I teach at a company that is moving to web base training. I feel this will be a great move, students that learn how to teach their self will be better prepared through out their lives. there is so much information avalible today right at their finger tips and they need to know how to use it.

Online courses depend on you the instructor to reach across the sceen and make the course relevant to each student

Through my limited experience, I have found the most effective way to evaluate the effectiveness of a course, or an entire program for that matter, is to evaluate the quality of the graduate. This means that the course or program must first run its length, then the graduating student must be evaluated on their ability to meet the demands that are placed upon them once in the field. For example, the only way to know what the best way to build a car is would be to build the car, test it, evaluate the car's performance stated criteria, then build another car!

One obvious major difference between the on-ground and online is the administration of tests/exams. Normally tests for an on-ground program are closed book. How can we mediate this in an online environment, or can we? I would like to hear from you all on this matter :-)

First off, I am an instructor for Bryan University Online where we have LIVE lecture. In our live lectures, we the instructors have microphones and cameras as do the students and therefore we do in fact have real interaction. Essentially, our class sessions are held in a Skype-like environment, but with a fully interactive learning environment that includes a white board, application sharing abilities, web-touring abilities, presentation uploading abilities, and much more. So you could probably imagine my amusement with the portion of the presentation for this course that discussed the idea that face to face interaction does not take place in an e-learning environment :-)

Technology has greatly improved the ease of which we are able to attend school, even with busy full time work schedules and such. However, with the "disconnect" of being in an online environment, the quality of the education as compared to that of being in the actual classroom suffers greatly. This shortcoming of the online environment is not easily resolved. As both a full time online instructor AND on-ground instructor, as well as a full time online student I am constantly searching for additional methods for improving online educational quality. The search continues.....

It can be a real challenge to keep students interested in the course content, but I think one way that instructors can continually do so is to ask students on a weekly basis if they have questions or concerns on anything from previous/current/upcoming weeks, because usually this will get some kind of response from them, whether straight to the point or a lengthy answer. In almost every case where I have asked this at the beginning of a live chat, I have had at least 5-10 students provide an answer. Also, I ask the students what they think will be most interesting for them to research/learn about for a particular week, because I think in this way they feel like there's a space to share their interests and thoughts and to hear my feedback right away. I think by keeping students participating, in my opinion, that is the best way to keep them interested and engaged in the classroom from week to week, especially in an online environment.

I had an idea, since this is a course devoted to Designing and Developing Online Courses, that perhaps instructors should leave open the possibility for students to input directions on an individual project or discussion board. If students were given the chance to take a bit of a lead off of their directions and write about topics relating to the main assignment, they may put in more effort. For example, one week I asked a series of questions during our live chat, and some of my students really enjoyed the discussion. They wanted to continue the discussion on the discussion board for that week, but their discussion didn't exactly line up with the questions they were supposed to be answering. So for that week, I gave them the option, to either continue where our chat discussion left off, or to discuss the assignment questions - many of them chose the live chat discussion questions, and they put more effort into researching and pushing further beyond discussing what we had set out initially to do. So, I thought I would bring that concept up in this thread. I think it touches on placing more responsibility on students who want to learn and explore their own ideas further, while showing them that you (their instructor) hope they are investing themselves in authorship. I look forward to any discussion on this idea.

Creating your course online seems a tough task, but it could be very simple if done in proper way. Your knowledge should be in depth for particular subject on base of which you are going to create the online course. Online courses are the big medium of knowledge to obtain the knowledge or to get some skills. Creating your course online seems a tough task, but it could be very simple if done in proper way. Your knowledge should be in depth for particular subject on base of which you are going to create the online course. You can obtain expertise knowledge through extensive reading of articles about web based training, technology education and online learning. You could practice using software take an example of other one's training course and explore the program. You need to gather your material and content in a central location. Filter out the material which you have gathered and make a best suitable resource location which is going to be needed in development of online course. After your data is been collected make an outline or structure that matches each course component with date marks, labs, assignments etc items. Determine which material is going to be used in the course verbally and which is going to deliver online. Select items that are related to the course's objectives and their learning experience. Filter the irrelevant material from the course to make it most relevant to the subject. Create the organizational structure for the course. Structure the data in proper format in root and sub root format. It should be formatted in linked list kind of structure for the maximum ease. Enter each folder and fill it with quality content relevant to the subject. Use technological advancements into the course structure and involve it in the course paradigm. Enter the discussions board and create a form and post an introductory assignment. If your course is online then discuss about particular topic related to your course subject and give reference to your course site. Create introductory document in announcement area and welcome student to your course. Preview the final drafted course and make it published as the course. Proofreading and view the course as a student is also the important part for the course development.

