Refining the Question: How Can Online Instruction Maximize Opportunities for All Students?

Abstract

Although research on computer-assisted and online instruction abounds, researchers have expressed concern about the lack of theoretical frameworks for these studies (Timmerman & Kruepke, 2006). While ample research documents learning outcomes in individual courses, few attempts have been made to link computer-assisted or fully computer-mediated instruction with philosophical concerns pertinent to media, education, or cognition. Ironically, the same issue of the journal that contained this lament (Communication Education) included a major step toward its remedy. In the first of the series of essays published in this journal, called “Raising the Question,” Allen (2006, p. 122) asked whether online instruction is “setting our students up for failure” by depriving them of the social and intellectual stimulation present at the physical college campus. I seek to expand the discussion by going beyond the dichotomy of online versus on-campus instruction to probe when and why online instruction might be desirable. This essay addresses Allen's (2006) concerns about online instruction and student retention, extending the dialogue to examine how online coursework may reach students who might be bypassed by the traditional classroom instruction. The central issue for Allen (2006) and for me is how to offer online instruction according to the principles of effective pedagogy.