Online doctorate program reveals support

Perhaps few students are more familiar with the online classroom experience than Dr. Sharon Thompson, who received her doctorate in nursing degree after being diagnosed with terminal cancer on Oct. 13.

Courtesy Photo

Thompson, who lives in Crossville, Tenn., was still a graduate student when she defended her dissertation proposal via an online presentation on Sept. 20.

But less than a month later, she was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer and given weeks to live, Doctoral Program Director Dr. Barbara Haas said.

When Haas received the news, she and Dr. Susan Yarbrough, associate dean for graduate programs, decided to award Thompson with her doctoral title. Haas said Thompson planned to graduate in the spring.

“(Yarbrough) and I went to Tennessee … and conducted a special hooding ceremony where we give her the doctoral hood, and had a ceremony with her family and friends present,” Haas said.

Haas streamed video of the ceremony online through Elluminate Live software, which allowed Thompson’s classmates and professors to participate.

As Haas presented the doctoral hood, the online viewers commented with congratulations and prayers.

“We had people participating from around the country,” Haas said. “These were her other peers in the program (and) faculty. Everyone is online.”

Haas said the heartfelt responses from Thompson’s classmates are a testament to benefits of online classes.

The University’s Ph.D. nursing program is offered exclusively online, accommodating students from across the U.S.

Despite geographical barriers, Haas said she is more connected with her classes than ever before.

As University administrators approve additional web-based resources, it seems more courses are being stripped of a physical classroom.

Unlike previous eras of higher education, when students were forced to lug books to each class, students today can experience college from the privacy of their own laptop.

With the click of a mouse, pupils can turn in their homework, complete mid-term exams and present group projects.

This is case not only for online courses, but also classroom-based courses that implement web tools.

Rebecca Obudulu, sophomore psychology major, said even though the she hasn’t taken a web-only class, she completes digital assignments almost every day.

“I have a math class where we use my math lab, so … all of our assignments are online,” she said. “When it comes to math, I like working online way more than paper work. Other classes, I like using technology. It enhances my learning.”

Still, even Obudulu admits the technology can be confusing at times.

This is also the case for some professors, many of whom prefer the traditional classroom experience, said Cindy Smith, director of instructional design.

“At first, a lot of them are very reluctant,” she said. “Because they feel like they have a really exciting, engaging face-to-face class and they just don’t see how that’s going to transfer online.”

Smith said her primary responsibility is to help professors who are unfamiliar with online classes become acclimated to the format.

This means providing tips, technical advice and leading software tutorials, she said.

She said this experience often helps faculty warm up to the idea of offering a course online.

“I know that there’s a lot of faculty that are very anti-online,” Haas said. “I would guess that the majority of them have never taken an online course or been in an online course, or had any support for an online course. So, they’re making a judgment without really having a personal experience with it.”

But when a skeptical instructor experiences the tools available to connect with students outside the classroom, Smith said they often respond with enthusiasm.

“With all the multimedia that we either teach them how to do, or we’ll actually produce videos for them … I can’t think of one person that’s been disappointed with converting their class to online,” Smith said.

Smith’s staff spent part of the summer training 10 faculty members to instruct hybrid courses, which offer in-class and online components.

She said the focus is on providing the most effective way to communicate the course material.

“If I work with faculty for the first time going online, I tell them, ‘You’re the subject-matter expert. You work on what content you want displayed in your course and let me worry about the multimedia,’” she said.

However, Provost Donna Dickerson said not every class can be adapted to the web.

For example, Dickerson said science labs and courses with timed exercises are better suited for a classroom.

“But typical lecture courses, where there’s lecture and discussion, usually work very well online,” she said.

Dickerson said the decision regarding the format in which a course will be offered usually is made at the departmental level.

The maturity of the students is often a key factor, she said.

“Older students do much better in online courses because they have the maturity to know that they’re on there own in the learning process,” she said. “Whereas, younger students or ones who are not as mature are the ones who miss class anyway, so if they’re going to miss a face-to-face class, they’re probably going to miss an online class as well.”

Hass expressed a similar view of student behavior in online courses.

As a graduate professor, she said most of her students are more dedicated than those in undergraduate classes.

However, online software makes it easy to detect who is falling behind.

“Students can’t hide in an online class,” she said. “… I can guarantee that there are students who come and sit in a classroom and never raise their hand or speak.

“… There are students who just kind of disappear. That doesn’t happen in an online class because you see who’s responding, who’s talking, who’s participating.”

Haas said online statistics reveal each students’ habits. Rather than receiving only the finished assignment, she can monitor participation as it occurs.

“I can see when (a student) was logged into the course, what areas of course content he looked at, what time of day it was,” she said. “I know exactly the times that he’s there.”

Haas said this increases students’ accountability, which leads to more participation.

She said this constant interaction has helped form deep bonds among her students that may not have blossomed in a classroom.

Nursing students in the doctorate program refer to their classmates as PhrnDs. Pronounced “friends,” the “rn” stands for “registered nurse,” while Ph.D. represents the degree they are pursuing.

These ties became evident in the aftermath of Thompson’s diagnosis.

“I watched the tape of the ceremony yesterday,” graduate nursing student Jennifer Donwerth said. “UT Tyler may be an online program, but we are family. The tape of the hooding demonstrates the sentiment clearly.”

Graduate nursing student Carmon Weeks flew to Tennessee from Michigan to watch her friend, or PhrnD, receive her doctoral hood.

Haas said the camaraderie shows what many deem a weakness of online learning – a lack of personal interaction – may be one of the doctorate nursing programs’ strongest features.

She said she encourages students and professors to be open-minded when considering online classes.

“There are things you can do in an online environment that you can’t do in a classroom. And the opposite is true. There are things you can do in a classroom that you can’t do in an online environment,” she said. “They’re just different.”