Instructor Integrity:
The question posed at the beginning of this article about student integrity has a cousin: What about professor integrity?
It is easy in the online environment for an instructor to run a sloppy course. Whether due to a lack of training, lack of interest, or general bad habits, many faculty members provide a poor student experience in a distance learning course. This is, of course, not acceptable.
On the other hand, the online environment does make it significantly easier for an engaged administrator to monitor a course. Unlike a physical classroom in which, once the door is closed, it is impossible to know what is really going on, in a distance learning situation, the course activity is usually archived on a server.
That means an interested observer can keep a rather close eye on the quality of academic work taking place in a virtual class. They should be aggressive about doing so.
Commitment to Distance Learning vs. Classroom:
some institutions offer their programs by distance learning because it is trendy or profitable to do so. However, their hearts are really not in it. Their real preference is to support the classroom operation.
This violates the integrity of those students who have enrolled in the distance learning program. They deserve consideration equal to that extended to on-campus students.
It is possible to observe the budget, time, and energy resources expended on behalf of distance education to know an institution’s real commitment. If they are offering distance learning programming, simple integrity calls for them to back the programming up with adequate resources and commitment
The question posed at the beginning of this article about student integrity has a cousin: What about professor integrity?
It is easy in the online environment for an instructor to run a sloppy course. Whether due to a lack of training, lack of interest, or general bad habits, many faculty members provide a poor student experience in a distance learning course. This is, of course, not acceptable.
On the other hand, the online environment does make it significantly easier for an engaged administrator to monitor a course. Unlike a physical classroom in which, once the door is closed, it is impossible to know what is really going on, in a distance learning situation, the course activity is usually archived on a server.
That means an interested observer can keep a rather close eye on the quality of academic work taking place in a virtual class. They should be aggressive about doing so.
Commitment to Distance Learning vs. Classroom:
some institutions offer their programs by distance learning because it is trendy or profitable to do so. However, their hearts are really not in it. Their real preference is to support the classroom operation.
This violates the integrity of those students who have enrolled in the distance learning program. They deserve consideration equal to that extended to on-campus students.
It is possible to observe the budget, time, and energy resources expended on behalf of distance education to know an institution’s real commitment. If they are offering distance learning programming, simple integrity calls for them to back the programming up with adequate resources and commitment
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