January 8, 2009 Guy Lochiatto
A good textbook is crucial to an online course. Because so much of an online instructor’s interaction is based largely on e-mail, chat, or online discussion boards and groups,…
Staying the Course: Online Education in the United States, 2008 reports that higher education institutions believe that the economic changes will have a positive impact on overall college enrollments,…
January 1, 2009 Errol Craig Sull
Take a few minutes to consider the following online teaching tips to help you start out the new year revitalized, enthusiastic, eager, and just happy as hell to be…
Existing distance learning research falls into several main areas. Some lend themselves to future research to expand the knowledge base, but others do not need to be revisited. Here…
In Academic Leadership, Online Education
December 22, 2008 Mary Bart
Has the rapid expansion of online education put your institution on a collision course with faculty incentive policies? Although more and more faculty are teaching online, few colleges and…
December 9, 2008 Marianne Castano Bishop
In asynchronous discussion forums, participants usually come from diverse backgrounds, including gender and culture, and the textual cues they post online are usually reflections of their own diversity. How…
November 28, 2008 Errol Craig Sull
I recently conducted a survey of more than 300 online students to learn of their most vexing issues with online courses. One item—of the 40+ mentioned—was cited by 68…
In Faculty Development, Online Education
November 24, 2008 Mary Bart
If your institution offers online courses, you know that finding quality adjuncts is only half of the staffing battle. Keeping them is sometimes even more difficult. Defections are common…
November 12, 2008 Jennifer Patterson Lorenzetti
Has email overtaken your life? Teresa Marie Kelly offers hope. As a distance education faculty member at Kaplan University, Kelly knows first hand how easy it is to fall…
November 3, 2008 Mary Bart
In the early years, web-based distance education was looked at as a magic bullet. A relatively quick and easy way to increase revenue without a lot of additional work…
In Course Design, Online Education
October 29, 2008 Rob Kelly
Most instructors supplement their face-to-face courses with some online learning materials such as online syllabi, handouts, PowerPoint slides, and course-related Web links. All of these can add to the…
In Course Design, Online Education
October 13, 2008 Renee Cicchino
How do you get the best out of your online faculty? Don’t make them re-invent the wheel each time they create an online course. Let them do what they’re…
Faculty need to consider learning objectives, learning styles, accessibility, cost, and available technical support when designing distance learning courses, says Laurie Hillstock, manager of distance learning at Clemson University.…
September 21, 2008 Rob Kelly
Nova Southeastern University’s Master’s in Health Law program is designed to encourage the creation of learning communities in which students view each other as partners rather than isolated individuals…
Susan Baim, assistant professor of business technology at Miami University-Middletown, uses weblogs to supplement her face-to-face courses to improve students’ abilities to use the internet as a research medium…
September 15, 2008 Rob Kelly
Conventional wisdom about synchronous vs. asynchronous communication says that while they both have their places in the online classroom, adult learners prefer asynchronous communication for its flexibility and that…
Kristopher Wiemer, instructional technology specialist at Philadelphia University, encourages instructors to adopt active-learning strategies such as hands-on activities, interaction, and research “to make sure students are engaged and aren’t…
September 10, 2008 Rob Kelly
Instructors who are new to the online classroom often struggle with the issue of how to be rigorous while creating a safe learning environment, and mistakenly think, “You can…
September 9, 2008 Aimee Luebben EdD.
In the past, I have used the spatiotemporal aspects of my office for online teaching. My workstation, which has undergone multiple ergonomic reinventions over the years, fits my body,…
In Faculty Development, Online Education
August 21, 2008 Rob Kelly
Early advocates of online learning focused their efforts on demonstrating online learning’s legitimacy to the broader community. Now, as an increasing body of literature supports the notion that there…
August 17, 2008 Rob Kelly
Changing workplace demands and student learning style preferences require that instructors rethink their courses. No longer can students passively absorb knowledge. They must become active learners — interacting with…
In order to have a productive learning environment, the instructor needs to develop and maintain a sense of trust between and among the students and the instructor through good…
Instructors need to take steps to make the online classroom a comfortable and supportive learning environment regardless of students’ online learning experience or learning style preferences-a particularly important consideration…
The Buck Institute for Education’s definition of project-based learning-“a systematic teaching method that engages students in learning knowledge and skills acquired through an extended inquiry process structured around complex,…
If we had been asked if we were prepared to teach online before teaching our first online courses, the answer would have been a naïve “Yes.” We had attended…
Students’ perceptions of what an online course will be like are often quite different from how it really is. That is why Jim McKeown, assistant professor of computer science…
Creating a Web-based course from a current, successful on-ground course is difficult and, at best, can be considered a translation process. In the past, instructors have created Web-based courses…
Online courses offer several advantages over face-to-face courses when it comes to teaching critical thinking (analysis, evaluation, and deduction), according to according to Linda Armstrong, science professor at Sullivan…
As a distance learning trainer at the University of West Georgia, Christy Talley helps develop online courses, trains faculty in online instruction, provides student support, conducts student surveys and…
Asynchronous online discussion plays a key role in humanizing online courses. Asking provocative questions is an important part of getting students to participate in discussions, but the right questions…
To many students and would-be students who have yet to experience them, online colleges are sometimes viewed with a combination of suspicion and distrust—and occasional newspaper headlines talking about…
In my several years of teaching online I have developed a variety of time-management tools that have helped me to stay on top of my classes while making my…
