{"650875":{"#nid":"650875","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Book on Future of Online Education Draws on Faculty OMSCS Experience","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/people\/charles-isbell\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECharles Isbell\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/people\/david-joyner\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDavid Joyner\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E have written a book on the power and potential of online education. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/675971\/the-distributed-classroom-by-david-a-joyner-and-charles-isbell\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe Distributed Classroom,\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E which published on Sept. 14, presents a hybrid education model where faculty and students can thrive in an increasingly virtual world.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;As educators, we have found ourselves in a new world,\u0026rdquo; said Isbell, who is dean of the College of Computing and the John P. Imlay Jr. Chair. \u0026ldquo;Even those of us who have thought hard about a future with a more online, more asynchronous, and more distributed set of students are dealing with this reality faster than we expected, and scrambling to keep up.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIsbell and Joyner, who is executive director of online education, are more than qualified to offer a solution as both are founders of and instructors for Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/omscs.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EOnline Master of Science in Computer Science\u003C\/a\u003E (OMSCS), an online only MS degree program that was launched in 2014.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;What is so revolutionary about OMSCS is when you take away all these structural obstacles\u0026mdash;Atlanta, tuition, pace of a regular degree\u0026mdash;you make it more accessible, allow more students in, and reduce cost. It\u0026rsquo;s a snowball effect, but the question is can you do this built from what you\u0026rsquo;re doing already?\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EJoyner first expressed the pair\u0026rsquo;s ideas in an \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ajc.com\/blog\/get-schooled\/georgia-tech-scientist-life-not-going-snap-back-normal-let-improve-remote-learning\/DwogtXA9hMEqgNWEEmiGmL\/\u0022\u003Eeditorial\u003C\/a\u003E for \u003Cem\u003EThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution\u003C\/em\u003E in 2020 on the possibilities of hybrid education. \u0026ldquo;But as we adjust to the widespread impacts of the pandemic, there is a better question we should be asking: why\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003Ewould\u003C\/em\u003E we go back to normal?\u0026rdquo; he wrote. \u0026ldquo;Was what we were doing before the best we could do, or can this moment be the catalyst for something better?\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe book answers that question by proposing that hybrid on its own isn\u0026rsquo;t the answer, but a deliberately designed distributed model may be. Isbell and Joyner suggest that educators find ways to share more of what is already happening in-person with a remote audience. Having qualified teaching assistants to support a dedicated online student experience is also key to the success of a distributed classroom.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis model allows classes to admit more students and in-person teaching organically enables content to be refreshed. It also creates flexibility for everyday issues such as instructor illness, conference travel, or students taking the class asynchronously in other areas.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026#39;s a great model for how to take a class and distribute it to more students, make participation more flexible, and protect against the pandemic or other interruptions \u0026mdash; all without doing a lot of additional work,\u0026rdquo; Joyner said. \u0026ldquo;We think this is where we are going in 20 years anyway, but the pandemic has given us an opportunity to experiment with this a lot faster.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EJoyner sees the audience for their book as administrators, instructors, students, and instructional designers\u0026mdash;essentially anyone interested in a distributed classroom experience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;There are tools that can help, and there are skills we can all learn,\u0026rdquo; Isbell said. \u0026ldquo;More importantly, there is a mindset that we can develop that will help us to not only deal with this new reality, but to provide a better experience and a better education for more learners.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Charles Isbell and David Joyner have written a book on the power and potential of online education. "}],"uid":"34541","created_gmt":"2021-09-17 15:01:57","changed_gmt":"2021-09-17 15:08:28","author":"Tess Malone","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2021-09-17T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2021-09-17T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"650876":{"id":"650876","type":"image","title":"Joyner\/Isbell Book","body":null,"created":"1631890963","gmt_created":"2021-09-17 15:02:43","changed":"1631890963","gmt_changed":"2021-09-17 15:02:43","alt":"David Joyner and Charles Isbell","file":{"fid":"246975","name":"joyner_isbell book graphic.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/joyner_isbell%20book%20graphic.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/joyner_isbell%20book%20graphic.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":157375,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/joyner_isbell%20book%20graphic.jpg?itok=gyOsjQGA"}}},"media_ids":["650876"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"431631","name":"OMS"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETess Malone, Communications Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:tess.malone@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Etess.malone@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}