And here are the questions I need to address as I sift through everything...

1. What research has been done with teachers' perceptions of online classess?...of the transfer from onland to online?
2. What research has been done that explores the building of community -- the chemistry -- the bonding (or lack of) in online classrooms?
3. What does the  research say about the narratives of regarding online courses?

At least that's the way I interpreted my jottings and scribbles from the meeting.

Other issues and notes from the same meeting:

• perceptions - identity deception (song 'So Much Cooler Online' and recent issue in news of students creating false identities for their teachers)
• types of attitudes toward online teaching (resistant, positive, unsure)
• academic integrity
• learning
• learning on the fly
• resistance to teaching online

Maybe some instructors are asking 'How do I make my classes do-able online?'

Pasted below is my description.  Laced into the official description are my withheld evaluative comments.  I would like to do the same thing with the interview in a later post.

Transcription of interview with Brian Montegue on February 14, 2008.

Location: This interview took place on Thursday, February 14, 2008 in the office of Brian Montegue at Heartland University. 

Setting:  The interview I had of Brian Montegue occurred at his office in the Lawrence Religion Building on the campus of Heartland University.  The day I walked from Hammond (my building) to his building was crisp, sunny and beautiful.  I entered the religion building through the front door, which is ‘no man’s land’ in that building – you have to go up stairs or down stairs to get anywhere. 

            I paused for a moment and thought about where Brian’s office was – I had never been to his office, but I had noticed his name plate on an office door when I had been to Marshall’s office to discuss the big ‘Is there a God?’ questions of life. All these folks down here are philosohically bent.  So heaven bound they're no earthly good, some would say.  But I wouldn't say that.  I like that they can shift gears quickly into that world of thought and discussion and figuring stuff out. I descended the stairs to my left, walked through Waiting Room #1 and looked to my left where I knew professors’ offices to be. I could see Brian’s office door through the outer office windows, so I opened the heavy outer door and went into the lobby area.    His office door was closed, so I snooped around and looked at all of the graffiti kinds of stuff outside of his door, on the frame and on the wall next to his door.  Comic clippings, photos, philosophical jokes and stuff were stuck all around – collage style. Seeing all his cartoons and quips and stuff about philosophy makes me consider all the stuff that profs put around their doors.  This would make an interesting study in itself.  Either he wants to be seen as a philosopher or he just has philosophical clippings/stuff everywhere because it's who he is.  Or both.

            I was a few minutes early (something that rarely happens for me) and I thought I should stand and wait until he arrived.  I heard a noise from inside his office, and I realized he was in there, so I knocked.  He made a humorous comment in a commanding voice… “Enter!”  … or something like that,Honestly.  His voice just intimidates me.  And so does his communication style.  Very in control.  Very knowledgeable.  I almost wonder if it's an "I  know stuff and you know nothing" perspective he has.  I can't tell. But he is kind, and that's nice. I can see why he's comfortable with a 100% lecture style class and measuring learning curves and keeping records and such. I also know that his upper division courses are the complete opposite of his Intro to Phil course.  and I opened the door and went on in.  Since I had come downstairs, I shouldn’t have been surprised to see that his office was a ‘concrete box’ (his description) and every wall was lined with bookshelves and books.  Floor to almost-ceiling, except for the wall that had the entry door.  His desk was in the middle of the office and he had a computer on a table to his left, another computer on his desk, and a laptop computer on his desk.  There were bookshelves built/set around all of this paraphernalia and posters on the small amounts of available wall space.  Three waiting room types of chairs were positioned opposite his desk to accommodate me and any other visitors who might arrive.  I couldn’t decide which chair to sit in, so I just stood there for a moment as he hastily made an issue of clearing his desk of every single paper and utensil except for the laptop computer. By the time he was satisfied with the emptiness of his desk, I had decided on which chair would be the best for me to occupy.  I had no idea where to sit.  And since he scares me a bit, I really wanted to make the right decision.  It's kind of like interviewing a shrink or a counsellor -- you wonder if they are analyzing you while you interview them. 

