Online classes .... enrolment success

Last fall, I blogged about the healthy enrolment in online classes in geography. Well, I moseyed over to the schedule of classes to see if spring term classes have attracted good numbers.
Bottom line: it is working well :-)

- My online class in spring is GEOG315D, which is about the Indian subcontinent. The last time I offered it, which was last Spring, it was a "regular" class, and only three or so students had enrolled by the first week in March. So, the very responsible faculty that I am (or pretend to be?) I canceled it.

Based on that fall term experience, I had a thought: why not slowly move the potentially low-demand courses to the online format? If there is really a demand for online classes, then maybe students will sign up because of the convenience factor. It is a win for them.

It is a win for me, because I then get to engage students on topics and issues that I believe every student ought to be familiar with. (Would you be happy with graduating students not knowing anything about India/Pakistan/Bangladesh/Sri Lanka/Nepal, which collectively are home to more than a quarter of the world's population, and with quite a few geopolitical and economic issues with global implications?)

It is a win for the university in terms of enrolment management.

As of today, there are 15 in the class, and I won't be surprised if it reached 20 by the first day of Spring--quite a contrast to the four the last time around, eh!

- There is one other upper-division geography course that is offered online (by my colleague), and that is already closed; all filled up and no space left.

- The university gains even more: no need for classroom space for two sections!

The world is changing, even at WOU: one small geography class at a time :-)

Online classes: who takes them, and why?

I conducted an online survey, of students in my GEOG 413 class, which is completely online this fall term.
I kept it very simple, because I did not want to bore the students. At the same time, I wanted to get some key information, so that I can correspondingly massage my course structure. The summary of that survey follows.

Note:
I had embedded into the class homepage a survey that was actually through polldaddy.com, where I developed the survey questions.

What I find interesting:
A majority of the students have never had me as an instructor. So, it is not any “familiarity” that drew them to this class.
For ten out of the 25, this is the first online class ever.
Only 13 out of the 25 are confident that they would have taken this class, even if it were not online.

Summary of responses:
What is your current standing?
Sophomore: 1
Junior: 10
Senior: 9
Senior-plus/Grad: 5

Have you taken any introductory geography class?
None 0
One 8
Two 5
All three 3
Yes, at another college 9

Did you take the introductory geography class with Sriram?
Yes 7
No 18

Did you take any upper division courses with Sriram?
GEOG 410: 2
GEOG 418: 1

Have you taken online classes before?
No 10
Yes, only one 1
Yes, two 5
Yes, more than two 9

Would you have taken this course if it were not online?
Yes 13
No way 3
Maybe 9