UMass Magazine Online

Spring 2005

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The World is Their Classroom
It's rough enough navigating the busy streets of Beirut or Damascus...

—Art Clifford

..Imagine having to e-mail your journalism assignments on time, too.

My online students are mostly “nontraditional.” Some became bored with the classroom; others couldn’t afford it until a generous uncle (usually named Sam) helped them enroll. Still others are foreign nationals eager to begin an American education. A few are traditional students who graduate in four years by taking winter and summer classes online. All of my students are brighter, better read, and more motivated than the average on-campus student.

It’s counterintuitive, but getting to know my online students is easier than their classroom counterparts. Constant e-mail chatter, combined with lively online discussions and one-on-one use of the “chat” function, creates an engaging learning environment. There’s no room for a quiet student sitting in the back row.

We online teachers are as nontraditional as our students. My colleagues include the former editor of Scientific American; a war correspondent with a PhD; and a former Army sergeant who trained as a combat correspondent and then earned her MFA.
We can work anywhere there’s a broadband connection. Not surprisingly, we are in regular contact with one another. We are colleagues sharing ideas, comparing notes, and planning the future. Our program director, Professor Norman Sims, somehow manages to act as the hub for our activities and makes it all work.

We recently learned from the World Bank that our certificate program is unique. They’ve asked us to help put together a training program for journalists from the Pacific Rim.

If our program is unique, so are my students. One of them is an intrepid American learning Arabic while he walks the ancient roads of the Crusaders and modern men such as T.E. Lawrence. One of my favorite gifts is a digital photo of him standing in front of the ancient Crusader citadel, the Crac des Chevaliers in Syria.

Another student is an Air Force chaplain’s assistant stationed in Uzbekistan. She was one of the first GIs to enroll in our program. Our students in the Armed Forces are well-read: The Marine commandant and the Air Force chief of staff have created formal reading lists that read like a mix of Harvard Classics and The New York Times Book Review. Dependent spouses are sometimes interested in our program, too. One wife of a Navy pilot signed up to help teach journalism in a base high school for dependents in Naples, Italy.

We have students on four continents and in a dozen countries. Of more than 600 queries this year, 20 percent are from overseas. To meet the demand, the library is rapidly adding digital holdings so online students have access to thousands of e-books and journals.

Teaching online is a rich experience—intellectually and personally. If the popularity and success of the journalism program is an indication, I expect many of my colleagues will discover its virtues and challenges in the next few years.

Art Clifford is one of a half-dozen online instructors in UMass Amherst’s journalism program. He’s worked with more than 100 online students since the Online Journalism Certificate program started in 2002. This year the program awards its first certificates.

Related links:

https:/ www.umassulearn.net/ProgCertOlJourn.htm.asp

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