A Little Exaggeration

For a long time around this NG I've raised concerns about academic standards in DL programs. The following is an exaggeration - but it summarizes some of what I've seen teaching at a variety of DL schools over 15 years. No one school has all of these problems – but you’d be amazed how many schools have more than one of these issues. The push to squeeze courses and award degrees faster and faster – even given students that are very busy – jeopardizes academic standards. All too many administrations are allured by the aphrodisiac of rising tuition dollars that seems to negate any concerns about academic quality.

Overall, I’m very happy to teach in a DL format. But if I sound a little frustrated in this note – there are times that I am.

Regards - Andy

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Professor Ima Ace has been assigned to teach a graduate course entitled "Managerial cases in widget making" at Enormous On-Line University (EOU). The course is designed for six week on-line delivery and is part of EOU’s MBA program. EOU courses are delivered in a weekly format – they are not self paced. Besides completing course requirements, students are required to complete a term project for inclusion in their "portfolio" - a final summary document that students must submit before they graduate.

Ima's first problem is that the school permits late registration during the first week of class. As a result Ima needs to constantly communicate with incoming students. One student is enrolled on-time, but then is “locked” out of class for a couple of days due to a financial problem. The registrar sends a cheery note asking Ima to make exceptions for these students.

Ima's second problem is that the third party book vendor that EOU uses hasn’t shipped books to all students. Further, some students tried to purchase the textbook from other sources – without realizing that the ISBN for the book used in class is a “custom” book not available to the general public.

Ima discovers a third problem. “Managerial cases in widget making” has a pre-req course (Basic Widget Making) that students are supposed to complete before moving on to the “Cases” course. However, she discovers that the school has waived the pre-req for a group of students that are part of a large corporation. Apparently, in order to “land” the contract with the corporation, EOU had to compromise on pre-reqs. This compromise was made by administrators as EOU doesn't practice faculty governance.

As Ima gets into the second week of class EOU’s web teaching tool (BlackCT) fails for two days. Ima receives phone calls and emails from students regarding the downtime asking her when it would be up. Others called to say that they couldn’t participate in the remaining days of the week. A cheery note from the administration urges faculty not to penalize students for non-participation during the week.

As Ima grades student work she is constantly challenged – “Why did you give an A- on this assignment – I worked to 3 AM on it after working overtime all day. Can’t you be more flexible?” and “How are working students supposed to understand this complicated textbook? I thought this program was designed for working adults?”

Students also challenge Ima with questions like “How many sources do I need in my paper? How many pages are required? Can’t I use a newspaper as a source?” "Can't you explain how to solve this problem in simple steps?" "What do you mean I have to cite sources - what is that?" “I’m way behind and I can’t figure anything in this class out.” “So far I’ve earned a 4.0 here at EOU. Tell me exactly what I have to do to maintain my 4.0 in this class.” “I have to complete this class with an A in order to graduate from EOU in 12 months. I have two other classes at the same time. What’s the easiest way for me to earn an A?” "I'm head out on vacation at the end of week 5 - can you give me the week 6 assignments early?"

Students face personal challenges – “My computer is broken and I can’t get my homework in for two days.” “I’m moving this week, can I turn my paper in next Tuesday? I probably shouldn’t have taken a course this term.”

Ima tries to help students by allowing them to “rework” assignments they do poorly on. Students can’t understand, however, why they can’t get an “A” on a reworked assignment and why they can’t resubmit several times until they have a “perfect” grade.

Students at EOU submit their work electronically in BlackCT. Ima asks students to consolidate all parts of their assignment into a single document. Some students, however, find it easier to submit the assignment in pieces – a Word document for the first question, an Excel spreadsheet for the second question, and a file in an unknown format for the third, etc.

A special problem Ima faces is that some of the students lack math preparation. She notes that students with undergraduate degrees from EOU are especially weak in math. Some tell her they haven’t had a math course since they were in high school. Others consistently demonstrate that they can’t add or subtract decimal numbers. They are convinced, however, that they deserve to earn an MBA - and are considering EOU's new doctoral program in business.

