Teaching online: Cyberlearning has pluses/minuses

Somebody once told me that the best thing about teaching online classes is that you can work in your pajamas.
I won't admit to ever wearing PJs while teaching, but I will admit that I will never wear a necktie while teaching online.
I've been teaching two online classes - Public Affairs Reporting and Investigative Reporting - since 2006 during fall semesters. This is the third time I've done Public Affairs, and there has been a steady increase in enrollment. The first year, 16 students signed up. The next class there were 19 and this year there were 26 students enrolled at the start of the semester.
In informal surveys that I send to students at the start of the semester, they are asked what they like and dislike about online learning. Their responses are enlightening.
"I enjoyed the freedom of being able to access ‘class’ from various locales. I did not, however, enjoy the detachment I felt from both my classmates and my prof in lieu of a real classroom," said a woman in this semester's class.
"I liked online because I can do things in my own time. I like that I can set aside my own time to do things and having online lets me manage some more credit hours," said another woman.
However, she added, "I disliked online, because sometimes it’s difficult to know exactly what the teacher wants. I like having face to face interaction, because I think I understand things more clearly."
A male student echoed that dichotomy: "I liked how you could set your own schedule, the class fit to you instead of you always having to fit to it; I found it hard when I needed to contact instructor because in a face-to-face if you are still confused you can ask them right there where in an e-mail you have to send another and another until you have the answer."
Surprisingly to me, their likes and dislikes are similar to my own as the instructor. The convenience of teaching whenever and wherever I please are two of the main draws for online instruction for me.
However, I am convinced that many students will not learn as much in an online class because they need the face time and hands-on instruction that can only come from a classroom environment. However, research has shown there is no difference in performance for students in online vs. traditional classes. Essentially, students learn as well online as they do in live classrooms, according to studies.
I try to include as much interaction as possible in online classes. We hold weekly live chats in real time. There is a threaded discussion each week in which students post comments to a question and interact with each other by posting responses. And students can and do e-mail me all the time.
One reason that I developed the two journalism classes offered online is so students at the UW-Casper College campus can take required courses without having to come to Laramie, or without me having to drive to Casper.
Besides Casper, students in my online classes have been based in Colorado, Jackson Hole, Gillette and even Hawaii.
Online classes will probably continue to expand in the COJO Department because there is demand for them from students and UW administration.