Dr. Dennis Fell

Dr. Dennis Fell, who is the department chair for the Physical Therapy department started teaching online courses for the Doctoral Program about three years ago. The Doctor of Philosophy program is offered both online and on campus. The online program was designed by faculty in the Physical Therapy department.

Dr. Fell was not sure that he would like teaching online classes better than he did the traditional classrooms when he started teaching online. To his surprise he has found out he gets better interaction from all his students online than he does in the classroom. The structure of his online courses helps with getting interaction from students who would not normally participate in discussions in the traditional classrooms. He feels like he gets to know his students much better online than he would in the classroom.

Threaded discussions are one of the ways he promotes students interaction. When asked to say what he is doing differently online, he said he uses more cooperative learning online than in the regular classrooms. He says online courses work well for the Doctor of Philosophy program because the students already have backgrounds in Physical Therapy. The online threaded discussions require the students to do some research because their opinions have to be backed up by evidence from the literature. He occasionally makes his students do peer assessments of each others assignments and give each other feedback. He also gives the students his feedback.

When asked about what advice he would give to fellow instructors teaching online courses, Dr. Fell said “time management” has to be worked on, especially when planning and designing online courses. He said, “It looks like you have a lot of time, but once you get started and things don’t really work out as they should, then you realize the importance of proper time management”. He advises other instructors to use the grade book “to standardize how grades are presented,” even when only using eCompanion for the classes. The grade book not only helps with giving timely information to the students but also saves the instructor time when dealing with students’ inquiries about their grades.

As department chair, Dr. Fell encourages the professors under his leadership to adapt to teaching online courses using eCollege. As a last word to all the other professors teaching online or using eCompanion, he said, “create a positive learning experience for the students through your course design and content.” Dr. Fell and the Physical Therapy department had their first two doctoral students graduate from the online program last semester. He got to meet the students for the first time on graduation day. We recognize his excellent work both as the department chair and an online instructor.