During the third week Ima gets a letter from the administration reminding her that faculty are expected to respond to all student notes within 24 hours – and that this expectation runs 7 days a week. Somehow teaching quality at EOU is reduced to “how fast can you respond to an email note” - perhaps because this is easily measured. She is also told that this term final grades are due two days earlier than usual – giving her just two days after the last late paper comes in from a struggling student to finish grading. Apparently, the administration needs time to repair BlackCT. Ima dreads this – especially given the administration’s insistence that each student received personalized feedback on their final projects. Ima finds all of this particularly grueling given the fact that EOU runs terms back to back with only three breaks a year.

When the term ends and grades are submitted (a collection of A’s and B’s (some of which will be contested) and 2 of the 13 students receive “I” grades due to personal problem), Ima reflects on her teaching. In her student evaluations some students praise her support during the course, but others say “she never explains anything and takes weeks to respond”, “Weak faculty member – shouldn’t be allowed to teach”. All of this fun, Ima think, for $1,500. What a deal. Maybe she should slack off on her expectations. It sure would make her job easier and few students complain about A's.

 

Superb piece, Andy. You should publish this in one of the magazines.

I've seen almost all of those situations over the years -- and sometimes each semester. I particularly recognized: “So far I’ve earned a 4.0 here at EOU. Tell me exactly what I have to do to maintain my 4.0 in this class." I also get students nearly every semester who tell me that they are doing 4 or 5 courses at once, and expect me to make allowances for them because of their heavy workload. And at least once a year, I get students who tell me that they have been told that they are on academic probation and will be dropped from the program unless they get an A -- so I should make sure that they get an A!

 

Yes, spot on. There are some real problems here. I especially resonated with the part about the students with poor backgrounds who are considering PhDs. In some cases, there are very marginal students who are sporting 3.96 GPAs who then seem to think that getting a PhD is like going to the store for a loaf of bread. What's scary is that, eventually, maybe getting a PhD won't be much harder than a trip to the store.

 

Guess What?

Every ONE of those problems exists in face-to-face classes, too. I've taught online since 1997 and have had a few problems like the Bb server going down, but we work through it. Standards? Be clear and up front from day one and stick to your standards. I can't believe how many fellow faculty bend over with every light wind that comes by. For instance, I say IN MY SYLLABUS "I do not give INCOMPLETES." And in the 20+ years I've taught college, I think I gave one "I" that actually turned into a grade. Early in my career, I used to hand them out like candy and they eventually became F's. We also try to "front load" requirements for the class and for success as an online student. Far too many have thought of online classes as easy... they quickly figure out that is wrong. Lessons are learned by failure and dropping a class, too. Online is not for every student. College is not for every student.

 

No dis-respect Tom57, but where can you obtain a GPA of 3.96 and still be considered a marginal player? I can't imagine anyone achieving this kind of mark without some talent.

I found the post to be very interesting but aside from the comment regarding a student asking how they can retain their 4.0 GPA I haven't witnessed any of the other issues. I'm sure it happens but I haven't been a part of this kind of problem.

What is wrong with wanting to know how a student can maintain their 4.0 GPA? If no two instructors are alike and you have only 6 weeks to get the module done, I have to believe it is a fair question to ask. Should the student wait and lose two of the six weeks trying to understand the unique requirements of every instructor or should they be proactive and find out want special requirements are unique to that instructor?

I see no problem with asking what expectations an instructor has for their module.

Just my thoughts,
MP

 

Very interesting! I'm experiencing an online MBA class right now in which the teacher did not receive his textbook until three days after the start date. It's not a very good textbook and it's really thrown off the whole class. However, I have a certain amount of sympathy... I once taught an Engligh 101 course at a technical school in which I had about two hours between the time I got the textbook and the time the students arrived for their first class. I had that amount of time to get the syllabus and first lesson plan ready!

A good teacher should be able to spell out expectations clearly at the beginning of class. For example, they should have rules stating that some skills are assumed to be possessed at the graduate level and will not be covered in class; any deficiencies need to be addressed by self-study. Cracking the whip at the very beginning means a lot less problems later on. Also, the best online courses I have taken used Blackboard's grade system so that every student knew exactly what their grade was at any given point in the course, starting from 0 points out of 100.

