The Role of the Alternative Methods of Instruction in Higher Education

Koba Lomidze
Old Dominion University

Introduction

The U.S. higher education system is famous with innovative approaches. It has been a benchmark for many countries around the world. Administrative models, policies, the best practices of American universities are often imitated and adapted by the universities in various part of the world. Those universities often operate in completely different cultural, economic environments from the United States. It is also well-known that the biggest share of modern day research is done in American research institutions, which means that the American system is the most effective at present. 

One of the components that have been making the educational system effective is funding. Financial endowments fueling the higher education system was generously coming from the federal government, donors, and alumni as recognition of higher education institutions’ successful work.  Recent economic recessions, however, made for substantial reduction of funding to universities from federal government and other contributors. Higher education will have to make cuts in order to balance their budget. To continue the innovative tradition the university administrators, the faculty and the staff need to be seeking for new solutions and asking themselves “what should the university of the future be like?”

“College and university attendance has been steadily growing since World War II” (Arowitz, 2000, p. 2) and the same trend will obviously continue in the 21st century. In our time, higher education cannot be self-sustainable. It seldom was, and this is especially true in the 21st century, when universities do not only serve the purpose of giving knowledge or conducting research, but immerse students into their idiosyncratic cultures. Students’ expectations of higher education institutions are much higher, than it used to be, even 20 years ago. Contemporary universities are expected to satisfy high standards and address a variety of needs including residential buildings for a substantial share of enrolled students; parking areas for the student population, faculty, staff and visitors; recreational facilities; special programs geared towards many different student groups and minorities; library facilities and wireless internet to name a few.

The implementation of new technologies can obviously have great benefits making higher education accessible for larger numbers of people. This in turn is essential for cultivating “informed citizens who are aware of and open to different cultural perspectives and are willing to engage in reasonable debate about critical issues” (Taylor, 2010, p. 6). The most important investment being the time, and enthusiasm by the faculty to cooperate in utilizing the new technologies for their instruction, this process, also, requires initial financial investments. 

Financial pressures

Already today the higher education system is faced with severe financial pressures. To satisfy the needs of the growing number of students universities should be seeking the new ways of transferring knowledge; the ways that will guarantee high quality and accommodate large numbers of students.

The economic crises the most recent starting ng in 2008 became the reason for significant cuts in federal funding for higher education institution. They also influenced the donors who facing with harder times where not as generous in giving. Roytek (2010) argues that global economic conditions are increasingly forcing organizations to downsize while simultaneously requiring an increase in productivity from their remaining reduced workforce.

With scarce funding available higher education institutions are constantly increasing student tuition fees, which even being high covers only a small share of all the expanses. Most colleges and universities enjoy nonprofit, tax-exempt status, which makes them less subject to scrutiny than other types of enterprises. When it comes to tuition, the schools generally claim that fees don’t begin to cover their costs (Hacker & Dreifus, 2010, p. 115). Cooperation with businesses would be one more way to generate income for higher education but here comes economic crises again.

Hacker & Dreifus (2010) maintain that “college physical plants have become more expensive. Dormitories once provided double-deck beds, a military mattress, and a battered desk. Cafeterias offered a set menu: eat it or leave it. No longer. Students expect and get suites, private bathrooms, and food courts with specialized stations” (p. 119).

Notwithstanding the economic hardships presidential salaries of colleges have been growing. If a college has athletics teams there are even more expenses to cover. Given the fiscal crisis of public education universities need to find new ways to satisfy the growing demand for higher education. In order to alleviate financial pressures universities should come up with alternative models of offering their services, including instruction. Reconsidering and supplementing the traditional means of instruction with the use of technology can offer a  possible solutions.

Traditional classrooms and new technology

When we talk about the new capabilities for instruction first of all we mean the internet with its capacity of video conferencing, asynchronous transfer of video, file sharing, testing, etc. The modern technologies “are beginning to have a significant impact not only on the method of delivery but on the structure and content of courses. There are currently three kinds of courses: traditional (in-school) courses, online courses in virtual classrooms and courses that combine the former and the latter. Taylor (2010) maintains that not all subjects lend themselves online instructions. It is essential that students learn how to read and write in traditional ways.   “Courses that use the latest media and communications technologies should supplement and not replace traditional courses” (p. 135).

Mayadas et al. (2009) maintain that a primary driver for online education is the presupposition of faculty and university administrators that a sizable population of potential learners exists—typically, working adults who wish to obtain college credit and credentials but who cannot do so because of time restraints imposed by work, family, community responsibilities, or lack of proximity to a suitable educational institution. Faculty members and institutions expected the asynchronicity and distance-independence of online education to be an answer for this population. Largely, this assumption has proven to be true (Mayadas et al., 2009, p. 51).

According to Taylor (2010) “it is correctly argued that education at every level should be the right of all and not the privilege of a few. In the absence of increased funding for financial aid, it will be necessary to undertake new institutional initiatives to expand educational opportunities without significantly increasing costs” (p. 163).

