Internet Learning Volume 1, Number 1, Fall 2012 | Page 4

The Professor as Craftsman in the Digital Age

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literature on the differences and the argument that one is superior to the other. We want to focus
on one single facet of the digital classroom. The digital classroom leaves a fingerprint of every
single transaction. A record of all these exchanges is recorded in the digital classroom. The
digital classroom leaves a public document in a way that the physical classroom never did. This
is a substantial difference from the traditional classroom.
But does not the brick and mortar classroom leave a record? It may be said that
professor’s notes, class syllabi, or student notes gave us a record of the physical classroom. Let
us look at these artifacts in some detail. There is no standard for either college syllabi or
professor notes. It might be argued that if there are best practices in these areas, they are not
widely known or widely followed. Student notes are notoriously unreliable, as anyone knows
who has tried to reconstruct a professor’s lectures by comparing different student notes. Student
notes are oftentimes more about those subjects of interest to the student than an objective
interpretation of the teacher’s lectures.
Online classes leave a record of every interaction by both professors and students. As
soon as online learning appeared there was, for the first time, something to which the physical
classroom could be compared. Once this happened we could begin to measure the difference
between physical classrooms and online classrooms. For the first time in the history of the
university, the class left a record that was an objective result of the interactions.
What is the difference between the old and new classrooms? If we were to take a
database from an online classroom and look at the interactions in a discussion board we may find
patterns very easily. Let us say for example that in week one of a course there are a hundred
online posts between students and faculty. Let us say in week two we find a similar number of
posts. Imagine now we found that in week three the number messages was below 25 messages.
While the sheer quantitative data does not provide a final answer it provides an indication that
something has changed. While it may be exam week or Spring break it may also be an indication
that the lecture was not structured correctly, the students were having difficulty, or s