On the other hand, I can definitely appreciate that the administration puts a lot of pressure on teachers, and some of that pressure can work to weaken academic standards.

 

MP - I have no problems with telling my students my expectations. I make clear what they are to submit and how grades are awarded. At times the constant fixation with grades - rather than learning is bothersome.

The problem I see with 3.96 GPAs comes when a student has earned them in open admission institutions that aren't demanding - particularly in quantitiative topics. In time I believe you will see institutions that are open admission at the bachelor's level - and then willing to accept 100% of their bachelor's grads into their MBA program - and then willing to accept 100% of their MBA grads into a doctoral program. No where in the process will the student ever be required to take a standardized test (such as the ACT or GMAT) to demonstrate their ability for further study. At the doctoral level entering students following this path will never be required to demonstrate the ability to read and comprehend research literature. Indeed, most garden variety MBA programs (DL and B&M) are so versed on "practical" that they never touch "theory".

Why does DL have such a black eye among so many in the academic world? I believe the biggest problem is DL institutions lack of selectivity in entering students is the key issue. Nearly all B&M institutions require the GMAT or GRE for admission to doctoral programs. On the GMAT, scores in the high 500's or 600's are the norm for doctoral students in business. NSU - the only US DL program talked about here that does require the GMAT sets their minimum at 500. The other US programs don't even ask for it. Open admission doctoral programs in the US DL world destroy the image of DL, IMHO.

But you might ask - where is there an "open admission" doctoral program? Asking a person for a masters degree with a 3.0 (or even a 3.3) is effectively "open admissions", especially given the fact that most masters programs require a 3.0 to graduate.

Sorry to rant - but I do feel better.

Regards - Andy

 

In part, this problem is due to the heavy
use of contract faculty by DL schools. As a contract faculty, we rely too much on student's evaluations and more than one takes revenge on the instructor if they don't get the A grade.


Once I had a student that never showed up in class but wanted an "I" grade instead of an "F" grade, I did not see any grounds for this so I gave him an F but this was my first course in the school where this course was given. The student in question evaluated me with a 0 over 5 and because I only had 8 students this evaluation affected significantly my average. The issue was that I was not able to teach more courses in this school because I did not meet the standards due to the low evaluation as an instructor.

As DL instructor, you are almost forced to inflate grades just to remain in business. Students enrolled in most of the for profit schools have poor background but still expect high grades. This grade inflation propagates to the bachelor's, master's and doctorate level. I wonder what will be the academic level of an instructor that completed all his education is a "microwave" oven school with little academic rigour.

In order to make credible online schools, RA agencies should make sure that not only standards are met but that graduates actually have a good level of education when they graduate.

 

Wow. Andy. There's a family friend, also in Oakland Co., mirabile dictu, who has taught online for at least two reputable schools discussed on DI, who says just about word-for-word what you say (though not as well).

I do agree with Cogent that this isn't limited to DL schools.

Go get 'em.

 

Uncle Janko and Cogent - I totally agree that this isn't limited to DL schools. Some of the on-ground "agressive non-profits" and for-profits do the very same thing.

What's the answer? A dose of faculty governance may be part of the answer - although faculty sometimes have a problem recognizing economic realities.

Regards - Andy

 

Thank you

I really appreciate Andy's essay and the thoughtful, heartfelt discussion, as I'm going to start training on Monday for online teaching at Axia College. It's a 2-year program for students going on to Phoenix, so I imagine--if I get past the training--some of my students will be at the very beginning of their trek to the doctorate described above.

Any further experience or advice about relating to students and administrators?

 

I have also seen some of these examples, both in class and online at the undergrad level, but it was limited. I have not seen it in my MBA courses, and do not really expect to. Everyone I have dealt with, student and professors alike, have been professional and well prepared. I do not know if this is due to the fact that it is a State School (RA and AACSB), a not-for-profit, or I have just had good educational experiences so far. Of course, this is from a students perspective.

William Parker

 

Thanks W for making a case (albeit only observation) on the value of AACSB and not-for-profit schools!

