Missouri State University

Skip search and site index

Administrative Studies 

Frequently Asked Questions About Teaching Online

Can I earn more by teaching at a distance?Yes. How much more you can earn depends on which distance education format you use. Compensation for teaching a telecourse is different than compensation for teaching an online course. For example, if you are teaching a course online you receive $55.00 per student enrolled in the course. If you teach a course with 25 students you will receive a gross supplemental payment of $1,375.00. [Author’s note: this is a very unique compensation policy that reflects the university’s philosophy of encouraging faculty to participate in online education].

Can I receive financial support for developing a distance education course?Yes. How much support you can earn depends on which distance education format you are developing. For example, if you are developing a course to be taught completely online you will receive release time for in load development OR a gross payment of $2400.00.00 during the fall or spring if you are developing the course on an overload basis. If you develop during the summer, you receive the $2400.00.00 directly because there is no overload paid during the summer.

Can I teach an online course as an overload?Yes. As noted above, faculty can teach an online course as an overload. You would earn $2400.00 for teaching a three credit hour course AND the $55.00 per student supplement. Teaching any course as an overload requires approval of the administration. The overload approval process is not difficult. It does require the approval of your Department Head and Dean. However, when you teach your course as an overload your department does not receive the $2400.00 course buyout as described below.

What is in it for my department?There are also incentives to encourage departments to support participation in online instruction. First, during the fall or spring semesters when you teach a course online, your department is paid $2400.00 if you are teaching it as part of your regular load. If you are teaching the course out-of-load, the $2400.00.00 is paid to you as supplemental income. If you teach your online course in-load, your department can bank the $2400.00. The money cannot be paid back to you as income but it can be used to support educational travel, computer equipment, office supplies, research, graduate assistants etc. Some departments choose to set the funds aside for use by the online faculty member who taught online. Other departments set them aside for use by all faculty within the department. Many online faculty are teaching their courses in-load in an effort to help generate revenue for their departments.

What course management software is used to teach online?The Missouri State University is using Blackboard 6 as its primary teaching platform. Blackboard is the leading instructional platform in higher education and recently acquired Web CT. There are a variety of other programs that can also be used to teach online including: CENTRA, Captivate, Flash, Cold Fusion and Breeze. An instructional designer will work with you to find the right tool(s) to accomplish your instructional objective(s).

Do I have to handle technical questions from my students?No. You are not responsible for helping students troubleshoot technical problems of any kind. Students can be referred to the Missouri State Online Help Desk at (417) 836-6111for assistance with any technical problems. The help desk does an excellent job of handling technical concerns from students. You may also be interested to know that students experience far fewer technical problems than anyone predicted resulting in very few calls to the help desk.

Does it take more time to teach a course online?Yes. However, the amount of time it takes to teach a course online should diminish over time as you become more familiar with the technology and the process. It takes more time to teach a brand new course face-to-face than it does the second and third time you teach the course. Over time, you learn to become more efficient teaching online and better at setting boundaries that help manage the workload. Eventually it becomes a case of working smarter not harder.

Does it take more time to develop an online course?Yes. However, it is hard to estimate how much longer it takes to develop a course for delivery online versus developing a brand new course from scratch for the traditional classroom. It most cases faculty are taking an existing course that they have a lot of experience teaching and converting it for delivery online. The biggest learning curve is mastering the technology necessary to make the conversion. How big a challenge that is depends on your comfort level with technology.

Is support available to help me develop my online course?Yes. To be very honest, Missouri State Online support for course development has not been what it can and needs to be to achieve the objectives of the University. The good news is that is changing dramatically. Decision makers are well aware of past problems and inadequacies and are now working aggressively to correct them. The person previously in charge of support for faculty course development is no longer at the University and that has made a huge difference. Support is a very high priority for everyone associated with distance education. There are a number of new initiatives underway to increase support for course development including the hiring of new instructional designers. There are also a number of very experienced online faculty in COAL who are available to assist new online faculty.

