A case for online students keeping the same deadlines as their classmates rather than independently working ahead

I read with some interest the short section at the end of chapter 5 in Ko and Rossen’s Teaching Online that broached the subject of “Timing of Access.” The authors discuss the decision an online instructor must make about how much of the course materials should be revealed at one time (p. 100). The specific topic that intrigues me is the student who wants to work ahead.

Ko and Rossen present advantages and disadvantages to having course lessons posted all at once; however, I am very much in favor of posting lessons one at a time at appropriate intervals. Expecting to work ahead in a course pre-supposes that an instructor has the whole course planned and has no expectation of modifying the content no matter what actually occurs in the classroom, real or online, or irrespective of what new information the instructor might discover during the course that could be incorporated in some way. Furthermore, the supposition appears to be that there is nothing to be gained by having a whole classroom, real or online, of students working on the same things at the same time, collaborating or discussing together, and therefore, learning from each other.

A study conducted by Smith and Winking-Diaz examines the ways to increase “student interactivity” (http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/PDF/2.3.3.pdf) citing research that has shown the value of students applying what they are learning in the course to their own experiences and knowledge bases. This type of analysis takes more time than what it takes to just read the material presented by an online course, and this analysis can be improved by the act of collaboration and interaction with classmates.

Taking this a step further than Ko and Rossen, my perspective is that a student who insists on working ahead is often focused on the final products due in a course rather than on the learning that takes place while reading, discussing, researching, writing, listening, practicing, and so on. This student also appears to me to be neglecting the importance of time as a necessary ingredient to the learning process: Time to integrate new concepts into what one already knows, time to contemplate what one believes about controversial topics, and time to further revise what may very well start out as a mediocre paper or project.

While I understand the advantages of getting lots of coursework done when one’s schedule is the most open, and I understand wanting to finish one project to move onto the next (trust me, no one is more of an independent learner than I am, and no one has a busier schedule than I do), I am firmly convinced that the price I pay in time pays off immeasurably with the increase in learning that takes place when a complete class of students all stick to the well thought out, weekly (or whatever interval) revealed lesson plans of an excellent teacher.