As colleges and universities grapple with financial pressures and the cost of higher education continues to escalate, it is going to be increasingly difficult for many schools and students to continue offering courses solely as they have in the past. To meet growing demand with fewer resources, virtual courses will become more popular. It is therefore important for educators to work to make this new ways of teaching as effective as possible” (Taylor, 2010, p. 126).

Criticizing the modern day research Taylor (2010) argues that “scholars are producing too much literature, yet saying too little, with very little synthesis of ideas”. He believes that more attention should be given to teaching and especially new technologies in education. However, Taylor (2010) laments that “many older faculty members resist learning about and using these technologies” (p. 121).  According to Taylor (2010) new technologies can give new life to higher education system and “a vibrant educational system is essential for democracy to thrive and individuals to prosper in our globalized world” (p. 6).

“Changes in how information is distributed and knowledge communicated will both create more competition in higher education and provide the occasion for new forms of cooperation at the local, national and even global level” (Taylor, 2010, p. 4). Taylor (2010) suggests that universities should cooperate in creating internet based instruction. He states that “parochial interest must be set aside to create global educational networks that will facilitate the production of new knowledge and encourage the free flow of intellectual and cultural capital. While the shape of these new institutions is far from clear, their general contours are beginning to emerge” (p. 17).

One of the best ways to strengthen colleges and universities is to “create ways to make them more adaptive to our rapidly changing world and to develop effective strategies for making higher education affordable and accessible to more people across the globe” (Taylor, 2010, p. 24). Taking advantage of the internet conferencing also addresses the growing need for internationalization and globalization. It can benefit the American students taking a year or semester abroad could still be taking online classes from the home university.   

Quality vs. quantity

In order not to compromise the quality of teaching and learning as well as the students services offered universities should seek alternative, cheaper and more engaging ways of transferring knowledge. The rapid development of technology and communications recently has a lot to offer in this respect. It is hard to imagine today that just 20 years ago nobody in higher education used email for communication. At some point it was not even considered reliable. However, with the global network increasing capacities and becoming hassle free email became integral means of everyday communication among faculty, students, offices, institutions. In fact today it serves as a signature and evidence.

 Although, oftentimes internet speed lives more to be desired, especially when it comes to video conferencing, streaming video classes are still becoming common in American universities. It is a different issue to what extent this new type of knowledge acquisition can substitute for face to face interaction, as students do not yet feel comfortable enough and indeed behave differently in online classes than they would in a real classroom. But for many students it certainly is a more convenient form of getting their education which saves time and money that otherwise had to be spent on commuting and parking. Taylor (2010) maintains that “while obviously not as desirable as the traditional face-to-face discussions, these technologies make it possible for faculty members to have contact with students outside the confines of the traditional classroom setting. It is going to become necessary for students to be less reliant on teachers and mentors and to assume more responsibility for their own education” (p. 15). As technology improves this type of teaching and learning will become even more popular, as it offers some obvious advantages to traditional classroom teaching, such as for instance instant file sharing, the possibility of revisiting the recorded video of the class, etc.

By altering the way information is distributed and knowledge is shared, “telecommunications technologies obscure the long-standing line between publication and teaching” (Taylor, 2010, p. 125). More and more books, journals and articles are being published in the electronic form. “Classrooms are being wired for videoconferencing as well as real-time and delayed audio transmission. With easy-to-use software and hardware, lectures and seminars can be readily transmitted across the globe” (Taylor, 2010, p. 125). The increasing quality of reception on digital devices like mobile phones, and tablets  further extends the range and availabitliy of courses offered on the Web. “With these developments, webcasts and podcasts make publication in the form of online teaching virtually ubiquitous and thus available to everyone. As networks spread and the demand for content grows, there will be new opportunities for creating and distributing educational materials” (Taylor, 2010, p. 125).

Taylor (2010) maintains that “in the past, cooperative arrangements were possible only for institutions sharing geographical proximity, but teleconferencing and the Internet exponentially expand the opportunities for cooperation. Some subjects can be completely outsourced; for example, let one college have a strong French department and another a strong department in German. In other cases, costs can be shared, splitting a faculty member’s time between two or more institutions, by alternating physical and virtual presence. For the first half of the semester what is taught at one college can be remotely transmitted to another, and for the second half of the term this process can be reversed. This arrangement would require institutions to collaborate more closely by establishing procedure for joint appointments. Faculty members would no longer be affiliated with a single college or university and would be required to become much more mobile. But telecommunications technologies also make it possible for people to be in multiple places at the same time” (p. 161).

