The perceptions about online teaching and learning are frequently different from the reality. Some students say they expected the online course to be easier than the traditional face-to-face course and are surprised by the rigor, while skeptics decry the quality of online offerings since students cannot possibly learn as well online as they do in…

Is distance learning transformational? The author heard this question posed to a panel of faculty members during Distance Education Week activities. After reflecting upon her own students' reaction to her syllabus, her answer to the question changed from an initial, enthusiastic "yes" to a reflective "maybe," given the most favorable environment.…

A well-designed online course can provide opportunities for active learning, creative thinking, and knowledge construction with high levels of student satisfaction. The latest Babson/Sloan survey on online education, however, shows that approximately one-third of the chief academic officer participants still consider online education inferior to…

During the last issue of this journal (Volume 60, Number 2), readers were introduced to Dr. Kelly McGyver. Her department head asked her to teach the 820 course when a colleague faced unexpected medical issues. The department head also requested her to redesign the biennial graduate-level course as an online course two months before the beginning…

This article discusses how faculty members feel about the growth and quality of distance, distributed, and online higher education. The twenty-first century university must innovate to survive as the Internet becomes the dominant source of knowledge and learning. The twenty-first century student connects with information differently than earlier…

Today, teachers are facing a new generation of students known as the Millennials, or the digital generation. They have grown up with the Internet, cell phones, and multiple methods of electronic communication; however, they learned in traditional classrooms where they were required to disconnect. Faculty members generally fall into the Baby Boomer…