Does teaching online take more time?

Many instructors feel that teaching online takes more time, but there is relatively little data available on this issue. This paper discusses a study that involves detailed recording of instructor time in online and traditional course sections to support a comparison between the two modes of delivery. The presentation describes the study approach and problems encountered in trying to get an accurate picture of instructor time. The presentation also includes results of an analysis of instructor time for a series of course section pairs. Each section pair includes one online and one face-to-face section of the same course taught by the same faculty member. The data provides some general support for the notion that teaching online may take more time than teaching face-to-face. However, the amount of difference tends to be small, and there are some indications that this relationship between teaching mode and time is more complicated than generally assumed.