There Is No Substitute For Face To Face Learning: Or Is There?

In spring of 2000, the Department of Organizational Leadership and Supervision (Purdue School of Engineering and Technology, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis) offered students the option to take a sophomore level survey course fully online. The course, titled "Human Behavior in Organizations," was also offered in traditional, classroom-based sections. The challenge the authors faced as instructors went beyond the usual tasks of presenting content online. The plan was to organize students into learning groups within a "virtual classroom" (VC) and provide them with the same sort of structured learning experiences that characterize the methodology used in traditional sections of the same class. Although individual lesson plans were changed substantially to fit the online format, the intention was to retain the methodology of group discussion and group problem solving.