrolled in Bender's “Ethics of
Food,’’ a research writing class. “We get to interact with students from
the other side of the world.

Fully online course are now offered at College of
Nursing, the School of Communication and Information and the Mason Gross
School of the Arts, where there’s been an “explosion’’ of online course
enrollment, said Novak.

According to Antonius Bittman, associate dean of
Mason Gross School and director of the school’s online arts division,  2,400
Mason Gross students are now enrolled in online courses in dance,
theater, and the visual arts. Most involve history or an academic aspect
of the art form, not actually learning a skill, which is better
accomplished in the studio, he said.

Bittman said it's second-nature for today’s students
to learn through technology, and schools need to adapt. This is how they communicate with each other,’’ he
said. “Higher education is in the midst of a whirlwind of change.’’

Gayle Stein, associate director of instructional
technology (OIRT)  has this advice for faculty designing a fully online
course: “The first thing to think about is their learning goals, and the
best way of achieving that. What types of activities do they want to
do? How do they want to teach their course material?,’’ she said.  "We
help them match the technology based on what they want to do . . . When
they’re planning the course, we tell them the last thing they should be
thinking about is technology.’’

Bittman said students in online courses often give
better ratings to professors, largely because teachers are so accessible
and there’s more interaction with them in online discussions then there
would be in a classroom.

“With the amount of time my fellow students and I
are online, that’s the ultimate way professors can reach us,’’ says
Shelby Saunders, who is enrolled in Bender’s course.

Bender is co-teaching her class with a Chunyan Xu, a
professor from Jilin University, whom she met when Xu was a visiting
scholar at the Rutgers Confucious Institute. For her class, she established a “virtual lounge,’’
where students introduced themselves when class began. Discussions  are held in a forum '' and and
“mini lectures’’ are held in the online course’s module area.

Bender who has taught “hybrid courses,’’ a blend of
online and face-to-face, says online learning is especially suited for
classes that encourage a lot of dialogue. “It’s best for classes that
are discussion-based and the teacher can employ a “Socratic” method to
make it more interactive,’’ she said. “You tell students, ‘if you don’t
participate and post a comment, it’s as if you’re not really there,
because we can’t see you.’’

Both students and faculty agree that participation
usually increases in online classes.

“It's much easier and more fulfilling to have
conversations online,’’ says Bender’s student, Rachel Strasser.
“Students have more time to compose what they want to say. No one's
logical point gets bogged down in the heat of the moment and no one can
interrupt or throw them off.’’

Another perk?

“I've gained the ability to not have to take the bus
to Livingston,’’ Strasser said.