Is Blackboard a stable course management system?Yes. We are currently using Blackboard version 6. Blackboard continues to improve over time.

Do I have to sign a contract in order to teach online?Yes. Continuing Education has a contract that you sign at the very beginning of the process. The contract was developed over a number of years with input from faculty. One of the issues addressed in the contract are the rights to the course you develop. The standard contract specifies that the University has the right to offer the course you develop for seven years. During that time you have the right of first refusal. The University must ask you first if you are willing and available to teach the course you have developed. If you say no, the University has the right to work with your department head and you to find someone else who is qualified and acceptable to all parties to teach the course. [Authors note: I am not aware of any situation where the University has offered a course over the objection of the faculty member who developed the course or the department in which the course is developed]. 

I use copyrighted material when I teach face-to-face. Can I use the same materials in an online course?Law in this area is evolving. As a general rule of thumb, you can use any material online that you can legally use in your traditional face-to-face course. The concept of “educational fair use” that governs the use of copyrighted work in the brick-and-mortar classroom has been extended to the virtual classroom. On October 3, 2002 Congress enacted the Teach Act revising Section 110(2) of the U.S. Copyright Act governing the lawful uses of existing copyrighted materials in distance education. This assumes that your online course is secure and only available to the Missouri State University students who are on your roster. An excellent discussion of this issue is available at http://www.copyright.iupui.edu/dist_learning.htm

What is the satisfaction level of faculty who teach online?Generally faculty who teach online are as satisfied or more satisfied than they are teaching face-to-face. This is true for a couple of reasons. First, faculty who teach online tend to be early adopters of technology and enjoy using technology. Second, some faculty have a teaching style that adapts very well to an online course. Third, online faculty love the flexibility that teaching online provides. Faculty enjoy all of the convenience and flexibility that attract students to take an online course. Research clearly demonstrates that satisfaction levels among online faculty are very high. That has also been the experience at MSU.

What if I don’t want to teach a course online?Then don’t teach a course online. The philosophy of MSU is to encourage faculty to participate and provide them with incentives for teaching online. No one expects all, most or many faculty to teach online. It is likely to remain a rather small percentage of total faculty at the university. No one is being forced or coerced to teaching online.

What if the course I teach cannot be taught as well online?Then don’t teach that particular course online. The university is asking you, “is there a course you currently teach or would like to teach that could be taught as well online?” If the answer is yes, then you are encouraged to experiment with developing the course for online delivery.  No one expects you to teach a course online if it is inappropriate or less effective to teach it online versus face-to-face.

Is distance education effective?Yes. There is a large body of literature that demonstrates that an online course is at the very least as effective as a traditional face-to-face course. This is sometimes referred to as the “no significant difference hypothesis.” Research demonstrates there is no significance difference in outcomes between a course taught online and a course taught face-to-face. Can every course taught face-to-face be taught as well online? No. However, many courses can be taught as well online. The chances are very good that you currently teach or have taught a course face-to-face that could be taught as well online.

How large is an online course?Online course caps parallel those for face-to-face. Graduate level courses tend to have smaller caps. In the MS in Administrative Studies program graduate level courses are typically capped at fifteen unless otherwise instructed by the teacher. An effort is made to keep the course cap lower the first time someone teaches a course online. Keep in mind the number of students who enroll in an online course does impact supplemental payment to faculty.

I hear that most online courses are taught by part-time faculty.No. In fact, a very small percentage of online courses are taught by part-time faculty. The university would prefer to minimize the use of part-time faculty in distance education. When part-time faculty are used, departments have input in the hiring process and final say over who teaches an online course on a part-time basis.

What is a hybrid course?An online course is taught entirely via the internet; no seat time is involved. A hybrid course combines use of the internet with traditional face-to-face contact that results in reduced seat time. For example, you could have a TR course that meets on Tuesday and then conducts the equivalent of the Thursday meeting online.