Frequency and Time Investment of Instructors’ Participation in Threaded Discussions in the Online Classroom
The movement into online education has raised concerns about the workload demands placed on faculty teaching online classes. Research indicates that faculty report a greater time investment for online classes than for equivalent face-to-face courses; concerns about time investment are compounded with the considerable ambiguity surrounding the perceived availability of faculty teaching in a 24/7 online environment. The continuous, open nature of the virtual classroom raises a host of questions surrounding the frequency of instructor interaction, timing of interactions, and an instructor’s availability to students.
