My Story, Draft #2 (it's better this time!)

I have always envied people who really knew what they wanted to be when they grew up. I never did. Fate has determined where and who I am and I would not change a thing. My “story” easily gave direction to my dissertation topic.

I grew up in a small town. No one in my family had ever been to college, yet somehow there was never a question that I would go. The subject of my studies and the direction of my career were not so easily determined. Since I had no role models, the typical female careers were suggested and seemed to be the only options. Since I fainted at the sight of blood, nursing was out of the question. What else was left but public school teaching? It took me one semester to realize that was a mistake. Who would have predicted that my career would make a complete circle, returning to education?

My working career began in technology with education as a byproduct. With an undergraduate
degree in Management Information Systems, my early career goals were centered around computer programming. A propensity for math and the love of technology was something I discovered in college quite by accident as I stumbled around a couple of semesters looking for something I wanted to study. I surprised myself at how good I was in subjects that were, in the late 1970’s, typically reserved for men. With the help of a wonderful mentor, I landed a programming job at Gaston College.

I soon discovered that a staff job at a college requires knowledge of education and over my twenty-nine year career at Gaston I have learned from the best. As my computer programming job turned into a director’s position and I worked my way up the administrative ladder, it was obvious that if I was going to remain in higher education, some formal knowledge of the subject would be required. Fate moved me into the classroom and also into graduate school. I began teaching technology at the community college level.

Coming full circle from my first undergraduate experience was an ironic twist in my career. Technology has always been at the core. When the Internet began playing a part in education I was intrigued. Suddenly, a wealth of knowledge was available to everyone at anytime, anywhere. A class that had been confined to four walls, a chosen textbook, and the voice of one expert could now reach into the vast array of information available on any subject. With a simple computer and a low-cost Internet connection, anyone could have access to that information for free. How could education and learning possibly get any better?
Colleges began to jump on the distance learning bandwagon and Gaston College was no exception. We moved the typical classroom lecture to the World Wide Web and assumed that our students would learn more, better and faster. What we have discovered is that few students have a natural motivation and ability to persist and succeed in the online environment. Anecdotally, we were hearing that the dropout rate in online classes was much higher than in the traditional classroom. The success rate was also lower. Students were making F’s and D’s, assuming they finished at all. Students were not learning as much in online courses and our programs were weaker because of Web-based learning. Yet, in the community college environment, our commuting, often working students with families were demanding Web-based classes, primarily because of the convenience and flexibility. We found ourselves in the quandary of balancing quality with demand.

As I have moved into academic administration, I have learned that moving a traditional class to the Web is not the ideal way to teach a class online. Course content is created and delivered differently on the Web and must be designed for that environment. Drawing students to each other through collaborative learning techniques is a key to success in distance education. We must insist on the same quality in the online environment that we do in the traditional classroom. The challenge is to train traditional community college faculty to design and deliver courses specifically for the Web-based learning environment. We have tried to provide professional development and quality standards to assist faculty in doing so.

Still, community college administrators hear that the dropout rate is higher in online courses. Is it true? If it is true, what can we do about it? Is it the use of technology that throws students for a loop? Is it the lack of collaboration that isolates and alienates students in an online class? Does the design and delivery of the online course impact student success and if so, how? So far in my research, I have read many retention studies and dissertations on the subject, but none from a rural community college perspective. I would like to research the persistence and success of students in online classes, comparing them to their counterparts in the traditional classroom setting.

While I haven’t specifically nailed down my dissertation topic, it is only natural that it relates to technology. The World Wide Web connects technology and education and seems to be a perfect focus for my research study. My challenge is to bring my topic into clear focus and determine how to best approach it. During the next six months, my goal is to read and research, talk to experts, and think about how my research can be meaningful and useful to both my career and my institution.