Study skills are crucial for online courses both for faculty members and students. Indeed online classes come with some hefty advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, distance learning offers an outstanding opportunity for nontraditional students and anyone who's busy to fit higher education into their schedules. However, these classes require students to be disciplined, and not everyone is up to this task. If you're going to invest the money (as these classes can be expensive) and time (which you probably value quite a bit) into an online course, you need to develop some strong online course study skills. Here are some tips to help you make this experience a success. Time management is a struggle for all students, but nontraditional students often have especially difficult juggling acts. If you've got a full time job, a family, and/or other obligations, working in school may feel overwhelming. Some tips for the students: • Make a study schedule. At the beginning of the semester, set aside a certain number of hours each week to work on the course. Unless there is an emergency, stick to your schedule! Make sure you set aside enough hours, and -- difficult as it may be -- spend these hours working exclusively on school. • Make a study space. Most people work better if they have a comfortable work place set aside. This doesn't need to be a luxurious home office, but try to set aside at least a private corner of your home for school needs. • Avoid distractions. Home comes with lots of distractions, some of which are easier to avoid than others. If your child is sick while you're trying to study, of course this "distraction" will take precedence. However, you can avoid the TV, web surfing, and talking on the phone. If your time is at a premium, you'll have to work extra hard to avoid distractions. • Get family members on board. People don't always take online classes as seriously as traditional ones, and may not understand that you need to be left alone during your study time. Let partners and kids know, in no uncertain terms, that your studying is an important priority. Other family and friends also need to know that if you say you can't get together because you have school work, you mean it. • Avoid procrastination. Easier said than done, of course, but if you're a very busy person, you really need to get your work done efficiently and on time.

An engaged student is: challenged, driven, motivated, involved, sharing, participative, active, reflective, enthusiastic, responsible, productive, etc. and the list goes on. So the next question that arises is how can we increase student engagement in an online classroom virtual environment? In my opinion we as instructors can enhance academic rigor, make learning relevant to the real world and more meaningful, increase student engagement by making it collaborative and interactive, promote critical thinking skills by including project-based assignments, provide freedom to adult learners in respect to time and space (asynchronous mode), make use of students’ prior work experiences, and build relationship with students since most of the online classes do not have f2f interaction with instructors. We do too many things that we have to do as an instructor. So the next question is what is the role of the student? This question is difficult to answer. Since Student learning in online classes is governed by various factors which include fast and effective trends in changing technology, different student learning styles, changing social and economic trends of society, and the skills that need to be developed by adult learners to meet their expectations and goals. Despite all the high-tech communication technologies available to online instructors today use discussion boards, email, IM, wikis, podcasts, blogs, vlogs, etc. Just a quick call to a student to see how things are going, even if it’s only a message on his or her answering machine, goes a long way in creating a more personalized learning environment. “Students need to feel like they know their instructor and that you’re interested in how they’re doing.” Student engagement is important in any class, but it takes on greater significance in the online learning environment where students are not only isolated from their instructor and fellow students, but must be disciplined enough to ward off distractions and other commitments that compete for their time. An online course promotes optimal student cognitive engagement if it: integrates active learning environments with authentic learning tasks; fosters a personal connection with the class (teacher-student as well as student-student); and facilitates the process of learning in an online environment. One of the first steps in facilitating a successful online learning experience for students is to manage expectations. At the start of each course, ask the students to write down what they expect from her and make sure that the expectations are on target. This sets the tone for the course and prevents misunderstandings, and also increases retention.

Human Touch: High tech + High touch = Human touch for online courses to avoid Cyberdystopia. Online courses need Online Human Touch. Live component: Add F2F Live Web Conferencing component such as Elluminate/ Collaborate for virtual office visits, class sessions and group work to provide a F2F “feel.” Use of web applications: Using web 2.0 with its interactivity with students providing and sharing content, as well as using it. Instructor passion: Gota love, or at least enjoy, what you’re teaching. And that has to come through, whether it’s f2f or online. Student choice: Give students some choice in discussions, weekly assignments and course projects to increase their ownership of the course. Incentify learning activities: Students earn points for learning activities. Use positive reinforcement. Small groups: Small group, project--‐based assignments. Learning by “forced” working together. Instructor presence: Student engagement starts with instructor engagement. Instructor needs to be engaged if students are to be engaged. Discussions: Include online discussions. Instructors need to be active participants. Course content: Everything starts with the course content. Include Quality content and keep it relevant to the course. Add some “glitz” so the course.

I have had the opportunity of using a live lab to help my students with practical applications for their coding problems. At first, I was afraid of the technology, but after I did it for the first time I realize how important it was for them to get the understanding of the homework they had to complete by themselves. I don't know that online school facilitates having study groups when you are hundreds of miles from the students. If anyone knows how that works I would love to know!

This term I was given the task of a course that would be better served if it was presented onsite than online. It has been a challenge to me, as it has taken more initiative on my part to convey more information to the students than what they are getting out of the online lecture and textbooks. I know that I will have to take what I did onsite and convert it so that my students can understand it without me standing overthem to help them through it. This is challenging, but not unobtainable. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I have noticed that some students who have all of the work completed and maybe even ahead of the others are sometimes hard to motivate them to participate in a chat or live weblab. They feel that they know enough and don't want to participate. Any ideas?

I feel that the more detail an online course is the better chance that you as the instructor has to add your personability to your course. Instead of the course just being BC100 or whatever it is called, it then becomes Mr. or Mrs. So and So's class. The same passion you have teaching something onsite can be portrayed online when you are able to reach out to your students and meet their educational needs.

Do you have to be a technology whiz in order to be able develop online courses?

Online Students are adults with personal and professional obligations. Sometimes, some of these students ignore the realities of their situation and register for classes that they do not have enough time to participate in.

Class participation in my opinion, is crucial and an integral part to online learning. Many students for various reasons do not attend and/or participate in live chats. Also, many students do not participate on the discussions board (DB), and others submit their individual projects (IP) late.

The materials must be more practical and can be applied to real life.