Clara Said:

Some universities attempt to increase the productivity of professors by having courses taught online. This is?

We Answered:

None of the above.

There is no reason to believe that professors are more productive when they teach on-line.

It is the case that they can reach more students, but each student has a lower-quality experience.

Online courses are on the spectrum from 1-on-1 tutorials to writing books. The students who do get to spend significant time working 1-on-1 with good teachers surely learn more than those just spend the same time attending lectures, watching on-line courses, or reading books. On the other hand, a single professor can't influence as many students working with them 1-on-1 as s/he can writing a book.

So how are you going to measure productivity? Surely it is some combination of quantity and quality, but the optimum is by no means clear.

Also, there is every reason to believe it varies from subject to subject. How much acting are you going to learn watching an on-line course, as opposed to working in a class where you can received immediate feedback? Do you really think you can learn to play a musical instrument though an on-line course? On the other hand, my first year economics lectures were a real bore - just repeating what the book said. I wouldn't even waste time on watching videos of them.