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Passage
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Distance Education-A
Failed Experiment
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When
several students approached John M. Zikopoulos and asked whether
they could take his introductory-level chemistry course online,
Mr. Zikopoulos figured he would give it a shot. He could not
have anticipated the fiasco that would result.
Mr. Zikopoulos, a professor of chemistry at Mesa Community College,
in Mesa, Ariz., had reason to think it was a good idea. After
all, some of the students had valid reasons for requesting the
alternative. One student's work schedule made it impossible
for him to attend lectures, and another had young children and
wanted to be able to study from home. 
So Mr. Zikopoulos worked for a few weeks to put his lectures
and other course materials online, and then started the Web
version of his course with five students.
The experiment ended mid-semester, with the students dissatisfied
and complaining about slow modems, and with Mr. Zikopoulos
frustrated. He absorbed the students back into his face-to-face
class and conceded that distance education was not for him.
In Mr. Zikopoulos's view, the experiment failed partly because
of his own teaching style and lack of familiarity with the software
he needed to use, and partly because of what he perceives as
immutable aspects of distance education. "Part of the
problem was me," he says. "I didn't give them enough
tools, and the tools that I did have I wasn't good at using."
"I'm a terrible typist," he adds.
Mr. Zikopoulos says he is able to communicate more effectively
in person than online. "It is part of my style to wander
around the class and prod the groups of students as they work
on team problems," he says.
But he also questions whether distance education works as
well for less motivated students. "If the students are
highly motivated and focused, I think distance education does
wonders, but I also think that it is difficult for the average
student to get as much out of it on a conceptual level as students
who have direct access to other students and professors."
Mr. Zikopoulos's experience is not the norm, however, according
to Brooke Estabrook, an instructional technologist at the Center
for Teaching and Learning at Mesa Community College. She says
that of those instructors who go through a college-sponsored
support-and-mentoring program, only 10 percent discover that
they are not happy teaching online.
Mr. Zikopoulos says that he did not take the time to participate
in the program, although he did consult some with Ms. Estabrook
individually.
"The mentoring program seems to be pretty successful,
but it is not required," Ms. Estabrook says. "Some
people develop very successful courses on their own." 
Ms. Estabrook says that professors who decide that online
education isn't for them usually do so because either their
personal teaching style or their course content does not transfer
well to an online format.
"I have seen incredibly talented instructors in the traditional
classroom flounder when they go online, because they do not
adapt well to the needs and characteristics of the virtual classroom,"
says Jennifer Lieberman, a computer-assisted-instruction specialist
at the Illinois Online Network, a collaboration of 31 community
colleges and the University of Illinois campuses.
"The online environment for one reason or another does
not mesh well with these instructors' teaching styles, personality
types, comfort levels with technology, or preferred communication
styles," she says. "It's not for everyone, and in
my opinion there is nothing wrong with that."
(563 words)
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