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Meet Sandi Watkins
Professor of Computer Technology and Information Systems
Interview with Dean Sinou

Sandi Watkins, Professor in the Computers, Technology and Information Systems Division, shares her thoughts about the challenges of online teaching and her efforts in trying to better understand why online students drop out.

Sinou: You are one of the pioneers in online teaching at Foothill. How did you get into it and do you enjoy it?

Watkins: Before I came to Foothill, I was employed as a webmaster and multimedia developer.  My company had customers all over the world and products which were quite complex.  Training classes were offered in a variety of locations but many customers found it hard to get away to attend training.  My boss requested development of online training.  My development team consisted of several content experts, a writer and an editor.  I did web, graphics and multimedia development for the training and in the process learned quite a bit about the subject matter (which was patents).

When I came to Foothill, my Dean told me that I would be teaching the introductory HTML class online Winter quarter.  Having previously worked with an expert team, I thought, “how hard can it be?”  Ha!!  My first year is still a blur.  But I’ve been teaching that class online ever since.

Sinou: You are in a field that changes constantly. How do you manage to keep up?

Watkins: Reading, classes and workshops, online groups, other faculty and students.  But I’m never caught up – there’s always too much to think about and do and not enough time.

Sinou: I know you conducted the first stage of a study that will compare your traditional with your online sections. What was your goal for conducting the study?

Watkins: I had several reasons for doing the survey.  I wondered about the demographics of online classes and how they compare to on-campus classes.  What are the reasons students take online classes?  Do they miss the interaction of a teacher and other students in “real time”?  I also wondered about why some students are successful in online classes and why so many drop out – is it because they can’t budget their time or is it because they are overextended or is it because they lack the reading skills necessary to be successful or some other reason.  What were things I could do differently to ensure student success?  What could students do to be successful?  Did on-campus students do or feel differently than online students?  What kinds of course materials contribute to student success?

Sinou: Do you have any early findings to share? Any trends or behaviors that stood out in the study?

Watkins: Three different surveys were done (first week, midterm and last week), so there is a lot of data to compile and analyze.  However, there are some interesting demographic results which were different than what I was expecting.  62% of the respondents had either a 4 year degree or a post-graduate degree.  69% stated that English was their first language.  75% did not have children.  One of the more frequent reasons given for taking an online class (as opposed to on-campus)  is taking care of children (or others) -  not true in this case for most.  75% of the respondents had NOT taken COIN 51, the class strongly suggested before taking my class which is essential in learning prerequisite skills about FTP, Telnet, etc. This may explain a higher drop out rate.   The fact that 63% had not taken an online class before and perhaps were not prepared for the online environment combined with lack of subject preparation gives some clues as to why students might not compete the class.  

Sinou: What would you say is the biggest challenge that you face in your online classes?

Watkins: The challenges  have changed a lot as I have continued to teach the class.  At first it was time management – trying to keep up but also trying to have a life and not be chained to the computer 24 hours a day.  Then it became concern that online students were not receiving as “rich” an experience as on-campus students.  One interesting thing I am thinking about now is trying to figure out a way to humanize the data – if a student comes up to me in class and says her husband has been in a skiing accident and had to be airlifted to the hospital, it is easy for me to remember WHICH student it was that told me  - I can “see” her anguished face and hear the fear in her voice – and that memory will last a long time.  But when I get that information in an email from a student I have never met – it is hard to have a frame of reference to match the data with the person.  I don’t have the clues we get from a face to face encounter – this can be disturbing later when trying to remember which online student it was who had the injured husband.  I’d like to have some more effective ways to personalize my interactions with students.

Sinou: Do you have any tips of advice for students pursuing an education?

Watkins: Learn for the learning not for the grade. Study subjects that interest you and that you enjoy.  Be open-minded – don’t rule anything out - what  you hated in middle school may become your passion in graduate school!   Choose your career based on your passions, not how much money you will make.  Remember that most people have between 4-7 career changes in their lives so keep learning and growing all your life.  

___Sandi Watkins teaches Web Publishing and Web Multimedia classes in the Internet  Technologies Department in the Computers, Technology and Information Systems Division. She came to Foothill in Fall of 1998. She has over nineteen years experience in Information Technology and most recently was Webmaster and Web Developer at a Silicon Valley company where her emphasis was developing online multimedia training. Prior to that she did independent consulting and was Coordinator of User Support for the Department of Information Technology, Houston Community College System.

Ms. Watkins holds a BA in Art from Western Illinois University and a MS in Educational Computing from Iona College. Her academic interests include Interactive Multimedia on the Web, Distance Education, Corporate Web Strategy Development and Information Technology Overload.

11/30/2006

Past Features:

Sandi Watkins
Lyn Paulos
Jerry & Angie
Rick Martinez
Dolores Davison
Mimi Will
Academic Dishonesty