RALEIGH – Online course offerings have improved dramatically since UNC System campuses abruptly shifted classes online last spring. But NC State University Chancellor Randy Woodson says they can still get better.

“You can create very rich course content and very meaningful experiences for students in laboratory settings, etc., through the virtual environment,” Woodson says in the accompanying video. 

“But what is harder to create is community – that ability for the students to interact with one another and interact with the faculty member.”

When they’re taking classes remotely, students don’t get a chance to get together to study and solve problems. But NC State instructors are working hard on techniques to create more interaction online, Woodson says.

“That’s really where a lot of the magic happens in higher education…. As a professor, I’d like to think that all of the knowledge comes from my lecture,” Woodson says with a grin.

Then his expression changes.

“But the reality is that’s the baseline for it, and a lot of learning occurs when students interact with one another to say, ‘Wow – what did Professor Woodson mean?’”

Though some think online instruction is easier for professors, Woodson says, it’s actually more difficult. When a professor answers a student’s question in a classroom, all the students hear it. But instructors now find themselves spending hours responding to individual emails from students.

“It really is a lot of work on the instructor to ty to manage that classroom experience,” he says.