In this weeks blog post I will be discussing the steps associated with setting up an online course and then reflect upon my experience with it. I hope you enjoy and please feel free to comment on my post.
In my opinion technology is the most important part of an online learning community. Not only do you obviously need technology just to be able to participate in the learning but we see it used in our everyday lives and the more we can master the more skilled we are for the working world. Some possible tools you may see used in online learning are discussion forums, blogs, and document writing software. One problem we find is that there are so many different tools that can be or are used in online learning and someone who is new to online learning can have a hard time with it all. The best solution is to learn one at at time and not worry about all the rest that you have to learn. Also some tools are just recommended and not needed for your purposes. If you feel overwhelmed only use exactly what tools you will need to succeed.
As an instructor it is very important to communicate clear expectations to the learners for each course. Not only can the learners not be as successsful as they would like if they don't know what is expected from them but they may not know what to do at all until it is explained well to them. There are a few different things that you may want to do to help with student understanding. One thing is to present a syllabus with grading procedures and expectations, make sure the students know about it and tell them to look at it. You should also give a good description of all assignments, its a good idea to have someone else interperet it before you presnt it to students. Lastly presenting examples of what you are expected is a great help. I know that it always helped me wen I was taking online courses.
There are a few additional considerations I have found to be important to take when teaching an online course. First is the form of and how much communicatin that will happen in the course. Consider the way fellow students can communicate with each other and how they can reach the instructor. Also as an instructor you need to decide how active and available you will be in the course. If the students have a way to get ahold of you when they need but you never respond back to them it doesn't help. Also if you wait a full week to return students graded papers then they won't get the feedback they need in time to complete future assignments.
There are many things that make the successful launch of an online experience significant. Not only does it look good for all future online courses that the learners take but we want any student to enjoy there classes. It is great to be able to help students learn while them also having a good time. I also have to mention that if you are the creator and instructor of the course then it is a big success for you to have done that.
Actually what I learned most about an online learning environment is the same thing that we have been learning althroughout this course so far. That is that creating a sense of community and closeness between the instructor and fellow peers is an extremely important part of the online learning environment. When I think of teaching an online course, which I have never done before, I first think of it just being important that I introduce the learners and not worry about the sense of community the learners feel. I will be sure to change this thought process in the future if I ever teach an online course.
Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Laureate Education. (Producer). (2011). Launching the Online Learning Experience. [Online]. Retrieved from Walden University eCollege.
Stephen,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post! Building and maintain online a communiity is extremely important for instructors. I have been teaching online for about ten years and have gone through a number of tranisiton that require learner and instructor to collaborate. As an instructor is if very important to me to build a learning enviornment that is safe and facilitates knowledge enhancement. I understand that learners have an important part of creating the community.
Sharla
HI, Stephan!
ReplyDeleteTechnology is omnipresent in our lives and, as it keeps occurring to me under different angles, face-to-face meetings of any kind are becoming increasingly rare. There will soon be abundance of online courses out there, and people will start distinguishing between good and bad courses, which will hopefully make the job of a professional ID easier.
Yes, it is very helpful to have all the course materials available upfront along with syllabus, calendar and other things that give you an idea of what's expected from you. Some facilitators even tell you explicitly what they expect from your replies in discussion forums. This summer, we were relocating to a summer house where we ended up staying for two months. Since there was no printer there, I'm really glad I was able to print out all important information for each week of then current course, including all the reading materials for the whole course at home, right before leaving the house! Another reason why expectations are so important is because most of us are adults with busy life and a few responsibilities other than classwork. It really helps to know the course schedule and expectations to be able to plan everything ahead.
I enjoyed your post, Stephan!
Sasha