Regards - Andy

 

Re: Re: A Little Exaggeration

While I agree that new and tuition-driven schools give students more chances, both non-profit and for-profits are to blame for this problem. So lets not start scapegoating or insulting students who attend for-profits. Like Cogent said, grade exaggeration happens in many, many face-to-face schools as well. Its an everyday epidemic in higher education. And btw, I am attending a for-profit, and I have both a BA and MA from non-profit B&M schools (my MA program still ranked in the top 30 in the US by USNEWS). I don't think my background is too bad.
I have also seen other students with much better backgrounds at my doctoral program.

I'm sure you are also including offshore doctorate DL programs with no GMAT requirements. Although I have no problem with Aussie DL schools, they are in some hot water these days.

Sulla

 

http://www.stolaf.edu/depts/cis/wp/gunderso/Website/Sem%20I%20paper.htm


Athletics in the Academy

Both of the above are AACSB accredited not-for- profit schools!

So much for academics!!

Just my opinion

 

Some B&M AACSB accredited MBA programs require a minimum of 400 in the GMAT. Considering 400 is in the 13th percentile they might as well be open.

Source: GMAC from http://www.mba.com/mba/TaketheGMAT/Tools/InterpretingYourScores.htm

For example:

East Carolina University - AACSB

http://www.ecu.edu/cs-bus/grad/Admission-Requirements.cfm

So if I have a GPA of 2.75 and a GMAT of 400 I am in a B&M AACSB program. Hardly stellar I would think.

Just my opinion

 

Thanks Andy,

I haven't viewed the position from your point of view before as I went through the traditional route of a B & M degree at Canada's #1 school and then continued on with more traditional studies before embarking on a DL degree. My GPA and GMAT would have placed me in most Masters programs today and I have naturally assumed that the vast majority of fellow students hold a similar level of achievement.

I was impressed with the caliber of students in my MBA program for the most part yet I witnessed a marginal number of students that were out of place. Knowing that they were earning their last degree with no hope for advancement helped me to accept their existance in the program. While I have achieved a solid GMAT number in the past and feel I could compete for a seat in many doctoral schools, today I would take the path of least resistance too and opt for the non-GMAT/GRE program because of my age and desire to do the program for personal reasons only. I feel I can still make a contribution to education but today it will be under my own terms.

There must be many more students like myself who feel they can compete for one more degree level and still not wish to challenge for the position through the GMAT/GRE requirement process.

This thread have been a very interesting and a thought provoking one, thanks for your contribution.

MP

 

Carlosb - Good point - this isn't stellar and raises a serious question about the school in question. But at least they measure the quality of their incoming class and can, over time, adjust the minimum if they find problems with low scoring students. Many non-AACSB schools don't even look at anything but GPA - and then I find some allowing students in a with a 2.5. Also, looking at the minimum GMAT doesn't tell you the mean, median, standard deviation or IQR - all measures that say more about their student body than the absolute minimum.

Also, in allowing a 400 GMAT in, the school may be allowing for students with special circumstances - learning disability, for example.

AACSB isn't perfect - but taken on the whole, I find the collection of AACSB schools to be vastly superior to non-AACSB schools (again, taken on the whole). The best business schools - take your pick of ranking lists - are all AACSB accredited.

Regards - Andy

 

One More Thought

One more thought - what if all non-AACSB schools required all of their students to take the GMAT? Where would the distribution land? It is hard to believe that the distribution wouldn't be lower. A 400 GMAT maybe the 13th percentile of those who took the test, but I have to believe it is higher than 13% if you included all the non-AACSB students in U.S. schools.

Regards - Andy

 

Re: One More Thought

I agree with you there. I wish NCU would have required us to take the GMAT. I tend to think the scores may be better than some think. I took it years ago and scored 560. Hardly anything to brag about but I didn't take any prep courses.

I am only in the MBA track so I really can't speak about the doctoral students. I believe there are a large number of truly qualified students in the program that are there not because of easy admissions but due to full time job responsibilites.

I think it would be to the benefit of NCU to require their doctoral students to take the GMAT. If the students are really committed to PhD studies then the extra burden of the test would be worth it. If the majority of students scored over 500 then this would be one less objection the B&M schools could use against NCU and DL.

Just my opinion