Consolidation of resources among universities is of paramount importance for successful functioning. “Universities should form consortia that would allow the sharing of faculty in programs that are centered at one institution but have faculty distributed among several universities” (Taylor, 2010, p. 162). “Schools cannot and should not try to be everywhere but will have to have significant affiliations with other colleges and universities throughout the world. This is not merely a matter of economic necessity, but also an issue of educational responsibility” (Taylor, 2010, p. 163). Certainly, the mentioned transformations should happen without jeopardizing the quality of research and teaching.

Taylor (2010) maintains that “as networking technologies continue to spread and storage capacity and speed of data transmission increase, real-time online education will become both more convenient and more popular” (p. 164). Taylor (2010) further argues that “flexibility is, therefore, vitally important to more and more students. Physical presence in a school with a professor in the classroom is quickly becoming a luxury that fewer and fewer students can afford, and more and more believe unnecessary. From the fall of 2002 to the fall of 2007, online enrollment in degree-granting postsecondary institutions increased from 1,602,970 (9 percent of total enrollment) to 3,939,111 (21.9 percent). It is hard to see why this trend will not continue” (p. 173). 

What does future hold?

Online instruction has obvious advantages as well as certain disadvantages and barriers compared to traditional classroom instruction. The primary advantage of online instruction indeed is the ability to teach disregarding the distance barriers. The modern technologies and the internet made it possible for a person to be at several places at the same time. Apparently more and more faculty will see value in using online availability to enhance the traditional classroom environment and more higher education institutions will provide for-credit online course offerings.

Ward et al. (2010) discussing the results of the survey done in University of Southern Mississippi state that “two additional dimensions of quality, ease of access and minimizing costs (other than tuition) of taking the course, were rated by students as being significantly higher for the two online formats than for the face-to-face format. In an era of escalating fuel prices, recessionary economic trends, and increasing awareness of access to online instructional opportunities, these are not surprising findings for course offerings that typically allow students access from home” (p. 73).

One of the disadvantages of online instruction is that it is not easy to facilitate verbal discussion, since many students still do not have the necessary comfort level to express their opinions in such setting plus there often are technical problems that hamper the process. Online courses offer discussion boards, however they do not provide the dynamic flow of ideas as does the live discussion. Collaboration between students is extremely important for learning, since students usually learn from each other. According to Bart (2011) striking the right balance between instructor workload and student needs is a three-phase process that requires adapting course materials and assignments, fostering student-to-student interaction, and managing instructor presence. Although there is a potential for improvement, sadly, the present state of online instructional delivery systems leave much to be desired in terms of student collaboration.

Ward et al. (2010) maintain that  “while online content is more accessible, obtaining information is only one stage of gaining command over complex content” (p. 60). They quote Hofer, Yu, and Pintrich (2004) who found that self-regulation of learning is difficult for most students. Students in online courses often have difficulty with comprehension and application of information (Ward et al., 2010).

Online instruction has influenced how higher education redefines teaching as universities understand the significance and move towards the paradigm of online teaching and learning. Despite the benefits of online teaching, many university faculty members tend to gravitate toward instructional practices that are most comfortable to them (Fish & Gill, 2009).

One cannot ignore the benefits the online instruction can have for both students and the educational institutions, however you cannot also ignore the disadvantages. Taking into account the present capabilities of online instruction teaching entire courses online may not be a good idea. The best option in order to take advantage of the obvious benefits and eliminate the disadvantages is for universities to offer blended courses. Mayadas et al. (2009) expect Internet use in courses to envelop all faculty, as blended approaches become the norm for college courses over the coming 5 to 10 years. Further improvements in internet capabilities are inevitable.  It is very realistic that the day is not far when students taking an online course will feel as confident and comfortable in online classes as they do in the traditional classrooms.

References

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Aronowitz, S. (2000).  The knowledge factory: dismantling the corporate university and creating true higher learning. Boston: Beacon Press.

Bart, M. (March 14, 2011). Fostering Student Interaction in the Online Classroom. Faculty Focus. Retrieved from http://www.facultyfocus.com

Fish, W. W., & Gill, P. B. (2009). Perceptions of Online Instruction. Online Submission, Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hacker, A., Dreifus, C. (2010). Higher Education? How Colleges are wasting our money and failing our kinds – and what we can do about it. New York: Times Books.

Hofer, B., Yu, S., & Pintrich, P. (2004). Teaching college students to be self-regulated learners. In D. Schunk & B. Zimmerman (Eds.), Self-regulated learners: From teaching to selfreflective practice (pp. 57–85). New York: Guilford.

Mayadas, A., Bourne, J., & Bacsich, P. (2009). Online Education Today. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 13(2), 49-56. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Roytek, M. A. (2010). Enhancing instructional design efficiency: Methodologies employed by instructional designers. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(2), 170-180.

Taylor, M. C. (2010). Crisis on campus. A bold plan for reforming our colleges and universities. New York: Knopf.

Ward, M. E., Peters, G., & Shelley, K. (2010). Student and Faculty Perceptions of the Quality of Online Learning Experiences. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 11(3), 57-77. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.