            The bookshelves lining the walls, the absence of any windows, the dark carpet, all seemed dungeon-like to me.  The desk and chairs were throwbacks to the 60s.  A clock with cats on every hour hung over the largest bookcase.  He had a few photos of his wife and their three sons scattered about on spaces of the bookshelves where there was enough room for a frame.Definitely a concrete box, but I think he liked that image.  I think he liked the cluttered shelves and the clean/clear desk.  What a dichotomy.

Description of Brian:  Brian wears the same type of clothes that most men wear.  Collared shirts –either button down or pullover and casual cotton slacks. He’s mid-forties and has dark thick hair in kind of a little boy or bowl cut.  He wears non-descript glasses with dark wire rims, comfortable shoes, and a wedding ring  He’s fair skinned,  probably six feet tall, about 200 pounds, solid but not fat and healthy looking. Brian’s voice is commanding and his articulation exact – he says exactly what he thinks and he appears very confident in what he has to say.  His facial expressions may seem exaggerated compared to many, and he often uses his hands to gesture.

            As for his demeanor, Brian seems a bit quirky perhaps, but he also appears interested in other people.  He made eye contact with me when he answered my questions, and he also would gesture and look to the ceiling during the funny parts of our discussion.  Brian has the stereotypical characteristics of someone who is smart or very brainy. The haircut.  The vocabulary. I probably should have been descriptive of his laugh. He would laugh or chuckle during our interview and I could tell it was genuine and that he enjoyed our conversation.   I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bunch of pens in his shirt pocket, except that he’s so technologically involved that writing with pen and paper doesn’t happen for him.

            Brian has been the entire Department of Philosophy at HU for a more than 10 years.  He teaches the General Education core class – Introduction to Philosophy – every semester and in summer session as well.  He also teaches two or three other classes each semester.  He has a well-established, positive reputation at HU and appears to have plans to complete his career there.

The interview began a few moments before noon, after Brian had cleared his desk and tested two computers for digitally recording our interview session.  He suggested that he would like to record this interview and then send the file to me electronically later. The interview concluded about 12:40.  The electronic file he sent to me had eliminated our chatty, preliminary exchange as well as the ‘Have a nice Valentine’s Day’ conclusion. I have learned a huge lesson.  I have GOT to stand up for myself.  I knew at the moment he offered that I should have just said, no, let's burn a CD now and I'll be out of your hair.  I was trying to accommodate his wishes.  It worked out okay, but I probably lost a few hours off of the end of my life...

During this research process I gotta be more assertive.  I had no game plan about how to respond when he said he would do this, so it's my fault.  I don't think quickly on my feet when I have to make decisions.

Paste of email exchange below. I have changed the email addresses and demographics for autonomy.

From:	"Stephoni Case" <stephoni@cox.inet>	Friday - February 15, 2008 5:25 PM
To:
Subject:	Fw: audio file?
Attachments:	Mime.822 (3146 bytes)

Another thought I have had is that the way he does his courses, he may only be technologically innovative. He seems to have standard lectures on all the philosophers and theories and can then just plug in the appropriate lecture at the appropriate time.  As I consider objectives and how teachers teach onland and online, I also have to consider the subject matter and the types of activities the instructor does use or wants to use.

So, I got my interview done, but I feel unsettled.  And I am waiting on the audio file of the interview.  I will relax a little bit when I get that from him and can begin transcribing.

I also was able to discuss my topic and proposal with the instructor of my Planning and Change class (Dr. Adrianne Hyle) and also with a professor who accompanied the trip for observation -- Dr. Julie Thomas.  With all of the feedback and discussion, I felt like I became more comfortable with my topic and with what I want to study.  My goal is to be absolutely confident about my topic -- even if I am checking out many ideas for data gathering and analysis. I gotta know it backwards.  Right now I feel like it takes me too long to explain it or to make it make sense.

