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Online courses restructure the classroom

Nutrition course experiments with alternative learning

It has been four years since Fred Wolfe, now the head of the UA department of nutritional sciences, decided he wanted to teach a course without a single student in his presence.

A partially online course was offered two years later, a completely online course commenced a semester after that, and now students can receive general education requirements without ever entering a classroom.

Jennifer Ricketts, assistant research scientist in the University of Arizona nutritional sciences department, undertook the task of developing the class online. Her first step was applying for a grant from the National Science Foundation.

"Before we could begin designing the program we had to validate the use of the environment," she said. "Then we spent the rest of our time putting this together."

Ricketts collaborated with Erik Norelle, a senior programmer, to produce digital and analog tapes edited for a CD-ROM. James Wartell, a computer science undergraduate student, aided in designing tests and assembling tutorials and content. They received a license for WebCT in spring of 1999.

"WebCT is a course management tool that has a lot of capabilities. It can autograde, bulletin board, private e-mail, chat rooms, so most interaction is on this program," Ricketts explained.

Having run the class for three semesters and a summer now, Ricketts said she has been able to assess the advantages and disadvantages of the unique structure of NATS 104 partially and fully distributed online classes.

"I want to improve on the discussions and chat rooms," she said. "Student-centered graphic simulations will help students feel not quite as isolated."

Ricketts said flexibility is the class's primary advantage. A lot of student athletes and seniors have time to take the class. But the format may not work for all students.

"I would say it's not for everyone," she warned. "This course works best for mature students who are disciplined in their studies. But I would say that the majority enjoy it."

Sean Ellerson, a media arts junior, is in the partially distributed class, which meets for tests and some lectures, but does most of the work online. He echoed Ricketts' praise of the flexibility the course offered, despite the workload.

"It demands more of the student, where you need to take responsibility for your assignments and due dates," he said.

Despite the success of the program so far, Ricketts said some of her peers have told her they are uncomfortable with the new format.

"I have made several presentations to faculty and a lot feel this will break down the traditional lecture model," she said. "I had a professor tell me point blank that students can't learn unless they are there in person and talking to them. Change really threatens people."

Randall Richardson, UA vice president of undergraduate admission, said he feels the program is innovative and looks forward to seeing how it will develop.

"The university-wide general education committee thought this class has a lot of potential," he said. "The committee is comparing the partially and fully distributed classes and is thinking about developing distributed classes to enhance campus learning."

The UA differs from other universities that offer online courses because it caters to students already attending the university, Richardson said.

"Other schools offer classes to people outside the school, while we do it from the inside," Richardson noted.

Richardson said he is not concerned about faculty resistance to this classroom format.

"There is a natural resistance of any group to change, and this falls into that category," he said. "Faculty are just cautious about these new modes of delivery and want to ensure it offers the same quality as the traditional class structure."

Richardson said he is excited about the nutritional science class and sees it as a possible template for other departments.

"It has a lot of potential, but there is a lot of responsibility on the part of the people developing this to continue to offer the same quality of learning," he said. "We're excited about it, actually."

Besides Wolfe's NATS 104 class, the UA will offer six other online courses during summer session. These include classes in the departments of communication, anthropology, family studies, media arts, psychology and Spanish.