This fall, UT Austin students will have the option to take my Introduction to Ancient Rome course as a more traditional, classroom-based, large-enrollment course (though we capped it at 200 for the fall); or as a more individualized, more self-paced online course. The course content is largely the same, except that students in the traditional course will receive credit for meeting two graduation requirements (Ethics Flag and Visual and Performing Arts area requirement). At present, we have not added an ethics component to the online course and so it meets only the VAPA requirement. Otherwise, the courses have the same learning outcomes (as pertains to the course content).
What sorts of students are going to succeed in the online course? First, to succeed in a course that is more self-paced, you will need to be able to discipline yourself. The course is not entirely self-paced: there are fixed dates for midterms and other assignments. However, compared to the traditional course, it offers a lot more flexibility to students. This is likely to be especially useful if you are an upper-division student, with a tight schedule. The course instructor will be working closely with you to make sure you don't fall hopelessly behind, but you will have to take on a lot of responsibility for managing your time.
The online course will also appeal to experienced students who, in basic terms, already know how to be college students. You've been at UT for a few years, you know how to manage your time reasonably well (hint: cramming for exams is NOT good time management and we have excellent evidence, collected over many semesters, that it works very poorly in this course), and you know how to make constructive use of feedback. In the online course, you will be getting a lot of feedback, some automated and some in real time from the instructor. The instructor will also work with you to help you identify and clarify points of misunderstanding. But, again, some of this will demand that you take ownership of your learning, seek out help when you need it, and make good use of the feedback you receive.
There is good evidence that online courses work best for students who are experienced college learners (e.g. generally not freshmen, though there are always exceptions); who are good at self-regulating their learning (i.e. who know how to take in feedback and self-correct; who are able to avoid procrastination and cramming); and who are generally self-directed learners. If you are the sort of student who gets bored in class but happily do your work outside of class, this is a good course format for you.
This online course does not expect you to "teach yourself.". Far from it. It is carefully designed to engage you in the content, to lead you through the complexities of Roman history. and to help you develop a firm grasp of the most important details. You will have the chance to connect with other students in the online class as well as in the traditional, classroom-based class. There will be strong student support in place and we will add more if we can see that it is necessary. We want you to succeed in this course and will be doing everything we can to support your success.
At the same time, if you know that you need outside structures to discipline your study (e.g. weekly quizzes); if you know that you learn better in the more social environment of the classroom, then you might consider registering for the more traditional, classroom version of CC 302 this fall (or in future semesters).
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