Imagining and Creating Timeless Virtual Synchronous and Asynchronous Courses

Background

Reviewing the past often gains a clearer picture of the future. Early beginnings in published research about online courses must include the notable pioneer, Murray Turoff. Turoff’s early design of Electronic Information Exchange Systems (EIES) in the late 1970s and early 1980s began the idea of a universe of virtual classrooms. In 1978, he posited that a system of interlinked computers would be integral to connecting people globally to share information and research (Turoff, 1978). Just three years later, he noted that it could take a decade before the effects would be visible in secondary services and another decade more to see the impact on primary services (Turoff, 1982). Joining Turoff were Senders (1978) and Roistacher (1978), who also foresaw a dramatic move to personal computing to enable individual word processing, but with far-reaching impact on electronic exchange of research. Lancaster et.al. posited that the far-reaching consequences of personal computing would alter library sciences (1979). It is noteworthy that a ProQuest search of publications in 1970-79, and 1980-89 reveal only twenty-two publications that imply a connection between computers and a class that could be virtual.

The explosion in personal computer usage in the early 1990s led researchers like J.W. Slocum to envision new learning strategies, “anytime, anything, anywhere” (1994). He was among many including Bonwell & Eison, who envisioned a new active learning environment employing micro-computers (1991). As professors adopted personal computing technology in the classroom an awareness of the importance of the syllabus bloomed and research abounded. An abridged collection includes Smith & Razzouk, who recognized that the syllabus was the intermediate communication between teacher and student (1993); Matejka & Kurke, who were encouraging professors to redesign Syllabi for the new computing environment (1994); B.E. Needles, who insisted that in the new computing environment for accounting, designing the syllabus to capitalize on processing enhancements was a form of increasing intellectual capital (1998); and Garavalia et.al., emphasized the importance of syllabus components in the era of advanced computing power (1999). At the end of the 1990s, personal computer use had increased to the point where business schools were actively seeking to be an integral part of revolutionizing working practices in academic institutions that mirrored the computer revolution in business (Prince, 1999). During the decade of the 1990s, 1659 publications encompassed the idea that online courses was the future path of academia.