Anyway.... As I dusted off the last copy of my proposal from Qual 1 this past summer, I read over it and it seemed so wordy!  It also seemed off base compared to where my chatty discussions have led me.  By the time I am done with this whole project, I bet I will have the shortest dissertation in the history of academia.  I want to just say what I have to say and not fluff it up with a bunch of words.  And that is how the rough draft struck me -- too many words and divergent of where I want to be now in terms of topic.  Maybe a 'know it; say it' approach. 

So that makes me wonder if my proposal has to be/look just like everyone elses?  I like color and headings and visuals and white space.  That might be totally unacceptable for a proposal or a dissertation.  But maybe I could write it in such a way that I like it and then change it to the way the academy likes it after I have all the stuff done.  Does that make sense?  I would rather just write it how I want, but I am not my own audience.

In discussing my revised proposal with Dr. Hyle, she suggested that I become more certain about my stand and terminology on 'assessment' and 'learning'.  I need to get a certain vocabulary and stick with it throughout the paper -- that would help.

Dr. Thomas wanted to make sure that I deal with perceptions (wording from my early draft) because perceptions by outsiders and faculty and students and instructors all influence the cause.  She thinks that many profs do online courses to get out of meeting onland.  A cop out.  I gotta decide if I want to address that audience or if I want to address people/educators who accept the reality of online courses and want to proceed and learn about them.

I don't know if this dissertation will every happen.  The lit review scares me to death.  The other stuff seems doable. Oh well, I am off to STW.

One day, just before Christmas, my mother-in-law and I had a chance to talk, and she's always interested in my graduate work beyond just the 'when will you finish' conversation.  Being done seems impossible.  Anyway, she asked me about my dissertation.  She's a career educator; she taught in the elementary classroom for several years, then she completed her Master's in Psychometry and was the Special Ed director at a large school district. So she cares about education and students and learning.  She's definitely a quantitative person, but she's kind to her qualitative daughter-in-law.

Our conversation went like this: (This is my memory, not a transcription.)

Melba:  What is your dissertation about?

Stephoni:  It's about meeting objectives in online courses.

Melba: So you are wanting to know if online courses work? If students learn anything in online courses?

Stephoni: Well, it's down that road, but a little different. I want to find out if an online Intro to Philosophy course (for example) can meet the same objectives as an onland Intro to Phil course.  Maybe I want to find out if online courses meet related but different objectives.  Maybe I will even find out that neither course meets the predifined objectives.

Melba: So, are you wanting to find out if students learn anything in online courses?

Stephoni: No.  Measuring their learning won't be my primary focus.  I may be using assessment features of each type of course to figure out if those assessments actually assess the meeting/not meeting of objectives, but I don't want my focus to be on learning.

Melba. Oh. 

(Assessment she likes; not measuring learning she doesn't get.  Maybe I don't get that either.  Maybe I need to think about that.

Anyway.  Enough of our conversation.  I like that I have honed down my idea down to a few words:  Meeting objectives in online courses compared to meeting objectives in the same, onland courses.

ttfn.

My first field note I will write today, but it is really a reflection of conversations and thoughts I have over the fall semester.  It seems as if everyone that knows me knows that I am working on my doctorate and nearing dissertation.  And that means that when I run into people at work (SNU), ball games or church or the grocery story, they ask me how my course work is going and when I will finish.  The REALLY savvy ones ask me what the topic of my dissertation will be.  While annoying (I am so ready to be a hermit) these Q/A sessions have helped me to define my topic and research question better.  These folks I run into are only slightly interested, so I want to give them the short version and I say, "My dissertation is about courses meeting their stated objectives -- onland and online courses." 

That's all for now.  I'll post another fieldnote later about a conversation I had with my mother-in-law that helped me to explain and define it better.