Former DeKalb prosecutor J. Tom Morgan says colleges must admit some professors aren't as effective

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J. Tom Morgan is the former DeKalb County district attorney. He now is a full-time professor at Western Carolina University where he teaches undergraduate students law-related courses.

In this guest column, Morgan describes his struggles with converting his courses to a digital format in response to the closing of his campus due to the pandemic.He believes other professors are also grappling with the shift and says it’s unfair to hold students accountable with letter grades when instruction may be lacking.As DeKalb DA for 12 years, Morgan was the lead prosecutor in the case against DeKalb County Sheriff Sidney Dorsey, who was convicted of corruption and murdering his opponent Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown 20 years ago. Morgan is author of “Ignorance Is No Defense, A Teenager's Guide to Georgia Law.”

There are several reasons college students who were in a classroom setting during the first half of the semester and who are now taking the remainder of the semester online are having difficulties. These obstacles include lack of reliable internet service, competition with siblings and parents for the only computer in the home, textbooks which had to be left on campus after spring break, no study groups with fellow students, no classroom participation, and the stress of lockdown in the home.However, another reason that is seldom mentioned is the inability of professors to provide adequate online instruction.

I was formerly an adjunct professor at Georgia State University where I taught in the undergraduate school and law school. Now, I am a fulltime professor at Western Carolina University where I teach undergraduate students law-related courses. At the end of spring break, the faculty at the University System of Georgia, and the North Carolina University system were told that all classroom instruction would be moved to online instruction.Professors had seven days to prepare online instruction for classes we had never taught online, and for most of us we had never instructed an online course.

https://www.ajc.com/blog/get-schooled/professor-most-students-failed-part-exam-new-online-format-problem-was-not-them/Hc7u0RAxGxG1fQ46KVGTfI/