The Changing Medium of Education

From the New Yorker Cartoons

The traditional classroom experience is one of a 'Sage on a Stage' lecturing and the disciples soaking up the knowledge of the guru in front of the class. The best disciples later repeat this by mimicking the style of their favorite guru and thereby becoming a new "Sage on a Stage"! The suffering continues till a new technology comes along and disrupts the whole cycle.
At first these sages try to copy their old methodology into this new environment and find themselves trying to put a square peg into a round hole. Next the hard headed gurus complain about the students not following instructions. The softer gurus complain of the new technology and how the failure of the students is the failure of the new disruptive technology. Yet others look at their lack of training in understanding the use of this new technology. They  are all correct and wrong to some extent.

The students are not following instructions but there is a reason for that (what it is I do not know). The students are failing at a higher rate because they are trying to receive the square peg from a round hole. It is necessary to have some technical skills and training in the use of the new technology, however, there is also a need to think about how we use this new technology.
In an online classroom, we the faculty must put aside the techniques of a Guru or a Sage and take up the principles of medical profession. An online faculty should organize their class and build an environment that fosters a knowledgeable student to stand on his/her own feet. This online faculty like any physician should always try to listen to and respond quickly to get rid of his patient. This means have a simple straight forward set up for a course, and when a student stumbles respond or contact them before their educational health deteriorates further.    
This technique requires any online class to be planned out well in advance of going live. The online faculty should think of all the obstacles the student will face before the course goes live. If an unforeseen problem pops up and a student comes in for help. The online instructor should have a response in a SHORT TIME for this student.
Remember that the goal of any online instructor is NOT to have disciples in the hopes of creating another Sage/Guru but to create curious citizens that can think for themselves distinguishing between logically sound and incorrect information on the World Wide Web.
I believe that we the faculty need to become a digital disciple and experience this whole new thing called online education before we can again become a guru who speaks "digital".